So Today I learned that my Primary Care Physician just "Disappeared"

[TheWatcher]

Without a trace apparently.

I called to make an appointment with my Doctor today, and was told that she had basically "Disappeared without a trace", left no forwarding information, nothing.

She didn't notify her patients, many of who have been calling the Clinic the past month, very angry that all of a sudden they have no doctor, they can't get meds refilled, and that basically, they have to start over and find a new Physician from Square One.

I was pretty shocked to find out about this, and it has me wondering what could have been going on in this person's life to make them do this, and not even not only notify the clinic she was leaving, but not even notify her patients so they could make arrangements.

Luckily for me, I managed to get a new provider and an appointment with same for tomorrow, but this was kind of a shock. Also luckily for me I have two months of refills on my medications, so I wasn't screwed by that either, but a lot of her other patients apparently weren't so lucky. The clinic where she worked has been getting a lot of angry phone calls.

Just one more bizarre thing in a week that has been filled with.....bizarre.

:shrug:

[monmouth]

1. Will you be able to pick up your medical records??...n/t

[TheWatcher]

4. Well, it is a pretty large Clinic, and not a Private Prctice so from what I understand, they still

have my medical Records, so everything is cool with that.

But, damn. Without a trace.

She's just GONE.

Poof.

I'm actually supposed to be taking a sabbatical from DU and cleansing my soul for a bit, but I had to pop in and share this.

it was a bit of a shock.

[Quantess]

25. Naiive question: is that what patients are supposed to do?

Whenever I stopped going to a different doctor for whatever reason, I never bothered to let anyone know it would be my last visit, nor did I ask for my medical records to be forwarded to the next doctor. Likewise, I can't remember any doctor requesting medical records from previous doctors.

But then, each of my medical issues have mostly been resolved by a single doctor/hospital at a time.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Wow, I hope she's OK

And that no harm has come to her.

[TheWatcher]

5. I hope so too. I really liked her and she was a GREAT Doctor.

That's why I posted it about it, because it doesn't make sense and is totally out of character for her.

She has always had a very special place for the transgender community, and a lot of us really loved her and always referred others to her.

This is TOTALLY out of left field, and completely unexpected and worrisome.

Now a lot of us are wondering what to do. :(

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Have you checked with police dept to see if anyone filed a missing person bulletin?

Was your doc from another country?
Any family in the local area??

Is it possible your doc was targeted because of her support for transgenders?

[TheWatcher]

15. Well, I am in Seattle, so there is little chance of her being targetted for that

:)

Here in the Emerald City Transgender indiivduals are MUCH safer and treated a lot better than they are in most other parts of the country. I've lived all over, and I have to say this place has been very good to me, and that's why I hold on to it for dear life. :)

As far as I know there is no missing persons report either.

I actually have a couple of friends who are looking into this, trying to find out what happened.

It's a bit worrisome.

[mike_c]

3. several variants of that story have happened to me three times...

...in the last several years. Physician #1, who was actually a PA, left the practice with no warning to her patients. Replaced with physician #2, an MD, who did a disappearing act similar to your doctor's, just gone-- she was pregnant, and never returned from maternity leave. I changed clinics after that. Six months later, the entire staff left, including my physician, apparently over some sort of internal dispute at the practice. My doctor at that clinic joined the practice I'd been using previously, so I switched back, but was assigned to another physician (who I actually like a lot).

It sucks to never have continuity, though.

[SPedigrees]

6. we've been through half a dozen PCPs

High turnover at the clinic that has our records. Now we just put down the name of the clinic when asked to supply name of primary care physician.

I don't even use my rx insurance. Prefer to buy my meds from off shore pharmacies on my own dollar. Cheaper and less hassle. It would take something life threatening to get me to visit an MD these days.

[Siwsan]

7. I've seen something similar

I credential physicians (verify their education, boards, licenses, insurance, work history, etc). One time a physician went back to his home country, for a few months, to visit family and do some clinical work. When he tried to return, the government wouldn't let him leave. I can't remember the country, now, but it was in the Middle East. It took him months to get cleared to leave.

I just had another one disappear. His former office manager said they don't know where he went, but suspect he returned to Pakistan. Also just had two physicians deported. They had been here, for years, but messed up on some paperwork. The INS cut them NO slack, and sent back to the Philippines.

So, having a physician disappear isn't so unusual, in my universe.

[Pharlo]

8. My GP disappeared one day also.

Turns out his wife had a gambling addiction and was embezzling from the practice. Turned into quite a little drama. Then, one night, before sentencing, they disappeared. Never heard anything more about them.

[rox63]

9. I'm losing my PCP, but not under such strange circumstances

I've had a doctor that I really liked for the last 12 years. But now that her kids are grown, she's decided to leave her practice and switch to working on health care in developing countries. A noble cause, to be sure. But there aren't a lot of PCP's in my area that are accepting new patients. So I'm starting over from scratch.

I hope nothing bad has happened to your doc. :scared:

[elehhhhna]

10. She probably got a better offer and took an different job --

the practice doesn't want y'all switching. Docs have non-compete clauses in their contracts. Google around -- you'll probably find her.

[PCIntern]

12. ..or left the state....

dentists who go bankrupt or when the creditors are breathing down their necks do this as well. I have several classmates who disappeared from the East Coast and turned up in Nevada, AZ, and WA.

[tammywammy]

11. The only person I know that disappeared for months was a crack addict

I feel bad for the clinic having to field those angry calls. Very strange.

[damntexdem]

14. Could your PCP have been on PCP?

I do suggest that you switch docs.

[Raine]

16. That happened to me with my chiropractor

I'd seen for 5 years and he just disappeared, closed the office and emptied it. I know he was going thru a divorce and he was involved in some insurance dealings. I think he fled the country.

[slackmaster]

19. Was he a Scientologist by any chance?

Many chiros are.

[Raine]

21. hmmm could've been

luckily if so he kept it to himself and didn't try a conversion on me.

[DemReadingDU]

22. My chiropractor too

He was in an office with a couple chiros, so am not sure if there was some kind of friction among them. Anyway, he showed up in a google search, halfway across the country.

[Mike 03]

17. Something similar happened to me once.

I have to preface this by saying this doctor seemed really weird to me and I didn't like him, but a friend had told me was great.

I received a card saying he had left the profession for "personal reasons."

That was it. He was gone, boom.

My suspicion was that it was substance abuse, or psychological.

[slackmaster]

18. That happened to a chiropractor that I knew

He was a Scientologist. He surfaced as a Scientology minister in Clearwater, Florida.

I heard recently that he was back in practice in San Diego.

[DemReadingDU]

23. our podiatrist left one day, decided to become a minister

I guess people in all professions get burnout.

[distantearlywarning]

20. That happened to me one time.

I didn't realize this was so common among physicians!

[rucky]

24. Call Nancy Grace. n/t

[TheWatcher]

26. Yes, I'm sure that will be of incredible assistance.

Thanks for your concern. :eyes:

She was a Great Doctor who had a practice for many years, and was really important to the Transgender Community in this City.

It's a big loss for a lot of good people.

Take the off color comments to the Lounge.