Ohio State clinics cancel frequently
I am a woman of 46 who is disabled with multiple health problems, on a fixed income with food stamps, and who must rely upon Medicaid to provide my basic health care. Over the years I have consistently found that women doctors have listened harder to me and have made more genuine efforts to provide true care. So I routinely request them when they are available.My bifocal glasses have steadily become less and less usable. In early September of this year I made an appointment for Oct. 16 with the OSU Opthamology Clinic to have my eyes examined and a new prescription written. The clinic canceled that appointment. I made a second appointment for Oct. 29. The clinic canceled that appointment. I was told at this time that my appointments were canceled so the doctors could be in surgery. I asked if there was any way to make an appointment which the doctors could be sure of keeping and was told this was not possible. I made a third appointment for Nov. 12. Yesterday, the clinic canceled this appointment. I was told by the person who called me that had I not requested a woman doctor, this appointment would not have been canceled. It seems to me that if I had repeatedly canceled these appointments, the doctors involved would find me highly discourteous. Moreover, if any non-medical institution routinely failed to schedule appointments so that could be kept, those same doctors would agree that institution was terminally disorganized. On the face of the evidence, the OSU Opthamology Clinic is both discourteous and disorganized and I think the university community should know this. I think, as well, that the admission that the gender of the doctor makes a difference in whether the appointment can be kept should also be widely known.Finally, I would observe that as a member of the general public who has no official affiliation with the university, I can only judge the institution as a whole by the particular contacts I make with it. In my view, the way I have been treated does not reflect credit on The Ohio State University.
Gwennis AthenaColumbus citizen
