My breast reconstruction was of course done by a plastic surgeon; I don’t begrudge him at all the elective cosmetic boob work he does; it balances out things like my 6 hour surgery for which is paid less per [time unit] by my insurance while standing the whole time with no breaks. He did about half cosmetic and half recontructive (mostly breast cancer and also a lot of facial reconstruction).
Re tests-- my H is a radiologist and routinely gets blamed for results being late or taking days and it makes him mad-- those tests are read the same day, all of them, often within an hour of being done. But the referring docs love to make him their scapegoat because to the patient he’s faceless. Grrr!
Due to an issue that dates back to childhood, DIL has an annual MRI. About 5 years ago, after her MRI, they told her that her brain tumor hadn’t grown. !!! No one had told her after the previous year’s MRI that there was a brain tumor! Fortunately it is benign and isn’t aggressive, but can you imagine seeing a brain tumor and not telling the patient?!
Find a new derm. Some of them are so over the top focused on growing their cosmetic derm business that their true focus is not traditional dermatology. I’ve been to both types of practices and feel VERY uncomfortable in the derm offices that push and advertise the cosmetic procedures so much. The difference in the initial assessment and treatment was jaw-dropping.
As far as the phone calls about procedure results:
I am a nurse practitioner and make it a priority to call people ASAP at least the day the report crossed my desk. I did not always have time for a lengthy phone call but at the very minimum it was a phone call to say “your test is back, we have a lot to discuss, I’m passing you to our scheduler to make an appointment to come in TODAY or tomorrow to discuss everything on the report.”
There is ZERO excuse for an 11 day period between time of report and phone call. Even if your Dr was on vacation someone from the office should be scanning the results inbox for the practice.
I picked a young, male derm for my acne prone son. It was a great choice. The doctor is idealistic and up to date and is good at talking to my young men (other son went to see him about a rash). Since his practice is new, we haven’t experienced those long waits (yet). The true test will be when I go see him. I used to see a wonderful woman. She is about my age. Her practice has shifted over to more and more anti aging not covered by insurance treatments, though, and the wait to get in to see her is awful. I am happy she is so successful, but it isn’t what I need right now.
My best medical experience was with an orthopedic surgeon. He has perfected a very specific technique and so draws patients from all over the world. His website is so transparent that a potential patient can learn pretty much everything she needs to know there: details of the procedure, a video of it (!) for the non squeamish, results for different subgroups (his consent form basically), even the pricing. He is part of a group, but has also managed to maintain a good deal of autonomy. His staff is extremely responsive. Their goal must be to get back to a patient within 24 hours because they always do.