I gets under my skin!?

i work for a doctor who charges his patients for a cancellation of an appointment. he requires a 48 hr. notice. the one patient cancled her appointment because she was ill and unaable to drive. i know she can not afford to pay the fee, therefore, he will end up turning her over to collections! this is so so wrong!!!!!!!! what do you think?

That sucks. It's not illegal but it does suck. You can report him to the state medical board. I don't know how much it would do but its something.

I can understand why he does it. When a patient doesnt come in he loses money because he could have filled that spot with someone who would have come in. BUT on the other hand he is a doctor and should have went into his profession because he wanted to help people not because of the money.
You should ask him to put in a different system where if a patient calls in to cancel ahaead of time (not last minute) then they should not be charged that fee but when they dont even bother to call or call in just before the appointment then I can understand where he would want to chage them so as to dicourage that type of behavior (lack of a better word). Also try talking to him about that specific patient and see if he is willing to wave the fee for her even if its just once.

While I agree it sucks you have to look at the fact that he has set aside that time for the patient and if the patient does not show then the time is a loss of revenue for the doctor. Most doctors will waive that if you can prove that it was not your fault.

Then the doctor makes you wait 45mins to see him/her
I wouldn't go to a doctor like that.
Maybe if you jap-slapped him it would help.