OK,well. I'm really, really pissed at my doctor.

[LuckyTheDog]

I have had the same doctor for about 11 years. I don't know if he is really the best doctor I could have. In fact, sometimes, I thought he was probably too over-worked by the rat-bastard hospital system he worked for to even be a good doctor all of the time. But he was MY doctor. He got me through a lot of health issues. He talked me into losing 100 pounds (good idea, that one). And, he has been a comforting presence in my life.

So, why am I pissed? I got a letter in the mail telling me that the doctor isn't going to be practicing medicine anymore. He had some kind of spiritual epiphany and is going to work for the Jesuits doing... well... he doesn't really say. All I know is that now, without warning, I need to find another doctor. Great. This is all I need. It's not enough that I've been out of work for almost a year and am working at a job that will become part-time after a month or so. NOW, I need to find a new doctor.

I know, I know. I shouldn't be so selfish. I should be happy for him if he's found a new calling that satisfies him. Lord know that dealing with the hospital bureaucracy, PPOs, HMOs, etc. could not have been fun.

But, all I can think is: "That jerk had a mid-life crisis and now I need a new primary-care doctor. This sucks." I feel abandoned and let down.

I'll get over it. But for now, I am pissed.

[NNadir]

1. Well - and I'm speaking here as an atheist - I don't really have a problem with a person choosing

to take a spiritual journey, particularly after working in a difficult career.

It wouldn't be my choice, but, that said, if you need for your doctor to make a life time committment to be your doctor, well good luck with that.

I have a good doctor, by whom I've been treated for more than 13 years, but if he left town, I would just have to understand.

[LuckyTheDog]

2. I know this isn't rational...

And I know I can't expect a lifetime commitment. I have no real right to be pissed off. But it was a shock getting a form letter like that -- and it came at a bad time.

I am sure he'll be happier. Like I said, I could tell that the hospital system was beating him down.

Also: I should have known something was up. When I went to see him, he always asked me about the state of my "spiritual health."

[NNadir]

3. I probably would have left him before he left me. That is, I think, unprofessional.

It's one thing to have a religion, another to preach it to medical patients.

[LuckyTheDog]

10. Ahhh. He was never pushy about it

He let me decide what it meant to be "spiritually healthy." I thought it was kind of quaint.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear LuckyTheDog...

Well, of course you feel abandoned! He did abandon you...and the reasons don't matter. He did.

So, now what?

Talk to your friends...find out who they like.

Or pick out a name from the phone book...

Actually, that's not a good idea...

Perhaps you could ask him who'd he recommend...If he's still around.

Sometimes they sell their practices to a new MD...

Anyway, I wish you luck, and I'm sorry he dumped you so unceremoniously...

[LuckyTheDog]

11. Thanks

There are other doctors in that same clinic. I might try one of them. At least I'd be heading back to the same place. But my doctor was an old-school general practitioner. It's hard to find a good one.

[jmm]

5. This might not be the most comforting way to look at it but

be glad he sent you that letter. My brother recently broke his arm. It happened on a Friday night. He went to an emergency room and got a cast but was told he'd need to contact his primary care physician and have another cast put on in a few days after the swelling had gone down. After jumping through hoops trying to contact the correct people over the weekend he found out his doctor had retired. So then he got to jump through more hoops getting a new doctor so he could get further treatment. I could go on about how they told him he'd need a referral to get his cast changed but I'll save that rant for a health care thread. You may feel blindsided now but at least you can be prepared if anything unfortunate happens and you need a doctor.

[murielm99]

6. I am sorry that you have to find a new doc.

I, too, am one of those people who has a really great primary care physician. The guy has gotten me through a lot of health care issues, too.

For some reason, this reminds me of a doctor we went to when I was a kid. He was a family doctor, and a good person. I have no way of knowing if he was a good doctor, but he got me through the usual childhood illnesses.

He was Catholic. He and his wife could not have children, so they adopted eight kids. Each of the kids was considered unadoptable because of some medical need. One had a cleft palate. One had a club foot. One of the little boys had several surgeries because his hips were messed up. One of the girls had something wrong with her eyes. They took them all and gave them the love and medical attention they needed.

When his kids started college, I was in my early twenties, and not seeing him any more. But I got a wonderful letter from him anyway. He was leaving his practice to run the health care clinic at a university. I don't remember where, but it may have been in Kansas. It may have been his alma mater. Anyway, my mom and I thought it may have been a way for him to send all his kids to college tuition free, which is great when you have eight children.

I suppose there are still great guys like him in medicine. I hope so.

[REP]

7. I feel ya - my rat bastard doctor RETIRED

I asked him, do I look cured? No! No retiring! He did it anyway.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Yeah, how dare our doctors retire?

They should work until they drop dead, right? No career changes, either.

[REP]

9. Good doctors aren't allowed to die or be ill, either