Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Are people really this rude?

I was just reading an article hosted on KevinMD.com, titled "Why answering a cell phone during an office visit is a problem". It's an erudite, James Bond-esque take on patients who are inconsiderate enough to think their cell phone call is more important than the 15 minutes out of their oh-so-busy week spent at a scheduled doctor appointment.

I silence my phone on the way to my appointments. While I'm waiting to be seen, I dink around with my phone. However, the moment the nurse calls my name, the phone goes back in my purse. Nothing in my life -- and perhaps I'm fortunate for this -- is so pressing it can't wait for my appointment to end. I prefer to treat people with the respect they deserve.

I found it interesting that, when I had a tooth pulled in February, the dental assistant asked if I had a cell phone to occupy my time while the dentist was seeing another patient. I was too nervous about the impending extraction that the last thing I wanted to do was read FMyLife or send text messages to everyone I know, so I politely said no (though it probably sounded more like "nurrr" because of all the Novocaine).

What are your thoughts on this? Would you ever answer your cell phone during a doctor appointment (or other appointment, for that matter)? Have you ever had a doctor answer his phone during your appointment?

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