Who remembers having a doctor make house calls?

[undeterred]

Today I was at a Walgreens pharmacy and I saw an advertisement for a new kind of 'urgent care'. You don't need to make an appointment, just stop by and pop-in for your ailment. You will see a 'health care provider' and presumably they will sent you straight on over to the pharmacy.

I remember when I was a kid and the pediatrician actually came to our house when I had the measles. Later when we lived in the suburbs, we had a "family physician" who saw every person in the family and even delivered my little brother. We could get a prescription over the phone for some things.

One time, right after college, I called his office on a Saturday morning, and he answered the phone himself! He made a non-prescription recommendation for me even though I didn't have an appointment. He had a relationship to everyone in our family.

Nowadays we change doctors depending on insurance, and history is only as good as the patient is able to tell it. I fight this by driving 160 miles to see a doctor I've had for over 20 years, who really knows me, even though I only see him once a year. As far as I am concerned, you can't replace the value of a doctor-patient relationship. But everything in our system seeks to destroy that. Not good for the patient or the doctor, I think.

[EFerrari]

1. Dr. Cronin was our doctor and he made house calls.

He was a great doctor, too. Late 50s - early 60s. :)

[TahitiNut]

2. Yup. I also remember being quarantined. (Sign on the door and all that.)

I'm old.

Dirt was new.

God was a child.

:shrug:

[livetohike]

20. Right there with you TahitiNut

:hi:

[China_cat]

3. We had Dr. Wilson who made housecalls.

He delivered me at home, took out my tonsils in his office and always answered calls. Did some of his own compounding of medicines, too.

[Milo_Bloom]

4. Dr. Jay Gordon makes house calls when necessary

However, he is not on ANY insurance plan, so you have to bill back to your insurance company and even though I have the best health care plan available, I only get about $60 back for a $350 bill.

[JHB]

5. Relevant article in Salon

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/07/08/primary_care_physicians/index.html

Make no mistake: Primary care is the backbone of a good medical system. No matter how great our latest medical technologies, most of our illnesses are best screened or handled by the family practitioner. You don't need a gastroenterologist to treat an ulcer or irritable bowel. You don't need a pulmonologist to treat most cases of asthma and emphysema. And you don't need an orthopedist for most aches and pain.

What we need, and most of us want, is the Norman Rockwell version of a concerned, empathetic family doctor we can trust to sniff out the rare or serious illness, manage the ordinary, while also being a medical cleric who knows his patients. What we need is a family friend to whom we can turn for reassurance, comfort and, yes, even bad news.

But primary care physicians -- those trained in family medicine and general internal medicine -- are an endangered species. It's only a bit of hyperbole to say that, if the trend continues, the family doctor will become a fond memory, a nostalgic reminder that the medical system once had a more human face and sense of community.

For a moment, put aside the very real contributions we doctors have made to the destruction of our profession. Arrogance, hubris, condescension, greed, complacency, cronyism; you name it, we've done it. But it serves no useful purpose to feel a sense of righteous vindication that the American medical establishment has been brought to its knees. Instead, we should be focusing on attracting the next generation's best and brightest.

[izquierdista]

22. That was my grandfather

He practiced in a small town in the midwest and was the only doctor in town. So when he cut his hand and needed stitches once, my father got a quick lesson in how to suture.

Of course he made house calls; he was one of the first in town to own an automobile and it was much easier for him to visit the patient than dragging the patient by horse and buggy to his office. Besides, the town was too small to have an actual hospital, so if you were sick, your family took care of you at home until you were better.

I should quit now before any readers get nostalgic and start longing to get off at Willoughby.

[grasswire]

6. the only house call I ever had...

...was by a doc who was a very good friend, if you know what I mean. We sort of had a crush on each other.

Even when I was a kid in middle America, I never saw a house call. Yes, it was possible to get a prescription over the phone if you had an established doctor.

[Warpy]

7. I go to one who still does.

He's a vascular surgeon who got sick of the HMO ratrace and opened his own GP office. He makes house calls on shut in elderly patients.

There should be more of him.

[undeterred]

11. That's wonderful.

I used to work for a vascular surgeon (in his research lab). Funny thing is, they get bored with their work too. Everybody wants some satisfaction from a job- and I would think doctors would get more personal satisfaction from primary care.

[slackmaster]

8. Not since about 1964

:argh:

[no_hypocrisy]

9. My dad made housecalls in the middle of the night until the year he retired

15 years ago. He never complained or hesitated. And he probably saved countless lives with his dedication to his patients.

[jakem]

10. my doctor does...

unfortunately he works a lot with uninsured people as well, so you have to catch him when he is not moonlighting at the hospital, or installing wood stoves. i shit you not.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. My Doctor comes by every Tuesday night.

LOL, He's in my band.
Having said that, he did take time during a break to check on a skin condition my son was getting.

[tularetom]

13. Yep, I got quarantined for having whooping cough when I was 12

They wouldn't let me back in school for 3 weeks and the doctor came by 3 or 4 times. It was a lot of effort for him because he lived about 10 miles away in another town. I remember he had one of those mask type thingies over his nose and mouth so he wouldn't catch it. This would have been in 1953. The good thing was it was so contagious they kicked my brother out of the room and he had to go sleep over the garage. When i got over it I grew like 6 inches in 2 months.

[undeterred]

15. I'm sure its easier for the doctor to see patients in the office

but I bet a lot of parents would be thrilled to have a home visit when they've got several children and one is sick. Its not hard to find a vet that makes home visits, but its tough to find a doctor unless you're in a rural area.

[wryter2000]

14. I do

But, I'm as old as dirt. :evilgrin:

[undeterred]

16. Good for you!

:thumbsup:

[wryter2000]

30. Thanks

It just takes persistence. :)

[Mojorabbit]

17. My husband does it

for elderly patients.

[demnan]

18. I had the mumps in 1967

I was 10 years old. That's the last one I remember.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I do

When I was about 10, my little sister had measles - a really bad case. We had to put black paper up on the windows and keep her in a dark room. And our doctor came over every evening to check on her. For at least a week.

Another time when I was in college, I was home for Christmas and got really sick. I had pneumonia and the only thing I remember for 3 days is our doctor coming by to check on me. I was so sick I couldn't even get out of bed.

I have been to Walgreens and so has DH. We both got good care there. I was impressed I will admit.

[CTyankee]

21. In Europe this is not all that unusual.

I read about Americans living abroad and being amazed that they had a doctor come to their home to see them or family members. Most recently, it was in a book by a writer on a foundation grant in Rome for a year. He had twin babies, both got sick and the doc came right over...no bill was ever sent.

[petersjo02]

23. Yup.

Dr. Arent and Dr. Coddington, both heroes in my eyes.

[livetohike]

24. Definitely remember house calls and our family doctor

and that big, scary black bag he carried....The doctor's wife was his nurse/receptionist. I can still remember the radio station they played in the waiting room

[RC]

25. I do. I'm old enough to remember when dirt was clean.

[Hardrada]

26. Yes, when I had pneumonia back in 1954. Dr. Nels Olson who

shared a small clinic building with my grandfather who was a dentist.

[XOKCowboy]

27. Dr. Roy Goddard

He was the typical old-time town doctor. He delivered both of my brothers and I. He was gruff, funny, smoked like a chimney and was known to enjoy Chivas Regal and a good poker game. House calls? That was the norm in those days and that meant driving many miles on dirt roads and one lane tracks to some places. He would be considered a "general practitioner" today but he was much more than that. He was the only doctor anyone needed. He treated everything from bee stings and broken arms to heart attacks and birth care from conception to birth and beyond. He never got rich but lived comfortably and without pretense. The long hours, personalized care and the charity he extended as a doctor he received back a hundredfold in gratitude from his former "patients".

He was a great man and a good doctor. Those times and those kind of doctors are long gone I'm afraid. Nowadays in the same town there are 2 private practitioners and a clinic. They treat only minor illnesses and for anything more they'll refer you or put you in an ambulance to a hospital in Tulsa (35 miles away).

[madokie]

28. The doc that delivered me was making a house call

back in march of '48

[Ghost in the Machine]

29. I know one doctor in Athens, Tn who still makes house calls...

Dr. Thomas Layman is his name. He sees patients up until 10 PM and will go see them at their homes. I've only been to him once, but I was filled in by his other patients as we were sitting in his waiting room (at 7:30 pm). He does Vascular surgery, general surgery & general practice. His regular patients spoke of him like he was a god or a rock star. I thought he was a pretty cool doctor. He was about my age (45) and had a good demeanor & personality..

[madrchsod]

31. i do....in the 50`s...... but->

to one of my recent doctors still made house calls to check up on his patients. he was a "family doctor of the year" in illinois

[Bake]

32. When I was a kid, early 1960s, our family doctor made house calls.

Had the black bag and everything.

Bake

[Obamarama]

33. If you lived in France, housecalls wouldn't be a thing of the past.

It's relatively common to have a doctor come to your home for urgent care. Or your hotel. I was laid flat in Paris with what I thought might be appendicitis, but turned out to be bad oysters. Called them up, the doctor was there within 1.5 hrs. I was examined, prescribed anti-nausea medication and presented with a bill...for the equivalent of about $42 dollars.

Oh no....we wouldn't want to have healthcare like FRANCE!

http://www.sosmedecins-france.fr/en/smf_en_present.htm

[Taverner]

34. Never had em

Granted, I was born in 1970

By then docs did not do house calls

[Breeze54]

35. Our Dr. came to the house when 7 of us had measles

My poor Mom! We were all :puke: and had fevers and all were wearing sunglasses.

He gave me a box of chocolates, for being brave at the age of 5, after the FIFTH

time I had to have the small pox vaccine! He was a nice, old fashioned country doctor. :D

[madfloridian]

36. Dr. Judy Steinberg Dean makes housecalls in Vermont.

http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2003/12/08/judy_dean/index.html

"The bits of information revealed in these profiles are precious: Judy Steinberg Dean canoes and hikes and rides her clunky old bike around Lake Champlain. She has only bought one new suit -- a red one! -- for her husband's presidential campaign. She doesn't watch the debates on TV because her family doesn't have cable. She makes house calls and her office in Shelburne, Vt., is full of mismatched furniture.

Steinberg told Goodman that she values the tiny size of her practice because, "If six patients call me with shortness of breath, I can tell which one needs to go to the emergency room and which one doesn't."