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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / March 2006An ethical question
Need advice. I had a presumably excellent orthodontist who also did general practice. Then I gave birth, quit my job and got divorced. All of the sudden, I found myself with no money at all, and lots of dental work to do. I admitted to my dentist that I can't afford him right now. In my naivette, I even suggested that he does only the most challenging work, while allowing me to delegate less challenging work to someone not as brilliant (and expensive) as himself; I also asked him about the quality of oversees dental work. This, apparently, is a very wrong thing to say to a dentist. Why? In our line of business, in software engineering, we have consultants/architects paid $150/hour and entry-level folks paid maybe $20/hour, not to mention outsourcing; I can't imagine an architect going ballistic over involvement of more junior staff in a software project; wonder why is this not the case with the dentists? Anyway, the dentist got so angry with me that he refused to see me in an emergency appointment. Just left me alone in pain without as much as a referral. The irony is, I can afford him now, got enough money, he just does not know it. So - is this normal? Did I say something offensive, to such a degree as to justify his action? What a great topic! By the way I am with you! Over here we are recruiting new dentists to slide in, just under the more senior dentists. What this means is that the new guys are entitled to less per hour and are delegated less-challenging, less-risky, less remunerative work! This is how it should be. In many multi-doctor offices, dentists suck up to the recpetionist so they get the best NEW patients! Can you believe it? My phrase is Dr. X should not be doing a two surface filling on an unruly ten-year old while Dr. Y is doing a three-unit bridge. That is especially so when the three-unit bridge patient WAS REFERRED by one of Dr. X's patients! So it goes .. .great discussion .. what do people think? CHIME IN ..... Joely abc Wrote: > Need advice. I had a presumably excellent orthodontist who also did > general practice. Then I gave birth, quit my job and got divorced. All [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > as > to justify his action -- Joel34 > What a great topic! > [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >> as >> to justify his action? Jesus Christ. Who the hell wants to visit an office where there are multiple dentists playing games with each other -- setting up little junior/senior hierarchies, fighting over customers, etc? Almost sounds like something one would expect to find on an elementary school playground, not a professional office environment. If that sh.t is going on then it's time to find a new dentist. Especially if some of the dentists are so arrogant about it that they are willing to let patients suffer. > >> This, apparently, is a very wrong thing to say to a dentist. Why? In > >> our line of business, in software engineering, we have > >> consultants/architects paid $150/hour and entry-level folks paid maybe > >> $20/hour, not to mention outsourcing; I can't imagine an architect > >> going ballistic over involvement of more junior staff in a software > >> project; wonder why is this not the case with the dentists? One reason may be that the "easy" work will be billed at the same rate as the difficult work which you have kindly delegated to your dentist. In your example the engineer will get paid $150/hour no matter what and is probably glad to have an entry level person doing the gruntwork while he manages the "conceptual side" of the project. > >> Anyway, the dentist got so angry with me that he refused to see me in > >> an emergency appointment. Just left me alone in pain without as much > >> as > >> a referral. Which could be a result of the above and the fact that you don't have enough money, just an exuse to blow you off. > Jesus Christ. Who the hell wants to visit an office where there are > multiple dentists playing games with each other -- setting up little > junior/senior hierarchies, fighting over customers, etc? Almost sounds > like something one would expect to find on an elementary school playground, > not a professional office environment. That is true but I think this does happen a lot and with doctors too. I have had experiences where doctors will not even return phone calls to referring doctors after telling me to have them call before making an appiontment. Or here is another classic. Dentist/OS X claims they called office Y. Office Y claims they recieved no such call and call back office X, who then says to check with office Y again...... So yes many doctors/dentists (and professionals in general) are self-centered petty ***holes who will put money and office politics ahead of patient welfare and difficult cases any day of the week and the public SHOULD know about that even if they don't realize it is going on! > Jesus Christ. Who the hell wants to visit an office where there are > multiple dentists playing games with each other -- setting up little > junior/senior hierarchies, fighting over customers, etc? Almost sounds > like something one would expect to find on an elementary school >playground, Before the exit of a handful of dentists to another group, from this group, they use to refer to this as http://www.smd.southpark abc Wrote: > Need advice. I had a presumably excellent orthodontist who also di > general practice. Then I gave birth, quit my job and got divorced. Al [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > So - is this normal? Did I say something offensive, to such a degree a > to justify his action? This is not normal for most people... but maybe it is normal fo dentists. ... on the internet I have found some dentists to be ver touchy SOBs, annoyed by everything -- Su Sue Wrote: > This is not normal for most people... but maybe it is normal fo > dentists. ... on the internet I have found some dentists to be ver > touchy SOBs, annoyed by everything. Oh yes .... & Some of these touchy SOBs hang out here: http://www.smd.southpar Find another dentist and don't worry about what you said. If he ha that attitude, you do not need him. Bets of luck -- Su > ? > > Anyway, the dentist got so angry with me that he refused to see me in > an emergency appointment. Just left me alone in pain without as much as > a referral. The irony is, I can afford him now, got enough money, he > just does not know it. I know what you mean. I had a veterinarian I used for 16 years and gave tons of money to the guy. During every visit we'd stand around and just gab for 20-30 minutes. We were friends. Had a dog that developed a problem and needed about $200 worth of meds each month the rest of her life. Found I could get the meds online for 1/3 what he charged me so I asked him for a script. After that he would not speak to me or acted very cold. I changed vets. Ain't it a shame what money does ....? Dob Wrote: > > ? > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > asked him for a script. After that he would not speak to me or acted > very cold. I changed vets -- Joel34 |
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