Some doctors still think they are gods. There is absolutely no excuse EVER for GPs (or their receptionists) to be rude, arrogant or off hand and failing in their duties to examine patients. Things in GP surgeries have improved and for the last 25 years that I lived in England, I had two wonderful GPs, excellent locums or other partners if my own was not available and superb receptionist.
However this was not always the case. I had one highly qualified, mysogenist GP years ago who told me as I lay in bed 8 months pregnant, with high temperature and bronchitis that I enjoyed ill health!! I complained to the senior partner and said GP without telling me struck me off his list and sent our paperwork back to the central location! I had two small children and no doctor! Shortly after I moved to another part of England and found my first wonderful GP, he diagnosed all sorts of minor things that should have been sorted months earlier.
In more recent years I moved my elderly mother to a residential home near me, which was wonderful, and the GP practice to which she was assigned was unbelievable. Arrogant, uninformative despite the fact my mother had the attention span of about 1 minute and a snooty receptionist who asked if it was the ten minute car journey that made me change to another practice. No I said, it's your attitude. I took my mother to my own wonderful practice where they said I know you want your mother where you know you will all be loved! Magic! and the medical attention was fantastic.
I have now lived in France for ten years and my GP could not be more attentive or more than well-mannered, arrogance does not enter his vocabulary - so much for dissing the French male. And all the other consultants that I have seen over these years have been amazing and I have never once come up against arrogance and disinterest. Despite excellent emergency and serious illness care in the NHS I would now not trust my body to any health service except the French.
The purpose of this rant is to say that many years ago I worked at the Royal College of Physicians. Here top doctors, who worked in the NHS, private practice, had students, set exam papers and gave their valuable time for free to the running of the RCP, never ever were arrogant, impolite and always thanked us non medical employees profusely. The President at the time, Lord Rosenheim, would greet everyone he met in the corridors and chat, including the waitresses. So any arrogant GP that I meet is regaled with this homily and goes away with a flea in their ear.
Some doctors should wake up and smell the copy. We no longer regard them as demi gods as our parents did.