As a doctors wife I would like to give another point of view about the cell phone usage. I agree totally that in certain situations they should be set to vibrate *not to self - work out how to do that*

However a trend I have noticed that is not the doctors fault is that more and more people CALL the the drated cell phone. We live in a semi rural area with oncall services provided by a roster of doctors. This is an emergency service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and yet we get people calling at 3 am demanding to be seen by the doctor with ear ache, wanting to be seen on Sunday afternoon during the international rugby test with a sore toe they were too busy to be seen with earlier in the week. (NOTE - it is their convenience, not the doctors... when asked if they can wait half a hour - no they are going out fishing or whatever it is THEY are wanting to do.)

I have no problem whatsoever with real emergencies such as heart attacks, very sick children etc. I'm not a cruel unfeeling person. I know you cannot schedule your heart attack for a more convenient time.

With the advent of the cell phone, people are more demanding. They no longer have to stop and think - hmm, how about I take 2 aspirin and call the doctor in the morning?

These same people also dont want to pay extra for the service - but you woudn't call a plumber in the middle of the night without expecting to pay, would you?

Bah, humbug - I want to throw the cell phone in the harbour!

Allie who needs to rant every now and again