Doc, Can You Write a Little Faster?

It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to maintain such a casual attitude toward their health and treat it with such a lack of importance or urgency. For example, a blood relative of mine, who rarely visits the doctor, was sent to one by the company he works for to get an annual physical exam. As a part of this physical, his blood pressure was taken and it registered at 205/110, a very dangerous level. As a result, he was admonished to see his primary care physician for appropriate treatment for his hypertension as soon as possible.

After making an appointment, he went to see his doctor about a week later. Not surprisingly, his doctor wrote him a prescription for some blood pressure medication. However, instead of getting it filled immediately, he is still holding onto it after almost two weeks. He claims that he just hasn't had time to get it filled yet.

This seems totally insane to me. How could someone be so foolish? It's like knowing you have a ticking time bomb your briefcase, but refusing to put it down and walk away from it because you "don't have time."

If it had been me, I would have seen my doctor immediately, as a walk-in without an appointment. Then I would have urged him to write the prescription as fast as he could write it. After that, I would have run, not walked, to my car and driven well above the speed to limit to my pharmacy, where I would have bombarded the pharmacist with the repetitive interrogative, "Is it ready yet?" Once the bottle of pills was put in my hands, I would have swallowed the first pill before leaving the pharmacy and without the requirement for water!