Wellness

[Evie2004]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

Yes. In fact my latest doctor retired....so I am doctorless once again.  It has happened to me severel times over the last few years. Some just leave the building....no explanation.    I could care less as I have no relationship with them...just go for my physical.  I do not form a love relationship with doctors. So here next year I  will just pick another name out of the hat.  Why is it surprising to so many that doctors move on?  Not to me.

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I feel exactly as you do, regarding your relationship with your Drs, my friend "loves" her Dr, always asks about his family, vacations, etc..I am sure her Dr would rather stay on schedule than discuss his personal life with her..I am currently with the 3rd doc I have had (same group) in the last 12 years..the office has all my records, the office staff know me, never a problem with continuity of care there. The group I go to is affiliated (owned) by a large hospital group here, so don't feel like they are going anywhere anytime soon..hope not anyway..

As I spent 43 yrs working as an RN, I can add that LOTS of the Drs are my age, baby boomers, & are retiring in droves for the same reason we are..we are old & tired...good luck finding another Dr! 

[KarenQVC]

@sfnative  No harm, no foul.  Thank goodness you are in a city and have choices.  Call the best hospital and ask for a list of doctors with openings.  I hear rural health care/hospitals may go downhill soon.  It is the rural people who will be SOL.

[gracie2014]

@Moonchilde They are excellent....very impressed. I am dealing with an extremely rare disease that most of these folks have never even heard of..they are so on top of it..more so than some of the specialists on the outside...but once again they are familiar with me..it is different if you are not racking up frequent flyer miles..lol We have several groups to choose from...you know who to tell friends and family to avoid at all costs..I have the business card for my favorite..and call to see if she is on call.

[chrystaltree]

I never heard of such a thing.  I cannot speak for every state, there are some backward states out there.  Here doctors are required by law to transition patients to other doctors before they give up their practices or retire.  That cannot just lock the doors and walk away.  No concientous, caring physician would ever do such a thing anyway.  I have a good friend who wanted to scale back her practice and it took her 2 years to actually do it because transitioning patients can take a long time.  So many doctors don't accept new patients and it can be very emotional and upsetting for the patients.  Yes, you should call your local medical board to report this.  Patients NEED to have access to their records because their new doctors will need them.  And then there's the billing materials.  All those credit card numbers and Medicare and Insurance information....where is all that now?  Who has access to it? 

[NicksmomESQ]

 @Tinkrbl44 His patients know the whole story.For years he had planned for his son to take over his practice someday.He decided to retire a year before he told his patients.He knew at that time that his son had changed his mind.He didn't tell us sooner because he didn't want us to leave before he was ready to retire!! 

 The doctor didn't sell his practice because he tried to get all his patients to travel the distance to his sons new office.That's the reason why he wouldn't give those of us who asked referrals! He is not ill.He just decided due to his wife's urging to retire.He owned the building his practice was in & I read that the building was sold for $5 million!! So rent wasn't an issue.

  A doctor in the Urgent Care office I've been going to knew my doctor well & told me that he didn't want to refer patients to local doctors because he was trying to help his son.Part of the reason why his son was taken on by the new practice was his commitment to bring in new patients!!  It's a business!!

 Of course my doctor had the right to retire.But he should have come clean with his patients when he decided.He should have also told us that despite what he said in the past his son would not be taking over. He should have transitioned us out with referrals if that is what we chose to do!! He knows a lot of other doctors.He was just looking out for himself!! I know a lot of his former patients.They are neighbors & friends.None of us want to travel 20+ miles to see a PCP!!

  The Urgent Care doctor also told me that all the doctors who know about this situation thought he was wrong.They felt he turned his back on patients who have trusted him for many years!!

[sfnative]

@JeanLouiseFinch

I would not simply stop going to a physician, so for me that is a non issue.  However, I do hold physicians to a higher standard and there's the rub for me - simply put.

[sfnative]

@hckynut

John,

Thank you for sharing your intense experiences with me.  When you get to be as old as we are, we tend to have been through the mill at least a time or two.

As I've told a few others, I hold physicians to a higher standard of behavior/professionalism.  And, having worked so closely with physicians for so many years, even more so.

I was able to "find" a new Internist in the Providence network here in Portland, but know little about him except that he went to a top 10 university for his medical degree.  Wish me luck!

Change of subject:  Referring back to my cataract surgery, which I was supposed to have over 14 months ago.  It's been delayed, first due to two eye infections (very strange), then the ruptured vitreous sack which tore the retina way over on the right side of my right eye.  The darn thing was left to heal on its own, per my ophthalmologist, which it won't do.  I see him this coming Friday and hope he will schedule retina surgery on that puppy, so I can finally have the cataract surgery.  My vision has become so bad in my right eye it's ridiculous.

Take care, dear friend - Rebecca

[Karie2022]

Yes, a couple of them..both ob/gyns....one just last year, the other several years ago...have no idea what happened to them...

[dex]

Doctors are people making a living in their chosen career.Like all of us they will do what is best for them and their family.They give us their best care when we are their patients but they owe us nothing beyond that.

[drizzellla]

As many other people have stated. Doctors are people with a tough job.

A relative of mine was a well known and respected surgeon. When it was time for his daughter to go to college, she expressed a desire to go into Pre-Med. Her Surgeon Doctor Father talked her out of it. He had regrets that his family was "always second". He started his day very early for surgeries and then had patients appointments, and then phone calls and follows ups after surgery. Many nights he got home after 9:00PM. 

He felt that he missed out on alot of his family time as they were growing up. That is why he talked his daughter out of becoming a Doctor. He said if she wanted/planned on having a family, could/would she want to spend much of her time not being able to spend time with her kids and husband. He asked her how she felt when he was unable to attend her concerts, games or other events. That one discussion quickly changed her mind.  She is now a technician in a Child's Hospital and working 9-5.

I can understand a Doctor leaving a practice.