A4 - Sunday, December 9, 1984 - North Shore News

Strictly personal

hear about

by Bob Hunter

doctors is the

amount of time you have to spend cooling
your heels in the outer office, waiting for them to
get around to poking at you.

My own doctor com-
mented one day while | was
in his office, having had to go
in because of something to do
with my wife, that he might
as well take a quick look at
me while he was at it, since
“*the men are so hard to get
to come in for a check up "’

1 almost took a swing at
him. The reason we're so
hard to ‘‘get to come in’’ 15
because we have to work for
a living, fella! Who's got
time to lounge = around,
walting for an extra hour or
two after the scheduled time
of your appointment while
Dr. Kildare fiddles with his
stethoscope?

Another complaint ts that
they make you come all the
way down to their office
again to look at such things
as X-rays when they could
just as easily tell you the
results over the phone The
reason”? Well, of course, they
get to tag on another visit to
be added to their Medicare
billing number in Victoria

With all due respect, doc
tors are overwhelmingly on
the take. There ts no doubt in
my mind that one of the
reasons for the 1T8 per cent
rise in the costs of the
Medical Services Plan over
the last five vears has been
the avarice ff not duplicity of
the many doctors to over
book themselves regardless
of the havow wrecked on pa
vents) work schedules, who
setup unnecessary exttha Visits

to pad therm immcomes, and
who mollyocoddle hypo
ehondiiacs for the sake of
bucks

Also. by being such tighe
wads when it comes to com
puteriing ther offtees. they

allow oa lot of preseriptian

drug abuses to go um hecked

lseler tothe patient cither a
pull popper of a pill dealer
who poes to several different
doctors for prescriptroas and
xetS away with oat bee ause
most doctors are still using
the absurdly outdated pas

Vise aod

having patients’ frles

Lol, se

SWIVEL
ROCKERS

and
RECLINERS

INCREDIBLE
SELECTION
WAREHOUSE PRiICtu

puY WITH CONFIDENCE
Saneremnnt wiih Linn a

' ve * ' vs nt AON HINGE:

on ay tt Ene

SOLO

HOME FURNISHINGS

Warenouse/Showroom

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
(@ vDika bening the Avalon)
at 10785 Aoosevelt Crean) N Van

 & Sun 9BO-B 738

12 4 Sun

kept in splendid notepaper
tsolation.

Some of the $2 millon that
the B.C. Medical Association
plans to spend setting up a
political lobby would be bet-
ter invested, if you ask me, in
setting up a central computer
bank with drug files that
could be accessed by in-
dividual doctors’ terminals.
P|

““By being such
tight-wads, they
allow a lot

of prescription
drug abuses to
go unchecked.’’

Obviously, not all is well
with British Columbia's
medical system Not when
medical costs are nearty 30
per cent higher here than else
where in Canada and rising at
double the rate of inflation
Not when the Royal © olum-
brian Hospital has to close
down ifs neurosurgical
facilities due to lack of beds,

respirators and nurses Not
when 10 to IS per cent of
deaths from accidental in

NE OF THE RECURRING COM-
PLAINTS 1

juries could be prevented by
proper management of pre-
hospital care.

It's no joke any longer
when the chairman of the
Saskatchewan Alcoholism
Commission urges the use of
breathalyzers in the operating
room to check the condition
of doctors before they start
to shce. (Twice as many doc-
tors are hooked on narcotics
as ordinary people and seven
per cent of them become
alcohohics.) | 7

Of course, W's a well-
known polling result that
most doctors feel underpaid
and that the reason they take
on all those extra patients is
to boost their meagure in-
comes. Well, pass the hankie!
Who DOESN'T feel under-
paid?

At the moment we are
heading toward a glut of doc-
tors Accordingly, the
BCMA 1s) moving toward
having a say in who can prac-
tise and who can’t

But the ming of the move
couldn't be worse It seems
obvious that the unwashed
masses as well as steely-eyed
politicians have got around
to noticing that professional
bodies such as the BCMA can
say they act in the public in-
terest all they hke, but when
something really hits them in
the pocketbook, they close
Tanks, reacting just like any
other trade umon

Just wanted to get that off
my chest, Doc It’s been
bothering me Thanks

SCALE SALE

Novus Model 22

accurate on Carpeting
e Convement digital
readout
ballery Operated
suggested list $94 98
taled #1 by
(consumer s Report
Magazine

ng

Bathrooms
Beautiful

er ARK ROVAL
926 5122

OAKRIDGE
766 BB1)

LANSUU weres
2735 7538

Charged

AMBLESIDE HOBBIES & CRAFTS

with NV 14205 Me pogeia Van

open 6 days :

robbery

NORTH VANCOUVER
RCMP has charged Douglas
Alan Nielsen with armed
robbery following a $95
robbery al a convenience
store early Thursday.
Nielsen, 27, appeared in
court Thursday to face the

charge and was remanded
unul Dec. 14 to. obtain
counsel.

Nielsen was arrested and
charged after a lone male
produced a knife and
demanded cash from the
clerk at a Seven-Eleven store
at Third Street and Chester-
field Avenue Thursday

ANOTHER SOFT SELL FOR CHRISTMAS!

WERE THE
SOFTWARE
PRICEBUSTERS!

TRIPLE PLAY : TRIPLE PLAY
PRICEBUSTER  . -PRICEBUSTER
FOR THE | . 4 FOR THE APPLE
COMMODORE 64! y COMPUTER!

515428.

CHONT BE STR RS

Plas bbl SIME LATOR TI
ARO HIOON T]

peeprebee Caaatre ss phe Oberg cboall

*1592°..

PL bE ET SIMULATOR HI
VRC HTOON EP SAY EON

TAKE YOUR PICKS
WITH SYSTEM SIX!

O92.

ver ploritia all Cbrastcste

BRING IN PHIS MAP AND
RECEIVE A FREE DISK'

comn
twee HONE MLAS ENE ‘
ABE TORK ER
m SOD HOt bat bs
Isr NESE
PNETR E dean
MALAZINE Ht pore

Odabrtedgn (enters

tee 1

“MM