Bureaucracy: Really?

There is one thing I am in want of right now:

1. To get a new doctor.

Myself a political science major, I understand the importance of the bureaucratic system in Ontario. Not to mention that all of our health care is tax funded. I appreciate that I don't have to check my Visa balance before going to emerg. I get that things take time. Democracy is slow, but it's steady, so let's appreciate it for what it is. But today, I think I just about had a moment where I wanted to take bureaucracy by the neck and shove my foot down its throat. Yeah, it was that serious. Today, I learned how to get a new doctor in Ontario.

Step 1: Lose your current doctor for 6 weeks. Minimum.
Did you know that to get a new doctor in Canada means to have no existing doctor already? The system doesn't understand or even care that my current doctor called me in haste to tell me "you're pregnant, but it could be ectopic, so don't get too excited", which obviously made me scared, then confused, then angry, and has resulted in me never calling her again. But because I'm pregnant, I haven't wanted to release myself of the current doctor.. I don't like the idea of floating in an abyss of doctorlessness. But, if I want to get a new one (and a local one), then that's what I have to do.

Step 2: Make sure all of your information is consistent across the board. Godspeed.
Well, in order to do that, you need to have all of my government documents updated with your new / current address. Which seems like no big deal, but because John and I have moved a few times in the last 2 years, I forget my old addresses which may be on each respective file... of course my license is up to date, but although Service Ontario thinks one thing, the federal government thinks another, and somehow Health Canada thinks another... so my social insurance, drivers license, and health card are all muddled up. I don't know where I live, people! I'm a gypsy of the land!

So I moved to the phones, meaning enduring holds, and numerous options, and government employees who are as exhausted with the system as I am, and finally got to know which old address was on file, and THEN and only then I was able to update online. Wahoo.

Step 3: Make sure that the doctor you've just claimed to detach from was actually your doctor.
All I had to do to disconnect myself from my current doc, was call a number and let them know I was disconnecting from my current doc. They asked my health card number and her name and that was about it.

Then, thankfully, because I had a wonderful attendant on the line, she got a feeling she should confirm the doctor's name with me. She said that if the name I submitted was wrong (or if she typed it wrong), I would receieve a letter in 10 days telling me to call back and try disconnecting again. And sure enough, it was wrong, but my lady was smart so she fixed the problem. (Hopefully.) Without her intuition, I would have restarted this process in 10 days. 10 business days.

Step 4: Check your mail for confirmation.
Within 10 business days, your 6 weeks of doctorlessness begin. Cross your fingers and hope you don't need anything too urgent... we all enjoy those walk-in-clinic wait lines, don't we?

Step 5: Call another number to get on a waiting list for doctors in your region.
This part I will do as soon as I get my confirmation letter, but it won't mean a whole lot until that 6 week period has ended. Factor in that I live in a town which is facing a doctor shortage, and one of the 7 available has already made it very clear that she won't take me on because I have chosen to work with a midwife for this pregnancy and plan to do so for future pregnancies. (That takes me down to 6 available doctors.)

Hopefully (and this is HOPEFULLY), something will come together quickly for me because I despise the idea of my babygirl having no doctor. For the first 6 weeks of her life she will be under midwifery care which I trust, but after that point, we're on our own.

Step 6: Cross your fingers and hope one calls you.
Once you get a call from a doctor, that's when you get to choose if he/she may be right for you. And beggers really can't be choosers, can we?

LET THE NECK WRINGING BEGIN.