Member-only story
I Love My AI Doctor
Finally, a decent bedside manner
I have never had my own doctor. A doctor I could call or see on a regular basis. One who remembers me from one visit to the next. One for whom I am more than a stop on his or her rush from one patient to the next.
When I drew a salary, I didn’t have a regular doctor because I changed jobs a lot. That meant changing health insurance companies often, which meant changing doctors often. When, later in life, I became self-employed. it was because I got health care through an HMO.
When I first enrolled, my HMO promised me a primary care physician who would get to know me and be there whenever I needed. The HMO, however, had a high turnover of doctors, which means the promise was one it was incapable of keeping.
Over the years, I’ve had a series of physicians assigned to be my personal doctor, and I’ve never met any of them. When I have a medical problem, I call to make an appointment with my personal physician, get informed that he or she has no available appointments until three years from next Wednesday, and agree to see whichever doctor is available tomorrow. After many years, I’m used to it.
Although impersonal and often deceptive, I’ve received good care from my HMO. I don’t have a personal barber or plumber either, but my hair gets cut, and my plumbing…
