Among Friends

[agb80]

My doctor while not retired might as well be as his heart is just not in it anymore. He seems comatose in his mannerisms and rote, mechanical style and I won't stay with him after this year.  He owns the clinic and he too has a policy of not switching to another doctor within.  My husband's search for a new doctor after he retired (because his former doctor does not take original medicare but has their own advantage plan which we are not interested in) found a much younger doctor and young pa's and they've been great.  They are very knowledgeable and up-to-date and will tell you when you ask about a certain med that is considered obsolete and has been replaced by something better than frankly we ever heard of.  I will go to his doctor too. 

[Vivian]

Many doctors are burnt out. The responsible ones quit. My 99 year old mother almost died because her now-former PCP stopped caring. It was rare to get through to the office during regular hours. Nobody answered the phone and there was no voice mail. I learned that if I called very early I'd get the answering service and could leave a message. However it took a visit to his office for my mother to realize that her doctor was downright negligent. No need for more details but I found her a young gerontologist who cares about patients, even if they're old.

My own doctor has been looking for another physician for over two years, ever since her last new doctor left. There is only one other doctor and two nurse practitioners in the practice. I hope that when my 71 year old doctor retires we can switch to someone else in the practice. Finding PCPs is all but impossible these days. Young  doctors are often in so much debt that they have to look for more lucrative specialties. We are really up Sch*tts Creek with our health care these days.

[ECBG]

@Vivian @agb80 @stevieb @ROMARY @chrystaltree 

Today I called to touch base with the (thank goodness) NEW new appts nurse.  

No explanation except short staffed.  NOT IN!!!

[mousiegirl]

I had an excellent PC, but she went into concierge practice, so referred me to another, which worked for a while, but she made one too many mistakes that caused me suffering, and when she was out one day, I had to see another doctor who nailed the proper tests immediately, so switched to her.

A year ago, I called to make an appointment and was told she left.  Month and months later, I was told she was back and pregnant, lol, so would see patients until August of that year, but due to the pandemic, we had a telephone conference.  I will see her in September.

I had been given to a male doctor, which I did not want, but because my doctor returned, I never saw him.

DH was only taken in by a doctor, different from mine, in the clinic because I was a patient of many years, otherwise, he would have been looking elsewhere because his doctor went into another type of practice, so outaging doesn't seem to happen around here, and none of my doctors will ever outage me, lol.

[SeaMaiden]

I never have good luck with finding a doctor to go to for a while. They retire or move...one doctor died  while out  rock climbing ....sad...

[Tinkrbl44]

@ECBG 

In the past 12 years, I have had a dentist, doctor and hair dresser "age out" on me.   Wait .... and one other doc retired and didn't even tell most of his patients he was retiring!   

[Andreatoo]

I am seeing a new GP on Monday! My next-door neighbor works in the office and I got her to give me an appointment. He or she is new to the practice.

Generally what I would do is go through the list of doctors on the plan and look for names that are surely Hispanic. I've had wonderful experiences with Hispanic doctors.

In my overall experience they've been warmer, humbler and more down to earth