What Your Doctor is Doing While You're Sitting in the Waiting Room
Actors and actresses with accents that are part of their persona, such as those from England, Germany, or the American South, often have to work with voice coaches to keep from slipping into mainstream American English (whatever that might be). Even the accents of people who learned English as a second language eventually become homogenized if they live among the general population long enough. Apparently, it is very difficult to keep one's accent with two exceptions: if the person lives in an enclave with others who have the same accent or . . . the person is a doctor who has been in this country for more than two decades.
My 94-year-old father was recently hospitalized for cardiac problems and a touch of pneumonia. Before he was released, his doctor (who was not born in this country, did not go to medical school here, but has practiced here for more than twenty years) called me to explain the new medications he was prescribing. I had to make the guy repeat his instructions ad nauseum and spell the names of the drugs so I could get them right. I did fine until he started talking about hisspern. He kept saying that my dad already took hisspern, but that now he was supposed to cut that down to a quarter of a tablet. Hmm. Hisspern? That drug was not one my dad was taking. Then I remembered that he did take aspirin. So I asked, "Do you mean aspirin?" The doctor got testy, and said, "Hisspern! Hisspern!"
The nurse took the phone from him then, told me she'd give me a printout of the new drug regimen, and hung up. Later, when I checked the list, it was right there: aspririn — 81 mg.
This doctor often has his patients wait for several hours (even his almost-centenarians) before he sees them. Well, now I know why he makes them wait so long — he's out taking voice lessons to make sure he remains un-understandable. (I won't even mention his handwriting. Yikes.)
Tagged: accents, aspirin, doctors, prescribing medications, voice lessons, waiting room, why doctors make you wait
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Now, I realize that You may not understand , what I'm about to say , please bear with me ! Many foreign people , assume that because They have been around Americans for a long period of time , that " naturally " You or I " automatically , UNDERSTAND AND Compensate , for the Historical and Cultural Chasms that exist between Persons from Different Nations, this is an endless source of Friction, Frustration and Resentment, that builds slowly but surely over the years and eventually reaches a boiling point and results in the next Generation of these people in feeling that their Parents were indeed Foolish for coming to America , in the first place and hoping to be Assimilated and Accepted in our So- Called " Democracy ", if We are ever to have better relations with the rest of the Planet, then, You and I must take that " Extra " Step and try to " Empathize with People , Who Don't Share All of Our Common History ! Let's Not Be " The Ugly Americans ", O.K. ? !
JOSEPH wrote: "Now, I realize that You may not understand , what I'm about to say , please bear with me ! Many foreign people , assume that because They have been around Americans for a long period of time , that..."Joseph, I do understand, and if it were anyone else, I wouldn't have commented on the situation, but a doctor who makes no effort to make himself understood and is impatient at the efforts of others to understand him is dangerous. I wonder how many people, in an effort not to be ugly Americans, misunderstand the directions their imported doctor gives them and are too embarrassed or kind to question him. Besides, there is a vast difference between his economic standing and mine. So who should make allowances for whom?
" Nothing is Human Relations is ever simple, please try to make that extra effort , someday your grandchildren will depend on these same people that You are complaining about today ! It's worth noting that American Kids are on the bottom of Math and Science skills , in the world , today !
