When Paper Becomes the Upgrade
13th September 2026
I recently wrote about the wretched experience of trying to access a medical referral by using a medical portal that required various security gyrations, which in turn would grant me access to yet another portal with a fresh set of requirements before I could have a look at the actual referral.
Alas, the first portal’s requirements proved too much, and I had to abandon the effort because I can only spend so much time coming up with a password that requires 16 characters, an Egyptian hieroglyph, the maiden name of my third-grade teacher’s mother-in-law, an unpublished Hemingway manuscript, and one character not currently recognized by any code known to man, before going full Lizzie Borden on an iMac.
I have far too often had the same experience. I now invariably refuse to ‘check in online’ for doctor appointments; they’re doing it for their own convenience, not yours.