I am sympathetic to this physician, because electronic medical records are geared for the most part towards large hospitals, and as such are very expensive and complicated. But regulations have made it nearly impossible to comply with them without the help of computerized systems.
Sigh.
OTOH, I love a good story about a physician working in their mid-eighties, but the reality is...that is almost always far, far past the point where most can give appropriate care. Not in all cases, but in most of them.
I know. I have worked with physician populations, and there are some who simply won’t retire. They enjoy what they do, or wouldn’t know what else to do with themselves, but their performance can become spotty. Not what you want with patient care.
I also don’t doubt the regional hospital systems want her patients, but...how many could she be seeing? If that is the case, some hospital bureaucrat has too much time on their hands.
Also, if regulators found discrepancies, I wouldn’t doubt it. Without some kind of EMR, in today’s medical environment, you would have to be some kind of exceptional genius to not run afoul of the requirements.
I am sympathetic, though.
Old Doctors should be respected. They still are here, but most of them are long dead.
Old family doctors and old hunting dogs, smile.
I don't know the legality of it all, but I was SO impressed with his messy, Norman Rockwellian office and down home demeanor, I had complete confidence in hime.
He treated all the usual childhood ailments (for about the two years we lived there) and a strep throat for me often with medications from a cabinet just like in those 1950's B movies.
I LOVED the guy.
I think you’re correct in your general assessment.
However, I know at least 2 doctors her age who are still fantastic - my uncle (yeah, biased, but he is still real spry and alert, as is his wife nurse who is always part of his team and is quite younger; he does intend to retire soon especially because of REGULATIONS), and my opthalmologist. (I LOVE this eye doctor; he’s my favorite doctor ever and I’ve had him 30 years; I fear his retirement.)
Anyway, she could be one of those types. But either way, we must be wary also of sudden changes in health for the old doctor. Some of us suddenly go downhill, while others are more obviously getting worse but gradually.
To extend your observation further, another challenge with older doctors is that doctors in general tend to ossify once they’re out of medical school. Their knowledge of diseases, medical techniques, and treatments gets out of date, and sometimes is superseded by new research that reverses earlier teachings.
A good example I can cite is an ophthalmologist I visited years ago. He had to have been well into his seventies. He worked with me for a good 45 minutes on the mechanical phoropter, and I ended up with the best set of prescription glasses I’ve ever had: a corrected vision of 20/15 or better. But he had none of the new technology just coming out, and I wouldn’t have necessarily trusted him to be able to diagnose most of the conditions that newer doctors can now detect.
when my daughter was just a babe I took her in for some real or imagined concern and the old pediatrician said she’s fine. Later that night some young jerk doc who had reviewed all the records from the day made me take her to the hospital. I should have said the hell you say, but I didn’t want to rupture the ped-patient relationship so I took her. When I got there the emergency room was all excited and worried that a baby with pneumonia was coming in. I said well that’s news to me. It was folking ridiculous. When my own ped got back from out of town I said we want to go home. Bottom line, the old ped was right, there was nothing wrong, the new ped was on a power trip and my ped never should go anywhere haha.