Is this a normal doc practice?

P

pixelelf

Registered User
we are deciding whether to go back to our home country to birth or birth in hk and weighing the pros and cons. and we brought it up to our gynae today that there's a possibility we may go home to birth. when i asked him if we decide to do that, will he still see me, his reply was, "when im busy, i will let my partner dr xxx see you."

im stumped. i mean, we go to him because we trust him and just because he may not deliver for me, i am not important as a client anymore? and whenever he is busy i can go to somebody i have never seen or heard before like a piece of meat?

is this what doctors do? when you dun give them "THE" business, they bump you off to someone else less busy?
 
This is quite unfortunate pixelelf.

And no it's not the normal practice in HK, it's probably doc specific. My own gynae was very good. We did go with him for the delivery but there was a period of few months when we had not taken the decision of where to deliver - and his attitude towards us or his thoroughness in the check-ups never changed. He is a very busy doc and honestly I dont think one patient less would have made such a key difference to him :)

I have other freinds who have been seeing private gynaes but delivered in QMH. The gynaes in their specific cases knew about this throghout. My freinds have no issues with their respective docs - infact they were quite happy with the care / service.
 
When I was pregnant I was seeing Dr. Doo. I advised him from the beginning that I would be seeing him throughout my pregnancy but delivering in a public hospital.

He treated me like any other patient and gave me his full attention when I had my appointments. He fully understood my reasons for wanting to deliver in a public hospital and was very supportive.

So, to answer your question - no that is not normal doc practice.
 
I saw Dr Ho and when I told him I wanted to deliver at QMH I had pretty much the same experience as you, he dumped me like a hot potato!!

In this pregnancy though, I was seeing Dr Patrick Chan and he was GREAT about me wanting to deliver at the public hospital. I think that it varies from doc to doc - I think it's about 50-50, unfortunately it is pretty common. I've heard of it happening quite a lot...
 
nicolejoy said:
I saw Dr Ho and when I told him I wanted to deliver at QMH I had pretty much the same experience as you, he dumped me like a hot potato!!

In this pregnancy though, I was seeing Dr Patrick Chan and he was GREAT about me wanting to deliver at the public hospital. I think that it varies from doc to doc - I think it's about 50-50, unfortunately it is pretty common. I've heard of it happening quite a lot...
Click to expand...

yes, nicolejoy, im seeing dr ho.
 
I've had friends who went with Dr Ho who were very happy with him - and I'm not trying to bash him or anything, because I think probably if you're going to deliver with him, he's probably great... And he's meant to be great for fertility issues as well. But I think that if you want to see a doctor for JUST antenatal care, I don't think he's the doctor to see, unfortunately!!
 
If its any help Dr Ho's partner Dr Hon is lovely and out of the two I would pick him first.

Saw Dr Ho twice early in my first pregnancy (2008) and didn't really click with him so changed to another clinic. I also was going to deliver in the public hospital and he knew this from day one so that may have been why he felt so impersonal to me.

Late last year I had what I thought was just a gynae problem and needed to be seen asap. After ringing heaps of clinics Dr Hon fitted me in on the day I rang. I ended up in surgery that evening after discovering it was an ectopic pregnancy (didn't know I was pregnant) and Dr Hon was very caring throughout. He even discounted his fees when he found out my insurance wasn't going to cover it because it was pregnancy related.

A friend has since had to go see him and has found him to be exactly as I describe.

If I manage to get pregnant again then I will be going to see Dr Hon.
 
I think it is understandable. Some doctors are really busy, and are so fully booked, that they have to see patients out of their regular consultation hours.

My doctor is one of them. His consultation hours on Saturdays are in the morning only, but most of the time, I get to see him in the afternoon. The first time I called for an appointment, I had to wait 2 months.

I guess that, when you decide to deliver with a particular doctor, he would try to squeeze you in, so that he can fully follow up with your pregnancy until the delivery. But if you are not going to deliver with him anyway, he just feel like you have a lower priority, and just prefer to save his time slots for patients that he feels need a closer follow up.

So I guess your doctor dumped you not purely because of "THE" business. He also get paid each time he sees you, even when you are not going to deliver with him. He just doesn't want more patients than what he can (or he has to) handle.
 
I've had similar experiences with two private gynecologists. They became very abrupt and practically dismissed me out of their clinics the moment they found out that I was delivering in a public hospital. I'm currently seeing Dr. Poddar at the OT&P clinic in Central. He used to work in a public hospital and knows the system well. Dr. Poddar has been professional and caring everytime I see him.

As for Dr. Ho, I've had bad experiences with him when I was trying to conceive and would never recommend him to any of my friends.
 
I'm also seeing Dr Hon and he is fantastic!!! He knows I'll be delivering at QMH and he has no problems with that. He is never rushed and he takes time to explain the scans etc. Very professional!

During my first pregnancy, I went to Dr Amelia Wong and she told me to stop going to her the minute she found out I was going public... I think she has too many patients and does not want me to ermm "waste" her time.
 
I saw Dr Anna Liu in Central and told her straight up that I would be going back to Aus to have the baby. She was great. (Apart from telling me 4 times during ultrasounds that I was having a girl when actually it was a boy hehe). Hmmm maybe not then!
 
This is not normal practice in Hong Kong. I guess many expats see doctors in Central. Some doctors outside of central are very experienced too, nicer, less crowded and have more time for patient care.
 
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