Paying a visit to the doctor

About two and a half years ago, my mom was diagnosed with Cancer.  After two surgeries and chemotherapy, the Cancer was brought down to undetectable levels.  Recently, a PET-scan and biopsies have revealed that it is back.

Today, I took my mom to Memorial Sloan Kettering to see another oncologist to get a second opinion on the diagnosis and future treatment plan.  All of the people we interacted with were very professional, courteous (friendly even), and competent.  My only complaint is that we met with the doctor about 2 hours after our scheduled appointment time.  As Seinfeld would said,
"See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation and that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them."

We did eventually meet with the doctor, so things weren't so bad, but I couldn't help but wonder, why was the doctor so late.  Considering that each person we spoke to, from the person at reception to the nurses and doctor, seemed really good at their jobs, it seems that there is something systematically built into the medical industry where people will always be waiting for doctors.  The same can be said for cable companies who ask their customers to be home anytime from 9 am to 4 pm.  I guess the thing in common is that almost every one needs both a doctor and cable t.v.

The problem is that no one cares that my appointment ran late.  I don't think doctors charge by the hour (except for psychiatrists).  If they did, maybe insurance companies would try to audit doctors and force them to move things along.  Also, I don't think punctuality is a must have trait for being a top rated doctor.  For oncologists, I would hope survival rates for patients is the number one thing.

Anyway, for the sake of posterity, I wanted to note the timeline:

• 10:45 am - Entered the medical building ( got our parking validated ).
• 10:50 am - Found the registration office.  We were given a form with our information already filled out that we had to verify.  Nice, they seem to know who we are.
• 11:00 am - Met with someone in registration who confirmed our insurance info, privacy laws and other miscellaneous items.
• 11:10 am - Went to another floor of the medical building, filled out some papers, and began the wait.
• 11:30 am - Called in to see the nurse to do some measurements like height, weight, blood pressure.
• 12:00 pm - This was our scheduled appointment time to see the doctor.  At this point, we've finished all of the preliminary work a while ago, so we expect everything to run smoothly.
• 1:40 pm - Called in to go to the exam room.
• 2:00 pm - Doctor walked into the exam room.  (two hours after our scheduled appointment).
• 2:30 pm - At the end of the visit, we scheduled a follow up visit to see a surgeon.  This time we booked it for 8 am.  We were told, the earlier the visit, the less likely that it will run late.  

This day reminded me of my own work, where I estimate (often poorly) how long a project will take to complete.