Dr. To The Stars -- and Aviva

If you have been reading the blog with any care you have noted that every single entry makes reference to my ever-present cough. I live with it; you have to read about it. The turning point, where my ailment went from pathetic and feverish to merely annoying and disgusting occurred after seeing Dr. Court, a doctor who is not part of the National Health Care establishment, and has the fees to prove it. Cutting to the chase, Dr. Chase charged £90 for a consultation -- about $170 and rising (depending on when one performs the pounds to dollars conversion). What did I get for this 20 minute, $510/hr consultation? I arrived at a gorgeous apartment building, breezed by the doorman, and was buzzed in my the receptionist. The waiting room was absolutely empty -- no pesky sick people reading tabloids or looking infectious. Two nanoseconds after arriving I gave my address to the receptionist and she offered to hang up my coat. This was a little embarrassing in that my zipper was broken and I had to sort of climb out of it, but I did so with as much dignity as my hacking cough would allow. Immediately thereafter -- no waiting -- I was ushered into a room with a large class table. I met Dr. Court who shook my hand (sort of risky under the circumstances, I thought) and then sat across the table from me to take a very thorough history. He actually seemed to listen to what I was saying. Dr. Court then ushered me into the adjacent examining room and took my temperature, looked in my ears, and listened with his stethoscope, and had me blow into a tube. He pronounced: "You have stuff in your chest." My attempts to clarify indicated that I did not have pneumonia -- I would have been feeling much worse if I did -- but that I did need antibiotics, which he prescribed, and had to continue with asthma inhalers. Dr. Court was attentive, caring and, true to his name, courtly. In retrospect, I realized that this is the treatment famous people get -- no waiting, total privacy, good care, and outrageous prices. I bet I am his only patient in recent memory to have traveled by tube to see him.