Wellness

[ValuSkr]

This happened to me three years ago.  My PCP resigned from the practice due to changes in his and his wife's professional and personal lives.  He didn't elaborate and gave his patients a few weeks' advance notice via a letter in the mail.  I was disappointed since I'd had him only a few years and I liked him.  The practice had two or three other doctors but I didn't know them well and was inclined to look elsewhere.

[Carmie]

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@LonestarBabs wrote:

The doctor who had been treating my mother for over 30 years sent a letter to all his patients giving 2 weeks' notice that he was closing his practice. No transition, nothing. Just "make sure you have enough prescriptions for awhile" and "set up an appointment within the next week if you need anything."

His practice was primarily geriatric, so all those elderly patients with health issues were left in the lurch.

Well, the other day I ran into his wife (formerly his office nurse) working as a receptionist at a brand sparkly new assisted living community, and she told me that her doctor husband was now serving 3 assisted living communities! I flat out told the director of that assisted living community that my mother would never live there as long as that doctor was around!

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So doctors are not allowed to move on and change jobs or positions?  Screech!  

This same type of reaction is given to hairdressers who change their career paths or just quit to stay home.

[Sameolmollysmama]

Yes, I've seen this happen with docs I personally know. With the insurance crisis we are in, they can no longer make a living, pay their overhead, rent, etc., and are being bought out left and right by hospitals, other larger practices, or just quitting altogether. It's scary. Get used to it. Another reason for his departure is he may have been asked to leave the practice by his associates. Or, he may be ill, etc. None of this is cause for reporting him. He didn't cause you personal harm. Inconvenience and hurt feelings don't count, unfortunately. I worry about by doctor constantly!

[terrier3]

Remember the famous line "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?"

That never was true, for one important reason - doctors are free to go in and OUT of service provider agreements/practices/groups at will. They don't have to sign up for a year at a time, like we do during open enrollment.

They are businessmen/women who work for themselves and can change practices, payment methods, whatever they want, whenever they want.

A woman who works with me has a cardiologist she really likes. She just got a letter from the practice saying he was no longer there and she would be switched to a new doctor. It took her a while to find out that her old doc had changed practices and part of his contract was NOT revealing where he was going. He wasn't allowed to contact his old patients, who were legally "property" of the practice!

I think we sometimes assume that because medicine is a "caring" profession - that practitioners should be more concerned with their patients well being.

[151949]

There was a psyciatrist on staff where I worked that did this - just disappeared one day. And a medical doctor who had a nervous breakdown and  was never able to come back.

[jpie]

I had a great female M.D. years ago that I loved.  She took time off to have a baby and let all of her patients know, but didn't give a return date.   Instead of searching for a new doctor, I just didn't go to one (just for yearly physicals and blood work).  When I decided I needed a general doctor, I called the office (maybe 4 years later).  The receptionist said since it had been so long since my last visit, I would be considered a "new" patient and she was not accepting "new" patients at this time.  I thought this was wrong, but accepted it and found a new doctor that I love!  

I did feel a sense of abandonment I suppose.  

I know how weird the feeling of having a trusted professional no longer be available, but I don't think that there is anything to report here.  

Good luck with finding a replacement.  Good doctors are a treasure and blessing for sure!

[Snowpuppy]

Two in my area had their practices closed for them. Suddenly, with no notice.

They had been prescribing pain meds like candy.

[jackthebear]

you could use zocdoc.com to find a new Dr. in your area

[sunshine45]

@sfnative

if your doctor was part of an internal medical GROUP, how come you cannot just begin seeing one of the other doctors in the group?

i have heard of this happening for several reasons......a couple due to pending or finalized malpractice lawsuits, one for insurance fraud, some due to illness, some who wanted to go back to their country to practice, and some just want to up and quit.....and retire on the spot. lots of burnout in the medical profession.

[sfnative]

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@Sameolmollysmama wrote:

Yes, I've seen this happen with docs I personally know. With the insurance crisis we are in, they can no longer make a living, pay their overhead, rent, etc., and are being bought out left and right by hospitals, other larger practices, or just quitting altogether. It's scary. Get used to it. Another reason for his departure is he may have been asked to leave the practice by his associates. Or, he may be ill, etc. None of this is cause for reporting him. He didn't cause you personal harm. Inconvenience and hurt feelings don't count, unfortunately. I worry about by doctor constantly!

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@SameolmollysmamaI am perfectly aware of what's going on, as my entire career sans 8 years was spent in the field of healthcare.  The comment "get used to it" is, I believe, perhaps uncalled for.

When I moved to Portland, I moved into a commnity where I knew no practitioners, so did my homework.  I chose this Internist due to her affiliation with the best hospital group in town and her education at Dartmouth (this lady can think!).  Upon meeting her she told me she had just left a practice down south due to x, y and z.  She practiced in this city for 2.5 years before declaring that the practice was x, y, z and that she would be moving down south near her home so she didn't have to drive ivy roads in the winter to boot and could work part-time.  OK, I thought.  We followed her 30 miles south, because she was an excellent practitioner.  Now within 3 years this person has made a move from south to north, then back south and now disappeared.  My bottom line at this time is that I've determined that as good a physician as this person was, circumstances have made her a failing professional.  She's now in a better place at home.

Oh and by the way, this person did cause me a great deal of inconvenience as I am a medically complex patient and take a number of drugs, each of which must be refilled on a 30 day basis.  For those of you with excellent health, consider yourselves fortunate - you really are lucky.  For those of us with a physician who simply wandered off into the unknown, leaving us with no source of prescription refill, we are in a difficult corner.

And, yes, I finally found what may be an OK replacement with an appointment on 03/20 in the city with a plethora of docs without credentials which meet my standards, as I grew up and lived for 50 years in San Francisco, a city know for its excellent professional clinicians.