How much would you put up with to stay with a pediatrician you really liked? Molly's pediatrician is awesome, she has a deft touch with Molly, never does anything without telling me what she's doing first, is distinctly of the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' school of child medicine, and is always willing to discuss things like vaccinations and other 'normal' preventative child-health issues. She may not always agree with me about things, but when she doesn't she has a solid reason and will explain it to me rather than just hiding behind 'we give it to all the kids.'

Her office staff, on the other hand make me want to go on a murderous rampage. They never return calls (literally never, not one single time no matter how fervently they promise), they've messed up my insurance paperwork twice, cancelled appointments two hours before we were due to be there and then said that they'd call me back to reschedule (yeah, right) and then later claimed that I skipped the appointment and owed the missed-appointment fee.

I've talked to the doc about it, as gently as I could manage, and she explained that she likes to hire staff with no experience and train them up so that they can get jobs elsewhere. It's a noble thought, but the incompetence is driving me crazy. Right this second I'm counting the minutes until I can call again and find out whether they managed to get my baby's health insurance cancelled by reporting false information that looks like I was trying to perpetrate insurance fraud (Long story, but basically they filed the paperwork for three different kids all under Molly's name and insurance).

This has me so furious that I'm about to change pediatricians just to get away from this office staff. Except that I keep coming back to the fact that I really, really like this doctor and don't know how long it would be before I found another I could like and trust so well.

So how much would you put up with? Where do you draw the line?

sounds a lot like our situation...not quite as incompetant...but definitely drive me bonkers. our ped is the best in town though....and i put up with it for now.

I think you need to tell you rdoctor how seriously this is affecting you and your family. Let her know that the incomeptence is about to cause you to leave her practice. MAke sure you let her know that you love her, but that you cannot handle the way you are treated by her support staff. Make a list, with dates. Everytime you call or they call you, write down dates and times and exactly what haoppened and who you talked to.

MNaybe she thinks it is just an occassional problem, minor screwup. You need to show her how deep these troubles run.

Also, let her know about the no calling back. that could endanger the life of a child.

yep ours is the same, the peds rock but the staff is less than to be desired :rolleyes:

love my pediatrician too, so far, but luckily there is only one of the staff that irks me. everyone else is so nice but this one girl is a jerk!

sounds like your ped would be open to hearing your comments.....i know mine would