I recently read an article in the New York Times (sorry no link) it stuck me in a pleasant way how the comments were truly almost 100% thar the treatment of Dr. Fauci were reprehensible. Rhetorical, how can those who abused him look at themselves in the mirror?
Being a Canadian I am dumbfounded how so many Americans have drank the Trump Kool-aid ( absolutely no question, convicted felon, regardless his crimes were not more serious on a criminal basis)& their voices appear to deafen those of reason. Yes I'm likely preaching to the choir.
So I answered yes, but only when it comes to a doctor I am going to see long term. It takes a while to establish a good relationship with a GP for instance or a gynecologist, and I worry that if the person is nearing retirement age when I start with them, I will soon have to start over with another doctor.
I like my doctors to have enough years and experience under their belt to see an older person as still a person, and for them to still be engaged in their work, curious and thorough rather than phoning it in. Beyond that, age doesn’t matter so much.
We went to my husband's 50th medical school reunion. Around the table it seemed that surgeons had retired earlier than the "thinking" docs. The surgeons had to stop due to poor eyesight, back problems, or tremor issues.
Thanks for the updates, the 5 on Fri is a great feature.
Happy to see you have an interview with Dr. Jerome Adams. I've followed him on Twitter/X for some time now and his is a balanced voice and seems a man of integrity. He also excels at responding to the trolls with pointed but polite responses.
While I don't think Dr. Fauci is without fault (including during the HIV pandemic), his treatment in the congressional hearing makes me ashamed of my country. Pretty cool how poised and intellectually competent he is at 83 - shows that octogenarians are valuable for more than sentimental reasons.
I had a mitral valve repair done in 2020 by someone who must have been at least in his mid-sixties at the time, judging from the dates of published articles in his voluminous CV; I was told he was one of the top 3 mitral valve surgeons in the world. I felt lucky to have him and was pleased with all my interactions with him. The surgery took place at a teaching hospital, so he may not have been the one who took every surgical step personally, but the operative note did state that he was in the room the entire time. If the repair ever fails, I hope he'll still be available to do the replacement. My regular cardiologist, who I'm guessing is in his mid-forties, is primarily an interventionist, and he made my cardiac catheterization actually enjoyable. I like him, but he seems to believe it's a serious mistake for anyone without a medical degree (me, for instance) to read the medical literature, and he seems to resent the fact that I want to know how what I am reading applies to me. I do wonder sometimes how current he is in his own reading of the literature. I love my internist, who I think is probably in her sixties, and dread the day she retires.
I think there is a balance between age and experience. Ideally, ten years post residency seems to be ideal to me. My hunch is that by age 80 many persons are beginning to have the type of perceptual and cognitive declines which might interfere with diagnostic acuity. Plus, the current corporate medical milieu, i.e. hospitals buying and/or owning practices, leads to physician burnout, as the hospital or health care organizations are run by MBA types who have turned medical practices upside down. Instead of the docs calling the shots and management supporting them, it seems to have become, medical corporations doing "business": competition, pricing, profiting, and docs being relegated to positions of "team members", basically skilled cogs in the corporate wheel. It sucks! and is probably needlessly expensive. France and Italy seem so do a better job for less.
I started caring about the age of my pcp when I got to the age that my doctors were retiring. It’s not easy to get a new doctor. Insurance - especially looking toward the time when I’ll be on Medicare - is problematic. Finally getting established & having the new doc retire is a nightmare, especially because of the loss of continuity in care. One doc wants you on med A, the next says “nah, you don’t need that.” The new doc mis-diagnoses because they’re unaware of your medical history even thought you spent 2 hours filling out intake info Because let’s face it, docs don’t get paid to read your history & don’t believe what patients say anyway. Then there are the docs who just make stuff up. There’s blatantly wrong stuff in my medical history put there by an uncaring doc who was a fabulist. And I had a sports med doc write my injury was to my left knee when it was my right. It said they did an X-ray, they didn’t. It was just part of their template that they did & they didn’t delete it. He was just lazy about progress notes, because let’s face it, docs don’t get paid for writing. All these errors add up when you’re bounced around from doc to doc. I’m of an age I want a doc who won’t retire before I die.
Now that I'm 53, seeing a woman doctor who has been through menopause herself is important to me. Not saying younger women doctors or gentleman doctors aren't great, but when I'm talking about aging ladybits, it's nice to get that nod of "Yep, I get it." For any other medical specialty, I'm happy with any age doc.
Thanks so much for your comments about Dr. Fauci. I live in Canada but followed him during this recent pandemic and during his work on AIDS. I believe he is the model of integrity. The fact that he stood beside the orange baby during press conferences and did not leave his post speaks volumes. Lesser men would have quit in disgust but he stayed and did his best in an impossible situation. Dr. Fauci put the safety and well being of his fellow Americans first, something the orange baby would not know how to do.
I don’t worry about their skill set, but I do worry they will retire and I will have to try and find someone new.
Exactly, now that I’m 65 it is something I consider with any practice I see wether it’s physio or psychologist.
I recently read an article in the New York Times (sorry no link) it stuck me in a pleasant way how the comments were truly almost 100% thar the treatment of Dr. Fauci were reprehensible. Rhetorical, how can those who abused him look at themselves in the mirror?
Being a Canadian I am dumbfounded how so many Americans have drank the Trump Kool-aid ( absolutely no question, convicted felon, regardless his crimes were not more serious on a criminal basis)& their voices appear to deafen those of reason. Yes I'm likely preaching to the choir.
JJF
So I answered yes, but only when it comes to a doctor I am going to see long term. It takes a while to establish a good relationship with a GP for instance or a gynecologist, and I worry that if the person is nearing retirement age when I start with them, I will soon have to start over with another doctor.
I like my doctors to have enough years and experience under their belt to see an older person as still a person, and for them to still be engaged in their work, curious and thorough rather than phoning it in. Beyond that, age doesn’t matter so much.
My main worry is that they will retire or die on me, which has been happening a lot lately.
Question may be too broad by asking about physicians as a single group. Makes a real difference whether the focus is on PCP docs or surgeons.
We went to my husband's 50th medical school reunion. Around the table it seemed that surgeons had retired earlier than the "thinking" docs. The surgeons had to stop due to poor eyesight, back problems, or tremor issues.
Thanks for the updates, the 5 on Fri is a great feature.
Happy to see you have an interview with Dr. Jerome Adams. I've followed him on Twitter/X for some time now and his is a balanced voice and seems a man of integrity. He also excels at responding to the trolls with pointed but polite responses.
While I don't think Dr. Fauci is without fault (including during the HIV pandemic), his treatment in the congressional hearing makes me ashamed of my country. Pretty cool how poised and intellectually competent he is at 83 - shows that octogenarians are valuable for more than sentimental reasons.
I had a mitral valve repair done in 2020 by someone who must have been at least in his mid-sixties at the time, judging from the dates of published articles in his voluminous CV; I was told he was one of the top 3 mitral valve surgeons in the world. I felt lucky to have him and was pleased with all my interactions with him. The surgery took place at a teaching hospital, so he may not have been the one who took every surgical step personally, but the operative note did state that he was in the room the entire time. If the repair ever fails, I hope he'll still be available to do the replacement. My regular cardiologist, who I'm guessing is in his mid-forties, is primarily an interventionist, and he made my cardiac catheterization actually enjoyable. I like him, but he seems to believe it's a serious mistake for anyone without a medical degree (me, for instance) to read the medical literature, and he seems to resent the fact that I want to know how what I am reading applies to me. I do wonder sometimes how current he is in his own reading of the literature. I love my internist, who I think is probably in her sixties, and dread the day she retires.
And also: the threats against Dr. Hotez are shocking and horrifying. What are your thoughts on how to address this kind of viciousness?
I think there is a balance between age and experience. Ideally, ten years post residency seems to be ideal to me. My hunch is that by age 80 many persons are beginning to have the type of perceptual and cognitive declines which might interfere with diagnostic acuity. Plus, the current corporate medical milieu, i.e. hospitals buying and/or owning practices, leads to physician burnout, as the hospital or health care organizations are run by MBA types who have turned medical practices upside down. Instead of the docs calling the shots and management supporting them, it seems to have become, medical corporations doing "business": competition, pricing, profiting, and docs being relegated to positions of "team members", basically skilled cogs in the corporate wheel. It sucks! and is probably needlessly expensive. France and Italy seem so do a better job for less.
I started caring about the age of my pcp when I got to the age that my doctors were retiring. It’s not easy to get a new doctor. Insurance - especially looking toward the time when I’ll be on Medicare - is problematic. Finally getting established & having the new doc retire is a nightmare, especially because of the loss of continuity in care. One doc wants you on med A, the next says “nah, you don’t need that.” The new doc mis-diagnoses because they’re unaware of your medical history even thought you spent 2 hours filling out intake info Because let’s face it, docs don’t get paid to read your history & don’t believe what patients say anyway. Then there are the docs who just make stuff up. There’s blatantly wrong stuff in my medical history put there by an uncaring doc who was a fabulist. And I had a sports med doc write my injury was to my left knee when it was my right. It said they did an X-ray, they didn’t. It was just part of their template that they did & they didn’t delete it. He was just lazy about progress notes, because let’s face it, docs don’t get paid for writing. All these errors add up when you’re bounced around from doc to doc. I’m of an age I want a doc who won’t retire before I die.
Now that I'm 53, seeing a woman doctor who has been through menopause herself is important to me. Not saying younger women doctors or gentleman doctors aren't great, but when I'm talking about aging ladybits, it's nice to get that nod of "Yep, I get it." For any other medical specialty, I'm happy with any age doc.
Also, very happy to hear you're on the mend, Doc!
My concern too is about retirement. My PCP just retired. I had been his patient for 30 years.
Thanks so much for your comments about Dr. Fauci. I live in Canada but followed him during this recent pandemic and during his work on AIDS. I believe he is the model of integrity. The fact that he stood beside the orange baby during press conferences and did not leave his post speaks volumes. Lesser men would have quit in disgust but he stayed and did his best in an impossible situation. Dr. Fauci put the safety and well being of his fellow Americans first, something the orange baby would not know how to do.
Susan, I was going to include Dr. Fauci work with AIDS research, however I would not have done justice to his laudable achievements.
Warm regards, John
Glad you are feeling much better and testing negative now by rapid test! Hoping your father is also completely well!