The Tale of the Inefficient Pediatrician

Everyone I spoke with regarding a pediatrician when we first moved to Concord recommended the same guy, who will remain nameless. Lets just call him Dr. X. Dr. X has been upgrading his system and carries a laptop with him instead of paperwork room to room. I get not wanting to have files everywhere but really all this guy does is stare at the computer and has no interaction with us whatsoever. Meanwhile Bella gets fussy and starts playing with the otoscope or spygmomonometer or whatever she can get her hands on. Kind of crazy. So I'll be talking to him about her symptoms or whatever I'm there to talk with him about and Dr. X keeps shushing me because he hasn't gotten to the link he is looking for or he will enter something in the computer and it wont have the exact phrasing or symptom so he contradicts me. Oh and by the way...it has been nearly a year and they STILL don't have her medical records from her former doctor.

My latest qualm with this mo-fo occurred last Friday. I took Bella in because she started to get some kind of a rash. She had small red bumps form on her arms and chest and shoulders on Thursday afternoon but it looked like she was having an allergic reaction to something and didn't have any other symptoms so I dismissed it. 24 hours later the spots were absolutely everywhere and starting to surface. My first thought was that it was chicken pox, she hasn't been immunized and is constantly around little kids. So to prevent panic among the masses I took her in.

Dr. X was SO blahs e about the entire situation. He walked in and set up his precious little computer and without making eye contact started asking questions and inputing info. DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT HER OR TAKE HER VITAL SIGNS----NOTHING!!! He glanced at her from across the room and I had to basically thrust Bella in his direction before he would look at her. I was totally appalled! He diagnosed her with: Non-Specific Viral Exantham; which basically means she has a virus and rash and has no idea what it is or how she got it. (more specific "exanthams" are chicken pox or measles) Shouldn't he have done some tests? Am I just not being pushy enough? Do doctors just do that when their office is full of a million screaming children?

My experiences in the past have been so different, they at least show some interest in my child. Is it the type of insurance we have? Anyway I asked him if it was contagious and if I should warn the mothers of all Bella's friends and he was like..."what are you going to say? To watch out for a rash? Don't even bother!" Personally I would be SO PISSED if someone exposed Bella to something ESPECIALLY without a warning.

It seems that you don't need any kind of a degree or interpersonal skills to be a doctor now. Maybe I should try that! At $180.00 for a check up, it doesn't sound half bad! Needless to say, I am shopping for a new pediatrician. Bye-Bye Dr. X!