Dear Renee,

I am so sorry for all you have and are going through. Reading the posts on this thread brought tears to my eyes, too. Both happy and sad tears. Sad tears for what you have endured and happy tears from all the comments and your sincere appreciation of your friends on NT. Yes, the friends we find here is what gets us through.

As to your doc,.......... I think the new health care law is the cause of many docs reducing their hours and patient load and that many patients will be pushed off to NP's and PA's.
One of my doc's went to a concierge type practice charging an annual fee, reduced his patient load to 15% of his previous number of patients, reduced his hours drastically, dropped having a nurse and now only has a medical assistant. I do not think your legal issue has anything to do with the change.

You are the second person today that has mentioned that a group practice does not allow you to change docs within the group. This is news to me as my experiences (years ago) was just the opposite. If you wanted to see the same doctor all the time that was in a group practice, you were given to whatever doctor was available which I was totally opposed to doing. I did not want "any" doctor in the group (of 4), I wanted to see MY doctor.

While I have the utmost respect for nurses, and I mean NO offense to any that may read this post, there are times when I want to see a DOCTOR, not a nurse. You (or the insurer) are billed the same amount for a nurse as if you see a doctor. If I am paying for a doctor, I want to SEE a doctor. If I have a different (lower) co-pay for a PCP, than for a specialist, then I should have a really reduced co-pay for seeing a nurse. If co-pays are based on extent of training, then seeing a nurse should be a reduced co-pay as well. Isn't that the justification for the difference in co-pays between PCP's and specialists? The last time I was seen by a NP, I was charged the same co-pay as if I had seen the doctor, a specialist. Yes, I paid the higher specialist MD co-pay for seeing a nurse.

Most of us here have enough trouble getting a doctor that is versed in our neurological problems much less being seen by someone with less training.

Again, to all the nurses on NT, I have the utmost respect for you and love you. It is the care of nurses that help us in many instances. When one is in the hospital, our lives are more in the hands of nurses than doctors. We owe them our lives. So, PLEASE do not be offended by my comments. My comments are geared more to a doctor's office setting where we are looking for diagnostic help and treatment. I think THAT is best left to physicians.

In December, I attempted to make an appt. with one of my specialist. The doc was unavailable and they gave me an appt. with the NP. I was not happy but I needed to be seen for an "acute" issue so I accepted the appt. Turned out that not only was the NP great, I actually liked the NP better than my doc. I hope to ALWAYS see that NP again in the future. (Qualifier -- Unless it is for something much more serious.)

I did not mean to get so off track but I did not want to offend any nurses. We would be in BAD shape without them. My point was we should have the option of seeing an MD if and when we want and need to do so. It should be OUR choice.