“Arlington Ford, can I help you?”
Customer – “The motor in my car is going Ping, Ping, Ping. Can you tell me what’s wrong with it and what I can do to stop it?”
“Of course, we can. Why don’t you make an appointment and we’ll have one of our mechanics look into it.”
Customer – “Can I talk to the mechanic? I’m sure it’s nothing and he’ll be able to tell me what to do.”
“Our mechanics are all working on cars right now. I’ll set up an appointment for you.”
Customer – “Can you have a mechanic call me on his break? It will only take a minute. I can’t come in. My insurance only covers collision, I can’t take off any time from work, and I can’t afford to pay you. I want to know if I can fix it. Please have a mechanic call me.”
“I’ll have one of our service managers call you later today.”
Service Manager – “Mr. Ping, it’s really difficult to tell you what is pinging without checking over the car.”
Customer – “If you’ll just stay on the line, I’ll walk out to the car and turn it on. You can listen over the phone.”
Service Manager – “Mr. Ping… walking sounds, door opening, car starting…Mr. Ping, I can’t hear anything and I have to help other customers. I’ll put you through to the appointment desk, please hold.”
Customer – “You guys are all the same. You just want me to come in so you can run a bunch of unnecessary tests and charge me a fortune! I’ll drive down to the auto parts store and see if they can tell me want to do!”
Substitute doc for service manager and patient for customer and you have a true-life picture of an average day in the life of a doctor. Just as listening to a ping over the phone is essentially worthless to a mechanic, trying to accurately diagnose an illness over the phone is as, well. The difference is the mechanic who gives advise over the phone is not likely to make a fatal mistake.
If your body is pinging, bring it to a qualified doc. Invest the time and money necessary to keep your body safe and healthy.
