Patient Abandonment by Doctor

[shinyhappypeople]

My head's going in circles.  This is a rant.  Appropriate responses: JAWM, educated advice about how to deal with the AWOL doctor (esp. if we can't get medical records promptly), and general BTDT sympathies/advice.

 

I'll try to keep the background brief:

 

Step dad has medical and chronic pain issues.  In September, he sat up in bed and broke his femur.  Surgeon discovered cancer in the bone, removed the tumor, inserted a rod.  Step-dad's had a long, painful, bumpy recovery, been moved from one hospital to a nasty nursing home (briefly) to another hospital, to an excellent rehab place, to - as of a few days ago - a very nice board and care home (24/7 nursing care in a residential home, very nice set-up).

 

Throughout all this his primary care physician has been AWOL.   He has yet to receive a referral to an oncologist, because of this.  (Insurance requires the primary to refer.)  Even when the ambulance has transported him to the ER  (several times in one week pre-cancer dx, plus one a few days ago), to my knowledge, his doctor didn't return calls to the emergency room doctor.  

 

His doctor has had his own medical problems (not life threatening, injury-related) and was out for a few weeks recovering from surgery. I sympathize.  I, however, am NOT sympathetic to the fact that he made NO arrangements with other doctors in town to take care of urgent issues in his absence. 

 

My mom called last week during normal hours and no one answered the office phone, not even an answering service.  She physically went down there and spoke to a nurse who left a message for the doctor about the need for a referral.  (Keep in mind, this is late-November.  The cancer dx was in September. She's tried repeatedly to get this doctor in the loop and get the referral going)  Mom called again this morning and the phone number is out of order.  Oh, and mom had an appointment for herself this afternoon and, afaik, never got a cancellation call.

 

So, basically, it looks like he closed up shop and told no one.  (There may be another explanation, but given the past few months....)  And what makes this an extra-lousy situation is that my step-dad really liked this doctor.  His bedside manner was great.  My step-dad has experienced some pretty catastrophic changes in his life over the last few months.  Losing a doctor he had a relationship with and genuinely liked just sucks. :( 

 

Mom has managed to get step-dad accepted as a patient by a fabulous doctor here in town (I'm a former patient, he rocks).  However, she has to go sign HIPPA release forms so they can request step-dad's medical records.  From the doctor that bailed.  Whose phone doesn't work.  Good luck, new doctor.

 

My mom is stressed, my step-dad is depressed, I'm overwhelmed, my husband is my rock, I'm not sure what's going through my kids' heads.  They're just kind of quietly watching and processing.  Please, if you pray, pray for all of us.  Especially step-dad.  Pray that God fills his heart with courage and peace, and overwhelms him with His love.  Thank you. 

 

 

[Peaceseeker]

I am so sorry this is happening. I will pray for your family right now!

[SKL]

That sounds awful.  Hopefully the new doctor gets things rolling quickly.  I have changed doctors recently and nobody needed past records in order to give me good service.  So try not to worry too much about that.  Best wishes to your step-dad.

[GailV]

Wow, I can't imagine dealing with all of that.  If I read it in a novel I might not find it believable!  Praying for strength for all of you.

[ErinE]

I’m so sorry. If you can’t get records from the doctor, I’d contact the hospital, surgeon, and imaging center for their records. They should be more prompt and likely have some information for the new doctor. The delay in referral to an oncologist is unacceptable. Though it might not help you personally, I’d look into filing a complaint with the state’s medical board.

[MinivanMom]

A few years ago we had a local specialist who suddenly closed down his practice. He literally called in his staff one day, announced he was retiring, and told them not to come back on Monday. Then he moved 4000 miles away. It caused a scandal in the medical community, but I doubt any of the patients knew what was going on. No patients were notified. The records (pre-digital record-keeping) were boxed up and put into storage. The doctor didn't even have the decency to notify other doctors who had referred patients to him for surgery. My husband had multiple patients who had just had surgery with this doctor who were not notified (my husband wasn't told either), so my husband was notifying his own patients and getting them transferred to different surgeons for follow-up and tracking down their records. It was a huge mess.

 

This doctor had a messy life (multiple divorces, sudden remarriages to women half his age, estrangements from his kids), but he was one of the best surgeons in his specialty and patients loved him. And he had never - to our knowledge - let the messy bleed over into his professional life before. So, yes, this kind of thing does happen - because doctors are people with problems and messy lives too - but it is pretty rare and very unprofessional. And I'm so sorry it's happening to you.

 

Everything is going to be okay. If your stepfather has a new doctor, then he will get his referral to the oncologist. If he has signed the release for medical records, the new doctor will track them down for him. These are the situations where I'm so grateful for electronic record-keeping. I know it's a stressful thing to be dealing with on top of a serious medical situation, but making the switch to another primary doctor will probably be the best thing in the long run.

 

[shinyhappypeople]

A few years ago we had a local specialist who suddenly closed down his practice. He literally called in his staff one day, announced he was retiring, and told them not to come back on Monday. Then he moved 4000 miles away. It caused a scandal in the medical community, but I doubt any of the patients knew what was going on. No patients were notified. The records (pre-digital record-keeping) were boxed up and put into storage. The doctor didn't even have the decency to notify other doctors who had referred patients to him for surgery. My husband had multiple patients who had just had surgery with this doctor who were not notified (my husband wasn't told either), so my husband was notifying his own patients and getting them transferred to different surgeons for follow-up and tracking down their records. It was a huge mess.

 

This doctor had a messy life (multiple divorces, sudden remarriages to women half his age, estrangements from his kids), but he was one of the best surgeons in his specialty and patients loved him. And he had never - to our knowledge - let the messy bleed over into his professional life before. So, yes, this kind of thing does happen - because doctors are people with problems and messy lives too - but it is pretty rare and very unprofessional. And I'm so sorry it's happening to you.

 

Everything is going to be okay. If your stepfather has a new doctor, then he will get his referral to the oncologist. If he has signed the release for medical records, the new doctor will track them down for him. These are the situations where I'm so grateful for electronic record-keeping. I know it's a stressful thing to be dealing with on top of a serious medical situation, but making the switch to another primary doctor will probably be the best thing in the long run.

 

Thanks for this.  Do you know if electronic records are kept in some centralized database that any doctor could access or are they just on the doctor's computer system? The privacy nut in me cringes at the thought of a centralized database, but in cases like this it would be REALLY helpful and potentially mitigate some of the harm this doctor has caused.

 

And really, how hard is it to refer a patient to an oncologist??  That's semi-rhetorical.  I'm thinking "not hard, the doctor has probably done it hundreds of times over his 30 year career and would have relationships with other doctors in place," but maybe there's more to it than that.

[Alessandra]

That is horrible!

[GoodGrief]

Your mom has done all the right things. Hopefully now things can get moving more quickly.

[ErinE]

If he's part of a hospital system, the records might be centralized. Our pediatricians' records are accessible by any provider in their hospital-affiliated network. If he's a standalone, it likely wouldn't be accessible.

[athomeontheprairie]

This is horrible. I'm so so sorry you are dealing with all this.

 

When my then youngest was 1 we moved out of state, sorta unexpectedly (As in when we had our last appointment, we didn't know it would be the last one, kwim?). Could not get records from her doctor. I called. Her new doctor called. MY doctor called. The health department called (which is where kids get their shots here). NOTHING. Complete silence.
Finally the health department told us to contact our county attorney. We did. He was able to the records for us in 2 days. We had been trying for 6 months. I hate that we needed an attorney to get those records. But there were some health issues that meant we NEEDED those records.

[MinivanMom]

If he's part of a hospital system, the records might be centralized. Our pediatricians' records are accessible by any provider in their hospital-affiliated network. If he's a standalone, it likely wouldn't be accessible.

 

This. Hopefully the primary doctor was part of a hospital system, but even if he had an independent practice, those records still exist. They're probably still at the physical location of the practice or put into storage if the lease on the building is up. The new doctor will track them down. 

[KungFuPanda]

I doubt the records have disappeared entirely so here’s to hoping the new doc has an effective method to get them quickly. It sounds like something horrible happened that forced the original doctor into an abrupt and ill-times retirement or hiatus. It must be bad to drop the ball like that. That’s just not normal.

 

I think you’ve done all you can at this point. I’m guessing this defunct practice is sending a ripple through the local medical community, so hopefully they’ll get it worked out for all of these displaced patients soon.

[wathe]

 

 So, yes, this kind of thing does happen - because doctors are people with problems and messy lives too - but it is pretty rare and very unprofessional. And I'm so sorry it's happening to you.

 

 

This.  Doctors sometimes get sick, and doctors sometimes get into personal trouble, sometimes professional trouble.   Practices sometimes close abruptly.

 

Your local medical licensing body will be able to advise you.  This is where I would start for advice on how to get records from a doctor who seems to be MIA.

[hornblower]

This.  Doctors sometimes get sick, and doctors sometimes get into personal trouble, sometimes professional trouble.   Practices sometimes close abruptly.

 

Your local medical licensing body will be able to advise you.  This is where I would start for advice on how to get records from a doctor who seems to be MIA.

This. 

 

Contact your state licencing body.  There's usually a whole procedure for wrapping up a practice and there will be a legal framework for how long records must be kept.  Unless the doc has gone completely off the rails, there will be records and the licencing board will either force them to deal with the handover or will do it and then deal with the doc. 

 

One of our docs abruptly shut down (during what we learned later was a criminal investigation). Our province requires the doctors to have plans in place and they subscribe to some private service which will keep the records for a set period of time and you can get them from the service. The catch was that if you did it quickly, the fee was nominal (paid for by the doctor I think); if you didn't arrange it and changed your mind later, they would charge a set fee per page and it was not cheap at all. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Laurie4b]

That is just awful!  I hope you can get the help your step-father needs soon! 

[AimeeM]

If he's part of a hospital system, the records might be centralized. Our pediatricians' records are accessible by any provider in their hospital-affiliated network. If he's a standalone, it likely wouldn't be accessible.

 

This is an issue for us, so I know it's a problem. Our children's doctors are all affiliated with different hospitals or are entirely private. We have two kids who have specialists with Shriners and aren't affiliated with any local hospital system; then they have a few other specialists affiliated with the main county hospital and then we have a few that are otherwise private or affiliated with the private hospital. 

 

None of them can access our children's records from otherwise affiliated doctors, unless they have have written consent and have to get them directly from the other doctor's offices. There hasn't been a successful merging of databases here, although it's my understanding that they are trying, at least with the two main hospitals (one private and one county). 

 

I'm sorry, OP. I would advise you ask the hospital at least for their records and have them moved to the new doctor. My children have been seen by cardiologists, etc. without all of their past records before, and it was enough for the specialist to get things done -- largely because the specialist will have his or her own set of tests they want to perform.

[Beebug123]

Ugh that sucks. About 10 years ago my doctor really went missing. He showed up for work in the morning and left the newspaper on his desk and then vanished. His car was found but his body wasn't discovered (with a self inflicted gunshot wound) for several months. I don't remember how long it took to be transferred to a new doctor but I don't remember is being terribly long. Can you not just ask to be assigned to a new doctor? That might be easier than waiting. 

[Lanny]

All of that doctors patients are in the same boat. Possibly the state or local medical society can somehow get possession of his records? The laws on that vary, I'm sure, from state to state.  

 

[shinyhappypeople]

The update, such as it is, is that mom and step-dad officially have a new doctor, and his practice includes a PA and connections to the wider medical community (ex-doc was a lone wolf, of sorts), so it's extremely unlikely that they'll be left high and dry again.  They're the lucky ones; they have private insurance in addition to Medicare.  My understanding is that there are few doctors in our area that are accepting new Medicare-only patients. :(   

 

Anyway, she's going to call her insurance to let them know what's going on and, beyond that, try not to worry about it.  She and step-dad have more important things to think about than righting this wrong.   

 

I also realized that the medical records that matter the most are from the surgeon and hospitals, which will be easy to get.  

 

So, things are looking a lot brighter today.  :) 

 

[JFSinIL]

 

I’m so sorry. If you can’t get records from the doctor, I’d contact the hospital, surgeon, and imaging center for their records. They should be more prompt and likely have some information for the new doctor. The delay in referral to an oncologist is unacceptable. Though it might not help you personally, I’d look into filing a complaint with the state’s medical board.

 

 

I was going to post this, too. Great minds, etc. Definitely report this to the state licensing board. Unprofessional and unacceptable.

 

Good Luck!

Edited November 22, 2017 by JFSinIL

[kiwik]

All of that doctors patients are in the same boat. Possibly the state or local medical society can somehow get possession of his records? The laws on that vary, I'm sure, from state to state.

Hopefull they aren't all waiting for an oncology referral.

[prairiewindmomma]

Contact your state medical licensing board. Fwiw, our state attorney board actually has an intervention team that comes in in emergencies like this and takes care of all files and urgent matters. I suspect the medical board has a similar intervention team.

[ashfern]

:grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Bluegoat]

That's too bad.

 

This guy may be just lazy, but I'd try not to be too mad - he may actually be struggling himself, in terms of health or having even run out of money to pay staff.  I know around here it is very difficult to get a doctor to take over a practice of retiring doctors.  IN some areas you can't even get anyone to come in, and eventually the older doctor just has to leave.  Sometimes it happens that they carry on until they have a health crises themselves.  But even in the city, they might get a locus for a while, but not many younger doctors are willing to buy into practices.  They want to work in practices other people own and run.