The Vanishing American Doctor

I recently visited my cardiologist, someone I've seen only fleetingly and annually since my heart attack in 2016. Silly me, I thought that after a heart attack a person would rate more time with a doctor who specializes in keeping people from having heart attacks in the first place, and certainly from having another one. But no, I'm just another statistic: The American Heart Association’s update revealed that as of 2025, approximately 5% of adults had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, meaning millions of Americans are living with this condition. 

Still, even though I have plenty of company, it's not nothing -- at least, to me. So I was annoyed when I received a text the day before my annual checkup saying I should prepare for my upcoming "20 minute appointment with Dr. Thomas."

It takes me half an hour to drive to the doctor's office, and that's with no traffic. I've waited a year to see her, and maybe I have some questions. But 20 minutes is all I get? I figured it was just an expression. But then, about ten minutes before the appointed time as I was pulling into a parking spot at the medical center, I got another text saying that my "20 minute appointment with Dr. Thomas" was nigh.

Beginning promptly at 11:00, the first eight minutes were spent with a nurse who took my blood pressure, performed an EKG and asked a lot of questions to update the information in my chart. Then the doctor arrived, listened to my heart and lungs with her stethoscope, and told me how I was doing according to the results of her examination. Glancing at her watch,  she slowly backed towards the door. At exactly 11:18 I said I had a question, and she said I should "make it quick." I did, and she was out the door at exactly 11:20, saying,"See you next year."

Fortunately I didn't have a heart attack right there, as she certainly had no time for that kind of nonsense.