So I went to a new OB for the second time (it had a few okay google reviews and the first time went well) that I found online because my clinic in Tokyo is just too far. The clinic can only be accessed by car and the bus stop was 10 minutes away so I decided to take a taxi round trip instead. (1,200 yen each way)
I previously made an appointment for 1pm and arrived at 12:50. Gave the staff my health insurance and membership card and was told to wait. I was just sitting there with a pregnant woman and nobody else. almost 2 hours later I was still waiting, staff said nothing and I was getting impatient. I went over to the reception to say it’s now 2:30 and my appointment was for 1pm. They then told me that the doctor is currently in surgery for a patient giving birth. Wth? If it was an emergency surgery then I understand but why allow a patient to make an appointment during a scheduled birth or why didn’t they at least inform me about this change in the doctor’s schedule before I even asked?
They asked if I was willing to wait until 4pm and at this point I was getting really annoyed but I was already there so why not? Fast forward and it was now 3:45 and I have not seen anyone come in since or even the doctor when the staff approached me to tell me that the doctor is now having another birth appointment and they are closing at 5pm. She then asked me if I wanted to reschedule for another day and I was pissed.
In my mind I wanted to tell them to at least pay for my taxi since they basically just wasted my time. I took a day off from work to be there and had to pay around 2,500 yen for the taxi. I told them I’m leaving and they seemed apologetic but I felt it could have been handled better.
I guess I just want to vent although I understand that they could’ve been emergency births but if I hadn’t asked, I would’ve just spent 5 hours there waiting for nothing. We were literally the only two people waiting and it’s not like they were swamped with people that they forgot to tell me the doctor was suddenly unavailable.
Edit: I’m not mad at the baby, the mom or even the doctor. My point is the staff should have told me beforehand about this sudden change instead of sitting there staring at 2 patients without telling them their doctor won’t be able to see them. That’s basic courtesy. I couldve gone to work as soon as I knew and wouldn’t be mad if they approached me sooner and said the doctor has an emergency.
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From my experience, clinics and hospitals usually book several people (up to 10!) on the same time slot.
When I was pregnant, there were days I had to wait for two hours before actually see my doctor.
I also had the same problem at hospitals in different departments. It seems to be considered normal here… Now I just request the very first time slot to shorten the wait.
Though your wait seems more than crazy. I thought doctors wouldn’t schedule surgeries and consultations at the same time, but more like a.m. versus p.m.
In any case, they should’ve told you before you had to ask.
That’s ridiculous and disrespectful of your time. Doctors are not gods that can treat patients time as they please. I understand that a medical emergency can occur but it’s up to them to handle their planning better. I would not come back to this clinic. What if you had scheduled a babysitter for example and had to get back on time or would get in trouble with work? Their attitude stinks big time.
I would recommend you a big hospital for next time. It’s not as fancy and there are things you have to do yourself (weight, take your tensions etc) but usually you don’t have to wait so long (max an hour in my experience).
I’ve grown used to waiting around 2 hours past my appointment time at my OB. Sucks, but my clinic is the only one in the area that offers 立ち会い分娩 and epidurals, so I put up with it. 🤷🏻♀️
We actually changed doctors because of a similar experience. My wife had chosen a small private clinic / hospital with a doctor who had written a book on pregnancy. Second visit we waited for an hour or so and finally left. The staff told us that the doctor had an emergency with another patient and he is the only doc. So I was like what if there is a second emergency at the same time.
We changed to Seibo, a full hospital. Great choice.
Bruh you are mad that you had to wait cause someone was literally giving birth. Ugh.
OP’s mind: “me me me me me me me”
Go to a hospital or clinic that has multiple doctors, or go to a clinic where the doctor doesn’t deliver babies, and then have them transfer you to a large hospital when it gets close to your delivery. If there is only one doctor and they also do deliveries, this is going to keep happening.
I could understand waiting if you were a walkin, but if you had an appointment it’s kinda rude. Ultimately you should pick a place that have multiple doctors during office hours.
I will say hospitals are not immune to this either. If the doctor you are scheduled to see has an emergency, you’ll have to wait and they won’t try to slot you in with other doctors who are having consultation time.
There are several reasons why the doctor could’ve been stuck in an emergency surgery and not able to communicate with his staff—baby could’ve been in significant distress in utero, an unexpected emergency c-section, mom might’ve been haemorrhaging, baby could’ve been born and had issues that needed immediate care, etc. They probably didn’t communicate with you because they were unsure themselves about the situation. In a case of life or death, a regularly scheduled appointment would be a lower priority. If there weren’t a lot of people complaining about long wait times on google reviews, it might’ve just been a very unusual situation where you were unlucky with the timing. It sucks, but giving birth is a risky, unpredictable process. A c-section doesn’t take hours to complete, so it probably wasn’t a planned surgery.
I would advise to look for another hospital/clinic
Leave a negative rewiew on Google, let everyone know about their behavior.
My wife is currently pregnant. She has her appointments to the clinic regularly.
Last week it happened to be on Monday 9am. The clinic opens at 9 am, so I told her it’s nice to be first in line, then she’ll have the day for her.
She arrived and there were 20 persons before her. She didn’t want to make a scene so waited. Believe me if I was there I would have made a scene…
So your case doesn’t surprise me at all
Seems very unprofessional of the staff. Probably the reason why almost every google review of clinics in Japan is complaining about the staff rather than the doctors…
Privately owned clinics (especially OBs) tend to have a monopoly in the locality and are not afraid of giving bad service because what choice do the patients have?
It’s sort of unfortunate and ironically it tend to happen when the doctor is well known
I really struggle to understand the booking procedures for any clinic in Japan. It seems like most of them you can only make a reservation on the day, then you make a reservation, turn up, and just wait in line till a random time that bears no relation to your scheduled appointment.
I mean, the UK has a similar kind of gacha/roulette system, but I don’t understand why it is so difficult just to take bookings in advance and leave open slots for emergency same-day appointments.
Talk to them, not us! Not berating you, but they’re the ones who could have made it up to you somehow, we can do nothing.
I had the same feeling, when I came to Japan. In Europe I was used to having an appointment, say at 8am, see the doctor at 8:10 tops, and out before 8:30, so I could be in the tunnels by 9.
Here, you have an appointment at 9, and afterwards you can go straight to lunch. You lose half a day of work for 5 minutes of doctor time.
I got used to it by now, but I still wonder how much productivity is wasted per year by this, if you add up the lost time of all the patients at all the doctors country-wide, just because they’re not able/willing to organise themselves properly.
Welcome to Japan