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Doctor shortage

I had my six month appointment with my GI, and he informed me that he is moving to a bigger city at the end of July. We are now two GI's short, but he says doctors don't want to come up here. (boonies) I need a referral to try to see one of the two we have left. My family doctor is retiring, and we also have a shortage of them. I really don't want to have to rely on the ER or walk in clinics. My gynecologist said that the new family doctors will have an interview with you to see if they will take you on as a patient. I've never heard of that before. I'm supposedly a complicated case, and he said they may not take me. Is that even legal?
 
I was also told my consultant had reviewed my case and was happy to take me on which I found really strange! This is in the UK!

Hope you get something sorted, that's a crappy situation :-(
 
That sounds fishy! I know doctors around here will say whether or not they are accepting new patients but I've never heard of them interviewing to see whether they would treat you or not.

Way to kick someone when they're already down. Sheesh! I hope you find a good one that decides to stick around a while!
 
From what I've read on line, the "meet and greet" sessions are to maximize profits. According to the Canadian Medical Association, physicians are not allowed to discriminate against patients based on age, gender, race, religion or medical condition. If I'm turned down, I will lodge a complaint.
 
IMO you'd have to be a crazy to become a dr right now lol. I work as an xray tech and volunteer as an EMT on the ambulance. Healthcare is ridiculous right now. THere are so many rules and regulations, drs and nurses have so much paperwork that they have to focus more on the paperwork than the patient sometimes. I can't imagine why there would be a dr shortage lol.
 
My doctor told me that the new ones don't want as many patients, so it takes 2 or 3 doctors to replace one 70 year old that is retiring.
 
Id believe it. There is sooooooo much paperwork now! I am in the US, so drs can't refuse patients, i mean if they are in a clinic and not accepting new patients that's different. I work in the ER here a lot. I mean we have a trauma and the dr has to leave the room to enter orders in so that nurses and other staff can do their jobs. It's so backwards.
 
I just lost my 2nd gastroenterologist in 2 years.

He ordered labs on the way out, my iron is low and he told me I'd probably need an infusion, but whoever checked the lab results didn't bother reading the NOTES.

Ugh!!! I am incredibly frustrated with them right now. I'm about ready to call them up and tell them nicely to jump in a lake and cancel my appointments because I'm discontinuing treatment. Jerks.

I can't imagine having only one or two available. I hope it works out well and better than expected for you.
 
I just lost my 2nd gastroenterologist in 2 years.

He ordered labs on the way out, my iron is low and he told me I'd probably need an infusion, but whoever checked the lab results didn't bother reading the NOTES.

Ugh!!! I am incredibly frustrated with them right now. I'm about ready to call them up and tell them nicely to jump in a lake and cancel my appointments because I'm discontinuing treatment. Jerks.

I can't imagine having only one or two available. I hope it works out well and better than expected for you.
Paddywack- do you have the option of going to Mayo? I've heard good things about the doctors there. Too far of a drive for me!
 
Paddywack- do you have the option of going to Mayo? I've heard good things about the doctors there. Too far of a drive for me!
I could do it, but I'm in the cities. It's a drive, I'd have to pay higher co-pays (although I'm pretty close to my max out of pocket so whatever), but it's not really viable b/c of how many appointments I have.

I work full-time and my spouse is on disability. I have FMLA at work, but only so many paid leave hours. And I need a driver for the EGD appointments. Not sure I could find a friend willing to drive me to Rochester and back.

I sent the clinic a feedback email. It was sort of cranky. If they don't shape up, I'll look at switching to MN Gastro. My first GI went there, and he would probably take decent care of me.

Compared to OP's problem, I've got it easy. But I appreciate that people need to vent. So if anyone else wants to vent about how assorted medical stuff stinks, I'm on board with that.
 
I could do it, but I'm in the cities. It's a drive, I'd have to pay higher co-pays (although I'm pretty close to my max out of pocket so whatever), but it's not really viable b/c of how many appointments I have.

I work full-time and my spouse is on disability. I have FMLA at work, but only so many paid leave hours. And I need a driver for the EGD appointments. Not sure I could find a friend willing to drive me to Rochester and back.

I sent the clinic a feedback email. It was sort of cranky. If they don't shape up, I'll look at switching to MN Gastro. My first GI went there, and he would probably take decent care of me.

Compared to OP's problem, I've got it easy. But I appreciate that people need to vent. So if anyone else wants to vent about how assorted medical stuff stinks, I'm on board with that.
Gotcha! Finding someone that's good is hard to come by. I was recently frustrated by my GI. I had a resection done 12 weeks ago today. I saw my GI 3 days after I was released from the hospital, we scheduled a follow up for that appointment. Our next step was to do some blood work check for inflammation before starting a new medication. He didn't want to start me on something new unless we have to. I had issues with my incision healing(12 weeks later and its still not fully healed) so I called to reschedule that appointment. I told her they're going to be doing the blood work, the receptionist told me she had no idea what I was talking about they weren't doing blood work, she transfers me to a MA that tells me the same thing, she told me she would have to check with the Doctor and she'd have him call me back. I know how it works with him... after my colonoscopy I didn't get a call back with results until 10pm 4 days later. So I was extremely annoyed and just canceled all together. I'm waiting for the my incision to be fully healed before I call again, there's no sense in doing the blood work if that would throw the tests off any. It's just frustrating! He is the only GI in our Podunk town!
 
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