In another thread about the usefulness of the internet, someone said that the internet lets people know that they have the right to see other physicians, and that the providers don’t let them know about that right and/or get aggressive and/or belligerent when you try to switch. I have used Kaiser Permanente and Providence in the past and they both let me know upfront about this right to switch doctors, and neither caused any problems when I did so.
What has been your experience concerning this?
Note, in that discussion I was talking about getting second opinions, which doesn’t necessarily mean switching entirely. And my doctor has never told me I should get a second opinion if I wasn’t happy with his diagnosis. And I never pushed him about it when we disagreed on treatment.
Never had any issue with it. In the past, I never told them until it was already done until I requested the records.
I have “switched” physicians without encountering any hostility or resistance.
If a patient is dissatisfied with care or unwilling to following a treatment plan, a physician is very unlikely to try to hang onto them, especially with the caseloads encountered in many practices.
Not everyone is necessarily happy with requests for a second opinion, but it’s not uncommon and is a recognized patient right.
I’ve changed doctors without hostility or resistance. But I didn’t need the internet or my doctor or anyone else to let me know I have the right to switch doctors. I’m confused about why a competent adult would need to be told this - didn’t he or she choose the current one? Does the internet make it easier to find out which doctors take my insurance ? Sure, in the days of paper , no directory was truly up to date but there are dozens of doctors in my area that take my insurance.
They let me know my Dr retired, so I have to figure that out.
The context of the conversation was that when doctors are being dismissive of patient concerns that the folks on the internet may help the patient realize that they need a second opinion and that the doctor is not treating them adequately. A lot of people suffer under doctors who don’t believe them for too long. And other folks may end up nudging them to find a doctor for a second opinion.
I can’t understand most of what a physician said, save for he giggled and said, “It might not be cancer”. I asked for another guy, and they gave me another appointment with the same guy. I asked for another physician and they gave me an appointment a month away. I called to check on that and was told to find another doctor. Mrs. Plant has been told to sue if I die after being screwed around with for two months.
The context of this thread is finding out if people actually were told by their medical providers about their right to choose a new doctor, and if they had difficulty doing so.
Basically this seems so obvious so I don’t see why anyone would need to be told–people are used to switching service providers.
As to the difficulty there are all kinds of delays all over getting first appointments with new doctors. This is why emergency departments have so many patients who could be treated by a primary care physician.
Cool. Have fun with your strawman thread then…
May I ask the name of your medical provider?
Nope, my GP nurse is repeatedly calling them to try to talk to their business manager. I don’t want to annoy them any further. Apparently it is difficult to get an appointment with an urologist.
I believe they think I am some red neck racist who doesn’t like the guy because he is not European.
I’ll leave their name to you in my will. = )
Well, we are getting ready to close out the property in Connecticut, and move into the house I inherited in western NY by the beginning of the new year. I did have a conversation with my oncologist about the move when it was mooted 2 years ago, and he had doctors he works with in both Rochester and Buffalo, and once we are in Nevada, he has a friend who is in practice in Reno, so I am covered with recommendations.
When I did have issues with a doctor and problems changing was when mrAru was still active duty Navy and we were forced to go through the military medical system for both of us. Nothing like a refusal to even bother treating me for PCOS because and I quote directly: Well PCOS will make you shed endometrial lining, so nothing we can really do for you. Irregularity in your period is to be expected. [and then the 'don’t let the door knob hit you on the ass on the way out was pretty much implied.] I got a real doctor after he got out, she put me on norethindrone to absolutely halt my fractious uterus bleeding out all the time. Then when I had break through bleeding the imaging showed my ovary to be the size of a grapefruit so she organized an hysterectomy and it was luckily a funky combination of a terratoma [teeth and hair!] and lipoma [unruly fat cells, yay?] rather than something worse.
We had an issue with my SO who switched doctors, then wanted to switch again. The insurance company called and said that it is highly unusual and they don’t like switching so soon after a switch. We told then that this doctor 1: violated doctor patient privilege by writing a letter to her employment revealing a condition and did it 2: with explicit instruction not to do exactly that. Fortunately she intercepted the letter, redacted the condition and submitted the needed letter, so ultimately didn’t cause harm, but no way did we want this doctor anywhere near her. The ins. co said they understand and no problem with the switch.
My mother had a terrible time switching neurologists within a large, hospital-affiliated practice. She tried multiple times calling and the staff said her current doctor would have to “approve” the transfer… and nothing ever happened. Her GP tried sending referrals to other doctors within the practice and all were denied - the staff would call to schedule an appointment and refuse to do so with the latest doctor the referral was sent for.
I finally had to call and basically refuse to accept no. I told them she felt the doctor had been dismissive and belittling about her concerns and wouldn’t actually address any of the issues she had gone in to see him about. Finally after a 20 minute argument they set her up with a different neurologist, who has turned out to be wonderful.
Not to be overly pedantic, but it’s extremely common to find mature fatty tissue as part of a benign cystic teratoma, and very rare to have an ovarian lipoma. So (without having seen the specimen, and noting that the diagnosis would still be benign), this sounds like a typical ovarian teratoma with a fatty component.
Well the dude they pay the big bucks to [well, the dude who went to med school to learn how to survive on diet coke, machine food and how to tell if it is actually a hydatid cyst or a potential human] said it was. And being benign was quite welcome considering the other one was yeeted with a dainty little SCC they caught when they were actually checking the abcess in my right kidney. Sort of one trip shopping, go in for a check on a kidney, come out with a hitchhiker. Made me thrilled to have a kidney infection return, got me in before anything went really wrong [for certain values of wrong. ] I just wish they had let me keep the teratoma in a jar of formalin, that would have been so heavy metal =)
I have a PPO not a HMO. I don’t have to have a named primary care physician. I chose to have one who can track all of my care. I don’t need a referral to go to a specialist. The OP doesn’t compute because I have always known I can go to anyone I want without asking permission.