Family Doctors in Vancouver - RANT!
 

This thread about Family Doctors in Vancouver. I would truly appreciate if anyone can recommend me a professional, friendly and reliable family doctor.

I had a family doctor for 25+ years but he has since retired, as a result I'm in search of and have been jumping from doctor to doctor in the last 2-3 years and here is what I notice:

1. Vancouver Doctor's are often on their high horse. They are rudest, unfriendly and ignorant people I've ever met in my life.
2. The doctors and their receptionist know nothing about customer service. I would arrive for an appointment at 1:00 and often have to wait a good 15-30 minutes only for a rushed 5 minute consultation - cause the doctor wants to move on to the next patient.
3. Most doctor's do not accept new patients - is this even LEGAL?

Sorry for my rant but I've had a string of bad events that happened to me with my last doctor. I'll leave her unnamed but some of the antics she pulls:

1. During our consultation, I would talk about what I'm suffering from. However the doctor would leave the room with an excuse pretending to get her prescription pad or patient record and return with a diagnostic. I'm certain that she is going back to her office to read up about it on the internet or in her medical books. I've had this happen EVERYTIME I had an appointment with her.
2. I had an appointment at 12:50pm and was late by 10 minutes due to traffic and she fucking left the office!!!! I know I may be wrong for being late - but I made plans to go see the doctor - took time off. The least the doctor or receptionist can do is give me a courtesy phone call letting me know. I had absolutely no waring hat the Doctor was going to leave the office at 1:00pm sharp!

Thanks for hearing this out.

I would love to hear if any other RS'ers are having the same problems with doctors in Vancouver because I really see these things as being a common problem.

heres a hint...not everyone has a family doctor..deal with it, everyone else does, leave early like you do for work so you arn't late for appointments and also its a family doctor they can only see so many people..thats why there are clinics, and last but not least if they are the rudest then go somewhere else and stop ur bitching

My family doctor is Dr.Donna in the 41 and oak building. Everyone in my family that lives in the lower mainland goes to her.

Good thread. And I can relate to how you feel. I haven't had a family doctor in my many many years now. Only use walk-in clinics when necessary but it sucks because they don't know your medical history.

I gave up looking for a new family doctor because of the last two:

- First family doctor lost his practice because he was caught fondling a woman while she was sedated lol.

- The second doctor was strange. One time I went in because I had an eye infection. The doctor somehow asked me to unbutton my shirt. I'm thinking, wtf? He insisted. I thought he was going to check my heart rate or something. Instead, he tells me I have some skin infection. I'm thinking, wtf does this have to do with my eye? He prescribed me some skin cream and and told me to wait a day or two for my eye. WTF.

I went a second time for something else, and once again he tried to tell me something was wrong with my skin. I ended up walking out.

Turns out a few months later he lost his practice as he had some business affiliation to a skin care products company.

I know there are great family doctors out there. Just haven't found one yet and gave up trying lol.

Kev

1. Some conditions are not easily diagnosed or there are many different drugs to use to treat. New studies come out all the time on whats the best way to treat a certain condition. Personally I would much rather have them double check their references and get treated properly than have them give me a quick diagnosis and not get it right. Its not always as simple as picking drug A for condition B.

2. Don't be late.

Most doctors will stop accepting new patients when they have enough patients to keep them busy. Others, like Dr. Henry Leung, will seemingly take on whoever can get through the door, and then you end up having to wait 3 hours, on a good day. My family doctor for the past 15 years has been excellent. He's located in Coquitlam. The receptionist is nice, and the doctor is really friendly and knowledgeable. The most I've had to wait is 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, it looks like it's only the n00bs that are still taking new patients. All the experienced veterans have all the patients they can handle. You should bring a laptop to your doctor, next time, so you can tell her she can WebMD that shit there, and also forward you the link.

Sucks that my family doctor is semi-retired.

Sigh.... gone are the days where you have a phyiscian that you see for years and knows your personal medical history.

I see more and more people switching over to clinics because of this. Pretty soon, we might not see that "family" doctor mentality.

i completely agree with you...but forget the rudeness...most family doctors or GPs in vancouver just try to get you out the door as fast as possible...they don't give two shits. Canadians say their healthcare system is so great, but as someone who has lived in 2 other (much MUCH poorer) countries before Canada, I completely disagree.

anyway, i go to dr. mackenzie in richmond westminster med clinic. He is one of the few doctors left in this city that gives a shit about his patients. He can be your family doctor (anyone can, you just tell them you want to register them as your family doc) but he is strictly drop-in. His schedule is shit (he owns the clinic and works only a couple days a week in the morning) and u gotta miss work and wait in a long line to get to him. everyone arrives 30 mins before the clinic opens to put their name down specifically for him because they know he is one of the few good doctors left in this city. The other doctors in the clinic stand around with no patients.

So yeah...either get a good doc and wait in line, or go to one of the many tools in this city that will watch you die and tell you there's nothing wrong.

Lotta hate in the reply there.

I ain't bitching - merely stating the facts and what I've observed from Family doctors in the past 2-3 years.

Thank you Kev for sharing your experiences.

I just wanted to know what other people are experience and it seems like we are in the same boat - have yet to find a good family doctor.

At this point I might just resort to walk in clinics.

Can't relate to your experience but my family has been going to our doctor for 27 years. I was afraid he was going to retire but turns out he doesn't plan on doing so for a while. He claims a lot of veteran doctors won't accept new patients because many of them are getting old and can no longer keep up so they refuse new patients.

Should your doctor plan on retiring soon, my family doctor recommended one should ask for a referral if possible rather than go on a wild goose chase.

I had my family doctor for more than 20years. He seems pretty good. But he only really say take some rest and come back 2 weeks later.

My mom have been having back pain due to work for sometime already yet he still refuse to issue any medicine or sick pay. My mom went to my grandmother's family doctor and she just send my mom to do some X-rays and find out she had some issue and should no longer work.

Overall, I haven't seen my family doctor for years and years. No need to see a doctor when I am fine. However, I do hope he learns his lesson and actually listen to the patient instead of just sending them home to rest O_o

I haven't had a family doctor since my former one went to Kosovo after the war in order to help all of the injured Albanians (so.... since '99, I guess?). I've gone through many attempts in the GVRD to find a new doctor, though I've had no luck finding a good replacement one. Since '99, I've been hoping walk-in clinics in hopes of finding a decent replacement. Unfortunately most of those have been pretty bad (one diagnosed me with a form as asthma, which almost cost me my life... I had sever bronchitis that bordered on pneumonia... and another told me I needed a hernia surgery and tried to book me an appointment with the hospital even though I had absolutely no symptoms of one, a fact that was pointed out by my old specialist).

Finding a good family doctor is super hard...

I lost my family doctor when I moved to the island, and have been doing the clinic thing since. It sucks because he was pretty much my family doctor since birth, he is my mom, dad and sister's doctor so he pretty much knows all the hereditary diseases going on in my family. You don't get much better medical history than that.

At least I found a good dentist quickly.

My family doctor barely comes in, so I've been gambling on walk-ins for some time now. They're DECENT, but it takes an insanely long time to wait. I waited an hour and a half in a room with a viral infection that had me feeling like shit, only to be told that and issued a prescription in 5 minutes.

....what were you expecting?

A half-hour consultation or something? Perhaps you would have done a better job yourself?

:whistle:

The question is, did the medication work?

Most GPs come out of med school at the bottom of the barrel. Any decent doctors will go on and specialize in a field.

my family doc is Dr.Gu at the clinic by bubble world on kingsway.
reception may not be great, and you will have to endure lines, but he is an amazing doctor.
i believe he is on that tv show on the chinese network sometimes? clarify if i'm wrong.
he's great, focuses on you, doesn't leave for dumb reasons and knows his stuff.

Sounds like a tough situation, though I'd rather someone check fact to ensure accuracy than feign authority on the topic and misdiagnose me.

IIRC, most doctors have a limited amount of patients they can take in. It is up to them if they want to take in anymore patients. My family doctor takes in no new patients unless it is recommended or part of the family.

If doctors keep taking in patients, it is impossible to give their best care for each one of their patients. That is why they don't hear you out and just want to keep moving on to the next patient. In my opinion, that is just them wanting to make more money and not really caring for their patients.

haven't had a family doctor for at least 15 years. I just go to walk-in clinics.

I'm not complaining about the consultation because the meds worked (because he fucking suggested ADVIL...), but to keep me in a room for an hour and a half when I easily could have waited in the lobby and played "What does THAT guy have?", only to get told to take an OTC was a complete waste of time.

Keep in mind I don't like using WebMD too much because being a Google warrior might lead to misdiagnosis.

You complain about doctors not taking new patients, while also complaining that your own family doctor is rushing their patients.

Our population is aging, so naturally the health care system is going to be stressed. The baby boomer generation is getting older and there are a lot less doctors to go around.

My own family doctor who I have been seeing since a child is semi-retired and I'm lucky if I get an appointment.

Its simply logic that the days of the family doctor in Canada are numbered.

If you don't like your family doctor, start using a clinic.

My family doctor, who I have gone to since I was 1, retired recently and a doctor from South Africa took over his practice. It has taken some getting used to, especially since he sounds like the guy from District 9.

Doctors do like to rush you along so instead of coming to him with a bunch of problems, I get him on the most pressing ones and book another appointment to get the others. I can't expect him to cancel all his appointments for just me. He's doing what he can with the time he has.

i gotta say its refreshing and eye opening to hear all these horror stories about docs in gvrd being total shit. i always thought i was alone in this. i was expectig to get flamed for my comments by some defensive asshole rs member who's a nurse or in med school or sth.

another good walk in clinic ive had a good experience with is stein medical clinic but only with doctor stein. the other docs there are morons especially this retarded south african dude with a hawaiian shirt.

also this site is pretty good:
ratemymd.ca

had a look at the reviews for the dude i use for my family doc and a few others and theyre pretty accurate i think?
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