[moal]

Doctor-patient written communications (email, whatsapp whatever) can put doctors in legal risk whether they answer or not. Answering in a meaningful way also takes from the physician's time, much of it during their after-hours. The clinic where I practice requires making a telephone number and email available to patients. A lot of patients might use them sensibly but some patients just abuse this. If it were up to me, I would also put a cost on each form of communication as if it were a visit to the office!

[distances]

> The clinic where I practice requires making a telephone number and email available to patients

I wonder if contacting your doctor directly is a US thing? Before this discussion I had never heard of such an option. I definitely don't have any way of directly contacting any medical staff, neither a nurse nor a doctor, it will have to be through an appointment.

This might finally explain why this "ask your doctor" is so often repeated online as a realistic option? You definitely won't ask your doctor about every minor thing if it's behind an appointment.