Doctor's Referral to Another Doctor
By vjenkins86
@vjenkins86 (1478)
United States
July 1, 2010 12:40pm CST
Maybe I'm not thinking correctly, or maybe I don't know everything but I thought that most doctors can give you a reference to another doctor.
Here is the scenario: A woman lives in a small town with a small clinic. During an exam, her x-rays reveal dark spots around lungs and heart. To be on the safe side, her doctor recommends her going into the nearest city where they is a bigger hospital with more current and advanced technology. However, her doctor cannot give her a referral to another doctor in the hospital so he asked her- the patient- to find a doctor at the hospital then give him the name.
In my opinion, shouldn't doctors have procedures to handle these kind of things? To me, it seems a bit unprofessional. Here's the patient, worried about what the x-rays found and the doctor is telling her that she needs to find another doctor at a better hospital. Does this happen often?
2 people like this
6 responses
@edwardjoy2000 (2386)
• United Arab Emirates
1 Jul 10
Yes i do understand what you are saying. Usually the doctors who are registered with a medical association have a reference list. If he is not a specialist in that particluar branch of medicne they refer to another doctor whom they know or is in the list of reference. Could be the doctor is not registered with the association and does not have a list.
There could be other reasons that the doctor knows a few doctors who are out side the area of operation on beyond the limits of that particular city.
@vjenkins86 (1478)
• United States
1 Jul 10
I guess I just assumed that every doctor had access to those kind of lists. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for responding, it helps.
@incus99 (1083)
• Philippines
1 Jul 10
what really happened was a medical referral protocol, what could have been imprudent if she wasn't referred. You're right,one of the most common reasons for referral is the lack of diagnostic facilities.. I think the only plausible reason why she was indirectly referred to another doctor is the receiving doctor in the tertiary hospital is general practitioner, triage doctor or ER doctor who by protocol does the preliminary assessment and makes the inter departmental referral...
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
2 Jul 10
What usually happens is that the doctor makes arrangements with that particular big city hospital for the specialist there to give the woman the tests. He may also recommend that she see a doctor in that hospital, but most doctors belong to the AMA and he knows specifically what doctor for her to see.
This means that supposing the doctor in the small town was Dr. Homer and so he detects something is wrong but he is just a family doctor so he finds out that a Dr. Kildaire at =-===General Hospital in the city of -==== is a specialist. He then writes or emails Dr. Kildaire and says that he has a patient. He tells Mary Smith or whatever her name is that he has written to Dr. Kildaire who of course sends an official letter back and he wants to know what date will be convenient for her.
So it is not as if she is in the dark.
@consultrainer (4991)
• India
3 Jul 10
there is a saying in my local language.. that THIEVES share the town! .. did you mean to suggest that too? ..
just for fun! 
@Bellapop (1279)
•
1 Jul 10
It can and does happen. What it is, is that even a doctor is not perfect. A doctor is still human and only doing his job. It is the doctor's obligation to do as much as he can, and if something is beyond his capability then he must be able to help you to find someone else or a solution rather than pretending that he can sort it out. The doctor was actually very professional in the way that he accepted that his capabilities and the facilities available are limited, so rather than say there's no cure, or continue to struggle and pretend that everything is ok, he chose to recommend somewhere where they could look after you better and give you the best possible care. Hope this helps to explain it.
@vjenkins86 (1478)
• United States
1 Jul 10
I probably shouldn't have called the doctor unprofessional. I'm just so scared and angry at the situation. That does help to explain it a little bit. Thank you for responding.
