A 65-year-old family doctor who will retire at the end of the year denounces the abandonment of her 800 elderly, sick and vulnerable patients, who are anxious at the idea of being left without follow-up or in the emergency room.
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“The fate of my patients haunts me,” admits Dr. Geneviève Dechêne, who will take partial retirement next December. It is a human catastrophe.”
Feeling of abandonment, sadness, anger: this family doctor from Verdun has been haunted by all kinds of emotions since she decided to stop practicing in the office, following 40 years of practice.
At the end of the year, she fears that her 800 patients, who are mostly elderly and vulnerable, will be left without follow-up.
No patient called
“I’m physically exhausted, I have no choice,” says the woman, who will continue to do home care, 30 hours a week.
In December 2021, the doctor advised her patients that she would be retiring in two years. To date, none of the 800 patients has been called by a new general practitioner from the family doctor access window (GAMF), she laments.
In a context where a quarter of family physicians are over 60, many Quebecers will also soon find themselves orphans (see table).
Followed for a long time by Dr. Dechêne, several patients live far from Verdun, even some as far as Quebec or Kamouraska.
“I have an 88-year-old lady who drives from Sherbrooke to come see me when she’s sick,” she said. There are children who take time off to ride a round trip with their 80-year-old parents.”
Moreover, Dr. Dechêne denounces the fact that her patients have difficulty registering on the GAMF waiting list without giving up their current doctor, which is however provided for by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. (RAMQ).
“They are being told they have to unsubscribe! Over 300 patients have called me, I’m wasting my breath trying to help them. I even had to call myself at counters [régionaux], she laments. It’s haywire.”
Years of waiting?
Next year, her orphan patients will have to turn to the Frontline Access Window (GAP), an emergency appointment system that is not suitable for vulnerable seniors, according to Dr. Dechêne.
“These are too heavy cases. […] My patients don’t take two pills, they take 25!” she says.
“A patient received his letter from GAP, he sobbed for 10 minutes on the phone. This man had never cried. He knew what was coming for him and his wife,” she adds.
According to the doctor, these patients might have to wait years before being taken care of, and will end up in hospital emergencies.
What enrages her the most is that she is convinced that this whole problem is caused by the fact that family doctors are forced to work in hospitals.
“There are 1,500 full-time in hospitals who might return to the front line. In reality, there would no longer be a shortage of family doctors, it would be settled!”
Older Quebec physicians
- Physicians over 60: 5444 (24%)
- Doctors over 70: 1,470 (6%)
- General practitioners: 10,739 (47%)
- Physicians in Quebec: 22,734
*Source: College of Physicians of Quebec
Up to five years of waiting
A patient of Dr. Dechêne is discouraged by having to find a new family doctor, a quest that might take up to five years, he was told.
“It’s worrying to know that I’m going to find myself without a doctor for years, as I get older,” says André Saint-Amand, 62.
Since his family doctor, Dr. Geneviève Dechêne, is retiring next December, the Longueuil resident registered with the Family Doctor Access Window in his region more than six months ago.
On the phone, the secretary told him that the delay in taking charge might take “up to four years, sometimes five”, relates the man, who had been followed by this doctor for 40 years.
Increased anxiety
“I was very disappointed [qu’elle parte]. She is a very good doctor, she has known my file for years, he confides. What adds to the anxiety is that I know the state of the health care system and the long delays.”
He points out that his brother, very ill, waited four years before finding a doctor. Although he is still in good shape, the man has some health concerns that require follow-up.
“I wonder if the solution isn’t the private sector, to take out money,” he said. But, we dig into our pension every time we spend.