Visiting GP after surgery

[Msradell]

Kentucky
My wife has had to foot surgeries this year in February and at the end of June. Things are not going great and she wanted to discuss this with our GP. However when she called his office staff said that she could not have an appointment with him until 90 days after the surgery? She doesn't want him to comment on it through security think she just wants to discuss recovery plans since he is a sports medicine doctor. She also has an upcoming annual physical which will also be within the 90 day window. I've never heard of a requirement like this before, is there such a requirement?

Also, what would she have to do to make an appointment with a 2nd orthopedic surgeon for a 2nd opinion, when the 90 day rule also apply for this?

 

[adjusterjack]

I've never heard of a requirement like this before, is there such a requirement?

It's obviously that doctor's requirement.

It makes sense though. It takes many months to recover from surgery and if it's going great there really isn't anything to discuss.

It's been three weeks since the surgery. If your wife needs hand-holding she's free to seek an appointment with another doctor who might not adhere to the same rule.

 

[quincy]

Kentucky
My wife has had to foot surgeries this year in February and at the end of June. Things are going great and she wanted to discuss this with our GP. However when she called his office staff said that she could not have an appointment with him until 90 days after the surgery? She doesn't want him to comment on it through security think she just wants to discuss recovery plans since he is a sports medicine doctor. She also has an upcoming annual physical which will also be within the 90 day window. I've never heard of a requirement like this before, is there such a requirement?

Also, what would she have to do to make an appointment with a 2nd orthopedic surgeon for a 2nd opinion, when the 90 day rule also apply for this?

It sounds like your wife’s GP believes any follow up questions about the surgery and recovery should be handled by the orthopedic surgeon.

I doubt there is any requirement for every doctor to have a 90-day-after-surgery policy.

 

[Msradell]

It sounds like your wife’s GP believes any follow Up questions about the surgery and recovery should be handled by the orthopedic surgeon.

I doubt there is any requirement for every doctor to have a 90-day-after-surgery policy.

The problem is that her orthopedic surgeon being very communicative nor is his nurse practitioner. She just wants to talk to somebody frankly about what's going on. In the 1st surgery he put in some metal parts but then took them out in the 2nd surgery??

Also, she needs her annual physical with the GP in the next month or so, but his office staff told her she can't see him for 90 days! That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to either of us!

I'm thinking we may need to have a lawyer involved just to get doctors to talk to her at this time! I have something we don't want to have to do but...

 

[quincy]

The problem is that her orthopedic surgeon being very communicative nor is his nurse practitioner. She just wants to talk to somebody frankly about what's going on. In the 1st surgery he put in some metal parts but then took them out in the 2nd surgery??

Also, she needs her annual physical with the GP in the next month or so, but his office staff told her she can't see him for 90 days! That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to either of us!

I'm thinking we may need to have a lawyer involved just to get doctors to talk to her at this time! I have something we don't want to have to do but...

It does not sound like this is a legal matter. I see nothing in what you have written that requires the services of an attorney.

Your wife can make an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to discuss her recovery plans or she can consult with a different orthopedic doctor. But if “things are going great,” as you say, perhaps your wife might just want to continue doing whatever it is she is already doing.

 

[Zigner]

Also, she needs her annual physical with the GP in the next month or so, but his office staff told her she can't see him for 90 days! That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to either of us!

It sounds to me like the GP is booked solid. You should have booked the appt for the physical sooner. I called in May for an appt for my physical and the earliest appt was about 75 days out. If I had needed to get in, I could have booked an earlier appt with an associate of my GP, but I like for my GP to do the physicals.

 

[quincy]

Kentucky
My wife has had to foot surgeries this year in February and at the end of June. Things are not going great ...

I notice you edited your original post to add the “not” before the “going great.” That makes a difference.

If your wife is having problems with her foot after surgery and she is not doing great, she should make an appointment to have the foot checked out, sooner rather than later. Your wife needs to make it clear to the doctor’s office that the appointment is not a simple checkup or to go over a recovery plan but it is because your wife believes there is a problem with the foot possibly connected to the surgery.

Who originally referred your wife to the orthopedic surgeon? Her GP?

 

[Msradell]

I notice you edited your original post to add the “not” before the “going great.” That makes a difference.

If your wife is having problems with her foot after surgery and she is not doing great, she should make an appointment to have the foot checked out, sooner rather than later. Your wife needs to make it clear to the doctor’s office that the appointment is not a simple checkup or to go over a recovery plan but it is because your wife believes there is a problem with the foot possibly connected to the surgery.

Who originally referred your wife to the orthopedic surgeon? Her GP?

She has an appointment Wednesday but it's only with doctors nurse practitioner, getting an appointment with him for anything but surgery is a major issue. My wife also had several CT scans after their 1st surgery and she actually get documentation from the 1st CT scan that noted that there was possible infection and the hardware appeared to be loose but the doctor did nothing about it!

Our GP actually referred her to a different orthopedic surgeon for some reason unknown to us and into her off to this 1.

 

[quincy]

She has an appointment Wednesday but it's only with doctors nurse practitioner, getting an appointment with him for anything but surgery is a major issue. My wife also had several CT scans after their 1st surgery and she actually get documentation from the 1st CT scan that noted that there was possible infection and the hardware appeared to be loose but the doctor did nothing about it!

Our GP actually referred her to a different orthopedic surgeon for some reason unknown to us and into her off to this 1.

Your last sentence is a bit garbled (or my brain is ), so I am not exactly sure what your wife’s GP did. Your wife has an appointment with a nurse practitioner at the office of the orthopedic surgeon who performed the first and second surgeries?

Your wife might want to write out before her visit on Wednesday a list of specific questions and concerns she has with her foot that have arisen since the last surgery.

 

[Msradell]

Your last sentence is a bit garbled (or my brain is ), so I am not exactly sure what your wife’s GP did. Your wife has an appointment with a nurse practitioner at the office of the orthopedic surgeon who performed the first and second surgeries?

Your wife might want to write out before her visit on Wednesday a list of specific questions and concerns she has with her foot that have arisen since the last surgery.

Sorry for the garbling, I have to use speech recognition software because of a disability and sometimes it and I don't see eye to eye. She was referred to one orthopedic surgeon by our GP after she saw him twice she got a call from this other surgeon who actually did the surgery. We are not sure what took place to cause the change.

 

[quincy]

Sorry for the garbling, I have to use speech recognition software because of a disability and sometimes it and I don't see eye to eye. She was referred to one orthopedic surgeon by our GP after she saw him twice she got a call from this other surgeon who actually did the surgery. We are not sure what took place to cause the change.

Thank you for the clarification, Msradell. Speech-to-text can make for some interesting sentences.

On Wednesday, the nurse practitioner will be able to look at your wife’s foot and answer most if not all of your wife’s questions. The nurse should be able to tell during this appointment whether the surgeon needs to examine the foot before the next scheduled appointment (which generally will come X number of days or weeks after surgery, to allow time for normal healing).

Your wife no doubt was given a list of instructions after her surgery, including what conditions to look out for that might require emergency treatment. The fact that your wife was able to get a Wednesday appointment indicates that the surgeon’s office is taking your wife’s concerns seriously.

I don’t see from anything you have said so far that your wife has a legal issue that requires an attorney. I would at least wait to see how Wednesday’s appointment goes.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Kentucky
My wife has had to foot surgeries this year in February and at the end of June. Things are not going great and she wanted to discuss this with our GP. However when she called his office staff said that she could not have an appointment with him until 90 days after the surgery?

That's not a legal requirement. It's a decision made by that medical practice. There could be all kinds of reasons why your GP is not available to you until 90 days after the surgery. The modern trend in medicine in a lot of places today is the use of physician assistants (PA) or nurse practitioners (NP) for a lot of more routine things that doctors used to do themselves a decade or two ago. They cost less and thus help keep medical cost increases from being worse than they already are. Medical insurance companies, of course, help drive that trend since they pay most of the bills for persons under the age for Medicare. If the NP sees something in her condition that is above the NP's ability to treat the NP will likely get the GP involved and your wife would probably then get into see him/her earlier. That's a way of ensuring the doctor's time is best spent on more complicated matters that require the level of expertise that a doctor brings to the table.

For persons of a certain age (like me) who remember when there weren't any NPs, or PAs and pretty much all medical appointments were handled by doctors, this shift can be a bit disconcerting. When you are used to seeing a doctor for everything getting sent now to these new kinds of medical professionals can feel like a downgrade at first. When I left DC a few years back, most practices were still using the older model of doctors doing all the primary care. When I moved back here, I was initially shocked that pretty much every practice now has PAs and NPs for that and getting to see an actual doctor is much more challenging than I was used to. It took some time to get used to it, but I soon noticed that generally PAs and NPs do know what they are doing and know when the matter exceeds what they can do and refer patients to a doctor.

I don’t see from anything you have said so far that your wife has a legal issue that requires an attorney. I would at least wait to see how Wednesday’s appointment goes.

I agree. See what the NP says first. The NP should be able to either address the problem directly or help her get more prompt appointment with a doctor if that's needed.

 

[commentator]

People who call up doctors and complain about another doctor, report they are having trouble with a procedure another doctor has done, or who are trying to get a second opinion are the kind of patient that most doctors will not touch with a ten foot pole if they can avoid it. When my husband had a lot of trouble with a knee replacement, and was taking a really long time to get it going well, we kept going back and going back. Saw the mid level staff people. And we found that yes, his original doctor was having some very distinct problems (we were told this by the NP and PA's in the practice that we did see) But we had a terrible time getting another orthopedic practice to even be willing to make an appointment to look at us. And it had been a LOT more than three weeks since the surgery. His long term GP wasn't excited about it, either. If there turns out to be a malpractice case, any second opinion person could possibly be required to give testimony. They do not want that job!

I certainly hope you didn't drop that little "maybe we need to talk to an attorney" into any conversation you had with medical offices. We were informed even by the law practice who solicited malpractice suits on tv that it had to be a lot longer than it had been before they would even talk to us. I hope your wife sees lots of improvement in her condition soon.

 

[stealth2]

That's not a legal requirement.

Could it be an insurance requirement? Especially since the GP is also apparently a specialist in sports medicine (which may include some level of orthopedic care)?

(honestly? I've never heard of a sports med doc doubling as a GP...)

 

[quincy]

Could it be an insurance requirement? Especially since the GP is also apparently a specialist in sports medicine (which may include some level of orthopedic care)?

(honestly? I've never heard of a sports med doc doubling as a GP...)

There are doctors who will have as patients a sports team but still have a regular private practice. My aunt had both a private practice with patients from the general public and was also the assigned doctor for one of Detroit’s sports teams.