Sunday, April 3, 2011

Our Great Family Doctor

When I took Raphaela to the doctor today, to examine her allergic reaction to the insect bites from Hell, my GP opened up her computer file:  in a minor snafu, all of the basic data had been erased and needed to be re-entered.

Israel, for the last 63 years, has adhered to the male standard; by which I mean that when a woman gets married, the Ministry of the Interior automatically changes her maiden name to that of her husband;  in fact, all beurocratic identification asks for the name of the Father.

Our family doctor got angry that the circumstances of Raphaela's conception and birth meant that the slot for "Father" would remain blank, and that there was no space that recorded the name of the mother.  She decided, after noting my relative indifference to the subject, that she would put my name as Raphaela's father.  She also decided that she was going to make it her mission to have the HMOs refine their computer programs, to be more in line with the modern reality of the family.

My GP was extremely supportive of me during the pregnancy, and has given me her home phone in case I have a Raphaela emergency during the night or on weekends.  She has often expressed her admiration of me as a single mother, and is one of the few people who acknowledges that it is harder than I make it look.  I appreciate her, and wish there were more people like her in my life.

1 comment:

Rachel Selby said...

I never knew that about the father's name but no mother's name. We havre to go to the doctor tomorrow - I'm going to as him what is on DD's file? Very intersting, I wonder if it is just your health fund or all of them that do this.