Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology

The NYT had a piece comparing old vs. new doctors, and when or if should a doctor retire.

See:

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My mother used the same doctor for at least 40 years. Her family was concerned that he was too old (he was in his upper 70s), but my mother was very comfortable with him and confident. She never quite warmed up to his "junior" associate and always wanted the "senior" doctor. We finally convinced her it was time to see "junior" and that he had proved himself. I went with her and "junior" was now 60 himself, to my surprise. He came on to the practice many years ago, but my mother never got over thinking of him as the junior member of the team, still learning.

If I lived close by, I'd be using 'junior' myself.

I am not too comfortable by medical offices that are real ultra-modern high tech. Sure sometimes high tech is great but sometimes it seems an impediment. My lab results are faxed back and the fuzzy sheet is hard to read -- could critical numbers by misinterpreted? (Why doesn't anyone bother with the 'fine' or 'high-res' settings when faxing?) Keying the information in and reading it from a computer screen makes me uneasy -- I think it'd be easier to make an error there than from pen and paper.

Confidence is a critical part of the doctor-patient relationship. My mother had great confidence in the senior man and that meant a lot.

My mother always discouraged me from seeing an optometrist, feeling an opthamalogist was better. I had an eye problem and went to an optham. I had a long wait, saw him only a few minutes while an associate optometrist did the test, and paid a big bill. The next time I went to an optometrist and I was treated much better and felt much more comfortable. As far as I was concerned, I was getting better care even though the optometrist didn't have quite the training an opthamologist had.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of 'old' and 'new' doctors, my mother has gone to the same physician here in Independence for about 25 years. Then about six years ago, Dr. Empson quit taking *any* new patients at all, and he is just gradually working off his existing load of patients until he eventually retires. When I arrived here following my aneurysm, my mother tried to sign me up with Dr. Empson's practice, but he would not take me. His clinic put me on the case load of a 'junior' assistant, Dr. Wilkins, which was fine with me, but I got in the clinic last time around and Wilkins was not there either. It seems he had been promoted to a management position there in the medical center. (The clinic is a division of the medical center here, Mercy Hospital.) So now there is a third or fourth new 'junior' physician in the practice there. PAT]
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Lisa Minter
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