When 82-year-old Michael Mort’s longtime family doctor told him last summer that he would retire by Christmas, he gave him six months’ notice. But the Vancouver Island senior quickly realized there wasn’t enough time to find a new one.
“Since then, finding a doctor to replace him hasn’t worked,” said Mort, whose name has been on BC’s health referral system for a year now.
“We never had a call,” Mort’s wife Janet said. “They should help patients find connections for doctors. I spoke to them again this week and they said they have exhausted all options.
The problem became urgent last week when Michael’s pharmacy told him they could no longer supply him with medication without a new doctor’s prescription.
“I started crying right then and I said, ‘I can’t find a doctor, so how do I get his prescriptions renewed?'” Janet said.
Out of desperation, she placed an ad in Saturday’s Victoria Times Colonist, which read “WANTED: British Columbia Licensed Physician for Prescription Renewal.” The ad offered to pay “any reasonable fee” to a doctor who could write her husband’s prescriptions.
“I’m hoping there might be a compassionate doctor who says I can get one more person into my practice,” Janet said. She quickly learned that she was not alone in her plight to find a family doctor.
“A lot of people have written to say they are in the same situation and can we keep in touch and if I have any success I will let them know. Lots of good ideas, lots of compassion, lots of people who care,” Janet said.
Several doctors responded that they could help with emergency prescriptions, but could not accept a high-needs elderly person like Michael as a new patient.
“I’m sure there are many, many people like me who need a doctor, who need access to medical treatment, a medical service that only a doctor can provide. And it’s at a crisis level, I think, for the province,” said Michael Mort.
Vancouver family physician Dr. Anna Wolak agrees.
“Seeing that ad in the paper, some of it was good, at least it was brought into even more light than it already is. But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we’ve failed people like this. “, she said. .
Janet says the province needs to do more to recruit and retain family doctors to prevent vulnerable seniors from missing out on important prescriptions and potentially life-saving primary care.
“My plea is, please help us. I’m sure it’s not just the elderly, but the elderly are in a very difficult position right now,” she said, adding, “We’re not disposable and we deserve to be cared for.”
Previous estimates put the number of British Columbians without a primary care physician at close to one million — roughly 20 percent of the people who live in the province.
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