My 90 year old dad started acting a little confused, with less appetite, and I noticed a slight change in his breathing. "OK," I thought. "he is getting a little touch of pneumonia again" (this has happened before). He probably needs some antibiotic. So I called the doctor. Clinic couldn't get me an appointment for five days. Went in, and we described his symptoms. Doctor said that it sounds more like his heart condition is flaring up and is probably not pneumonia. He ordered a blood test and a chest x-ray. At the diagnostic center, a few blocks away from the clinic, they tried to schedule appointments a few days ahead, but I finally talked them into fitting him into the schedule and we got it done the same day. OK so we got the tests: --two days later the primary doctor called to tell me he has a large pleural effusion. He ordered a thoracentesis procedure to drain some of the fluid from his chest with a needle and analyze it to detemine the cause. i took Dad back to the diagnostic center but they could not get him in for four days. We waited and showed up for that appointment and the radiology doctor did an ultrasound: --he couldn't perform the procedure because there was not any fluid there to drain, the chest xray had been misread and what Dad really had was (you guessed it...) pneumonia. He needs to start a course of antibiotic right away, but the primary care doctor has to be the one to write the prescription. They would send the report back to the clinic and mark it as 'stat.' So I call back to the clinic. Original doctor is off that day, and they won't write a prescription anyway until dad comes back in for another visit. I need to make an appointment and wait some more. So nearly two weeks later, his pneumonia has only gotten worse, and I still cannot obtain the antibiotic which he needs.