Doctor Wants to Know if They’re a Jerk for Refusing to See a Friend’s Partner Without an Appointment

It’s gotta be tough to be a doctor or a dentist and to always have people hitting you up for free medical advice.

And you know it probably happens all the time…

Now, go ahead and check out a story from Reddit’s “Am I The A**hole?” page from a doctor who wants to know if they’ve been acting like a jerk…

Let’s see what happened.

AITA for refusing to see a friend’s SO without an appointment?

“I understand that the title is a bit strange, but English isn’t my native language, but I hope that’s not going to be a barrier. Furthermore, this isn’t my main account as I would like to avoid any possibility of recognition.

I am an ophthalmologist and I have a private clinic (private practice) in my country, which means I hardly work at hospitals. My schedule is usually quite busy, and my agenda is taken care by my secretary.

The problem, however, is with my friend’s significant other (SO). Last week, we were talking during dinner, and his SO told me she needed to have her eyes checked as she thought she needed different glasses. I told her she could call my clinic and have my secretary make an appointment for her.

However, she was under the assumption that she didn’t need to do that. She told me she would just come in whenever she had the time. As mentioned before, my schedule is quite packed, and I don’t take walk-ins in my clinic to reduce waiting time of the patients.

I told her that wasn’t going to work, and if she wanted an appointment, I would be glad to see her, but she needed to schedule with my secretary, so there’s no trouble. Apparently, that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and her mood got quite foul after that for the rest of the night.

Yesterday, she came into the clinic without scheduling, and my secretary told her she wouldn’t be able to be seen. She got furious and stormed out, and later, I got a call from my friend (her SO) and he told me I behaved poorly as I could have fit her between consults, and it wouldn’t be a problem.

Thing is, even I could, I wouldn’t. It would not be fair for the rest of the waiting patients. When I told him that, he also got furious and called me many things, a**hole, being one of them. Now, I don’t think I’m in the wrong here, but on the odd chance that I might have behaved inappropriately, I thought it would help to hear different opinions.

So, Reddit, AITA?”

Take a look at how readers on Reddit reacted to this story.

This person said that this person was not the a**hole at all in this situation and they laid out their case.

Photo Credit: Reddit

Another Reddit user said that this person probably also thought they would get this appointment for free.

Photo Credit: Reddit

This individual said that this doctor did the right thing and agreed that they probably wanted to be looked at free of charge.

Photo Credit: Reddit

Lastly, this Reddit user said that even if this person does make an appointment, the doctor needs to make sure they’re gonna pay before they offer up their services.