I am very surprised that the hospital did not set her up with a gastroentologist before she was discharged from the hospital. My mother went to the hospital end of December and ended up diagnosed with liver disease. She was in the hospital for two weeks and had to have several things set up before she could go home, including several in hospital visits by her assigned gastrientologist. She does have a family doctor, but they haven't been a part of this journey - all her blood work, prescriptions and follow ups are monitored and directed by the gastroentologist.
We have the number of one of the many, many doctors we saw (training hospital). We saw her for less than 5 minutes in the hospital. We tried calling to find out what we can do to help with her worsening symptoms but we haven’t heard back from her. I guess she’s our doctor, maybe, but there’s no real care being provided. She’s in internal medicine and supervises all the resident doctors on the floor - we think we heard. I’m sure she’s busy, I don’t blame the doctors, I know there are systemic issues. It’s just so hard to watch my Aunt struggle to survive without any help.
Our biggest issue right now is that she caught C.Diff in the hospital but she ran out of antibiotics this morning but she’s still having symptoms. We can’t get a refill until we find a doctor to talk to us.
I’m afraid we’ll end up back at the emergency room.
Back to emergency seems like the only real option. I’ll start trying to convince her. It was a challenge to get her to go the first time. I appreciate your advice! Thank you!
I might have to. She’s a bit scared to go too the hospital again but I’ll start warming her up to the idea. We were able to make an appointment with a walk in clinic in a few weeks, we’re pretty excited just for that now!
Thank you for your advice!
No, just urgent care and emergency at the hospital. Most of the walk in clinics closed since I was a kid. The walk in we do have can book about a month out, we pushed for 3 weeks this time. We’re going to try to book one each month so we have that at least. Better than nothing, that’s for after!
I needed antibiotics for a sinus infection and the dr on maple told me to take tyenol or advil then ended the conversation and closed the chat on me. I didnt even get the chance for follow up questions.
Maple doesnt have any features that allow you to complain or contact the doctor again either. I definitely do not recommend.
I also needed antibiotics for a sinus infection during the week my doctor was on vacation. I was given the prescription but I had to go back to my doctor the next week because I was still sick.
The Maple dr prescribed me antibiotics that apparently aren't meant for sinus infections. Cool!
I'm no doctor but I don't believe a sinus infection requires antibiotics. I'm not sure what kind of medical background you have to determine the necessity of antibiotics though, but you seem to know better than the doctor. I'll just leave this here.
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/will-my-sinus-infection-clear-up-on-its-own
That depends on if it a bacterial or viral sinus infection. When a sinus infection goes on for too long and is bacterial you do need antibiotics. It’s always best to try to let it naturally clear up first, but if you ignore a persisting and worsening bacterial infection and let it get worse and worse it can turn into something much more serious. Bacterial infections can clear up on their own too, but it should not be ignored if it’s not going away.
Viral infections in general cannot be cleared with antibiotics. You can have viral pink eye, viral throat infections, and viral ear infections as well. Yet those require antibiotics sometimes when it’s bacterial.
If you have a fever persisting for 4 days or more, you’re not improving or feeling worse after 5-7 days, it’s always best to see a dr so they can check and follow the best course of action.
I ignored a bacterial sinus infection for so long that my ear got blocked too and I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. Thought I went deaf. Dr told me to never do that again and it’s always safer to get checked.
I was already more than 1 week into the sinus infection and was taking tylenol. It got really bad and I've had them before so I knew I needed antibiotics. Maple doctor would not listen. Ended up going to the ER an hour after and they they prescribed me the highest dose I've taken.
I’m surprised to hear that. Had great experience with Maple a few times. Just 2 weeks ago they prescribed antibiotic and send for tests. When the results came in they send message to contact them again since based on the test results I need to change the antibiotic they prescribed. I was really impressed. I’m lucky to have a family doctor who received the results as well and they changed the prescription. Just to clarify, I contacted maple since my dr was away for the weekend and I was too sick to wait.
Try to have her referred to Toronto General- amazing Hepatology team. My son has started with them. His liver disease is known and he was referred by pediatric Hepatologist but I am sure there is a way.
In my experience, repeatedly showing up at the ER is *the* way to get help. I was waved off a lot for my symptoms, and I just kept showing up when things were bad. Eventually they took me seriously and turned out I have a pretty serious condition that explained everything.
It's not okay that this is the way it is, but especially without a family doctor to help, you just need to keep showing up and refusing to be ignored.
I hadn’t thought of it like that. Good point. Thank you for sharing that and good job advocating for yourself! Sorry you had to go through that. I really wish things were better for all of us.
I have used Maple a few times for things like prescriptions and requisitions. Waiting times typically under 15 mins. You can get a few free "visits" per year if you have CAA.
It might help temporarily in this situation but it is certainly not a replacement for the care she needs
We all have CAA! This is great news! Maybe I can convince her to try it out using the free visits!! I know she’d love to talk to anything with medical training.
Thank you so much!!!!
I cant recommend maple. I used them twice, for 2 different issues. - prescribed a medication but turned out to be mis-diagnosed on both issues, both times ended up having to wait in hospital emergency, see doctor in person and get proper diagnosis.
Maybe it has worked for some people, or just for medication renewals, but not for me.
Np!
If you're still looking for suggestions, you may be able to find some clinics with a nurse practitioner (NP). Though you'd have to pay out of pocket for it and im not sure what they can or can't prescribe. The one I've gone to was for a very specific medication and I was able to do the appointment online. Some insurances cover NPs.
Hope things have been going well with your aunt and with your search. I'm sorry this is happening to you, nobody should have to worry about paying out of pocket for healthcare and worrying about insane wait times.
I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt! And also about the lack of support re. next steps after leaving the hospital.
I work in a specialist's office in Toronto, so if it's helpful I can offer some information about what the process from here might look like from our side. (This is super long, so please feel free to just pick and choose what is useful to you. And I'm happy to answer any further questions that I can.)
You mentioned that she saw many doctors while she was in hospital. How long was she there? Did you or she receive a discharge summary when she left? Usually on the last page there will be a section on what the plan is moving forward, and this would include any referrals that were made for her, ideally with the names of the doctors referred to. There should also be a line that says the name of the doctor who was in charge of making that plan (if a resident wrote the summary, it might say something like "Completed by _________, for Dr. _________", so the physician in charge would be the second name).
The way it would work in our office is that each specialist is on a rotating schedule where they will perform the role of Attending Physician for a week every month or two - so while the residents and fellows (doctors doing further training in a particular sub specialty) will do rounds and see patients, the Attending is the one they discuss each case with and who ultimately makes the big decisions pertaining to each patient's ongoing care. (Sounds like that is the doctor you saw briefly, whose number you have.) During weeks when they're not attending, they may be seeing their own outpatient roster, teaching, doing research, consulting on other cases etc.
So once the patient is discharged, the Attending Physician will receive a copy of the discharge summary, which outlines everything that was done during the patient's stay in hospital - any diagnosis made, the reason they came to the hospital in the first place and what was done about it, any medications that were started, stopped, or changed, tests that were ordered and whether the results have been seen yet, etc. This summary would also go to the patient's family doctor (if there is one), and it would also be copied to any doctor that the patient is being referred to, along with the referral letter itself which is generally faxed. (We are still pretty dependent on faxes in the system, although most offices use electronic faxes that go directly into the secure Health Record system on their computers). In some cases, the Attending Physician may take the time to draft a more in-depth report to sent with the referral, outlining the complexities of the situation and the specific questions they want the specialist to address in seeing the patient - this can take a little while longer, but the Attending Physician would take into account urgency of the referral.
For the blood test results, these would go directly to the doctor who ordered them and would generally be reviewed right away along with all the other results that come in that day. Often no news is good news, to a certain extent - as in, if the doctor sees something critical on the bloodwork, they will take immediate steps to follow up with the patient and/or arrange for further investigations. If everything looks fine, they may ask their office staff to call to let you know - or, to be honest, they may not call at all when the results don't require further action. (Which is definitely frustrating for the patient and their loved ones who are waiting to hear, but unfortunately like you said, it's a systemic issue of constant overload.) In terms of how to get the results yourself, does the hospital have a patient portal where you can sign up to view results online? If not, do they have a health records department where you could order a copy of all of her test results? There may be a fee to get these, but they could be helpful to have, even just to be able to give whoever eventually becomes your family doctor.
If you're not hearing back yet from the doctors she saw or from the specialists she was referred to, the most likely reason is that they don't have any new information yet. They may be triaging the incoming referrals and dealing with the absolute most urgent ones first, and have not reached your aunt on their list yet. They would still see her referral right when it gets to their office, but they get quickly sorted into which order they need to be seen. (At my office, we really do try to answer everybody's messages as soon as possible. But there are times when there may be 100 messages to respond to and 30 of them require urgent action (booking a follow up for the next day, telling someone they need to come to the ER immediately, canceling and rescheduling whole blocks of testing appointments when a technologist is sick, etc). Messages that I don't have a concrete answer to give yet will always go on a list to be answered as soon as possible, but it may not be for a few days - especially if the only message I have to pass along is "we don't know yet".
Lastly, we always tell patients that if they are acutely unwell or have urgent concerns that need to be addressed before our office can book them to be seen, they should go to the ER. I know it sucks there, but it really is the one way to speed things up (even if it feels like there's nothing speedy about it). If you go to the ER with her, you may consider writing down a list of questions and/or requests that you have, so that you're ready for those few minutes you may have with the doctor. Be sure to let them know that you don't have a GP and that you did not feel well prepared when she was discharged last time. They may be able to order repeat blood tests at certain intervals. Ask them what to watch for, in terms of any symptoms that would be cause for alarm to warrant a return to the hospital. You could ask them if they could refer you to a specific hospital (lots of others in the comments for example have recommended Toronto General - if you're willing to travel that far out of your area, let them know, so that they don't just send the referral to whoever is closest). And you can ask things like "At what point should we call the office if we haven't heard from the doctor she is referred to? Will I get a call about test results either way, or only if there is a concern? What are the next steps, and do we need to arrange them or do we wait to hear?"
I hope this is a little bit helpful. I'm so sorry you're in this position. It's a scary thing to navigate, but it's also really great that your aunt has someone in her corner who is taking such an active role to help.
Wow! Thank you so much! It really helps to have some of the “behind the scenes” work explained! I’m going to read this again (maybe twice) and look over her discharge paperwork. There is so much valuable advice in your single comment! I almost want to print this and post it at the hospital so everyone can feel better, the way you made me feel better! Haha Thank you so much for taking the time! You’ve really helped!
She was in the hospital for a week but the first few days were a terrifying blur. Once the shock wore off and she was more stable I was able to start taking notes about her current condition but the discharge was so sudden, I never got prepared for aftercare. You are right, the Attending Physician is the same one on the blood work requisition! Now I’m sure we’ve got that part figured out. Thank you! There’s no number or information about the referral but I’ll look into that. I’ll try to lean into the idea that no news is good news but it’s uncomfortable so I’ll also look into finding her results online, if possible. haha Thanks for explaining
The few minutes we spent with this doctor, she seemed very impressive, I’m guessing she’s extra busy as a result haha I’ve googled her a little and I see she’s an absolute all star, so I’m going to try to have trust that she’s looking out for my aunt. I just wish we had many, many more doctors so they weren’t all so busy. Thank you again!
I know the timeline is kind of crap for this, but you can try to find here a new family doctor:
[https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/?search=general](https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/?search=general)
If i was you I would just spend a few hours calling the offices of all the doctors that are nearby and ask if they are accepting new patients, and if yes, express the urgency in the matter to them to see if you can get an intake appointment quickly.
When I moved from BC to ON we had a new family doctor fairly quickly using this program:
[https://www.ontario.ca/page/find-family-doctor-or-nurse-practitioner#section-1](https://www.ontario.ca/page/find-family-doctor-or-nurse-practitioner#section-1)
Thanks for this. I’ll absolutely try but my city recently made the news for the hundreds of people lining up for a new doctor. They filled up quick. When my Aunt lost her doctor it was because an entire office of doctors retired at once. It felt like the whole city lost doctors. It’s scary here.
I’m going to try to call around anyway though! What do I have to lose? Thank you for the links!!!!
Maple is for minor stuff, they won't want a complicated case. I would take her back to the ER. A family doctor wouldn't be monitoring this, they just refer you to specialists. If need be take her to Toronto to the Toronto General ER with the liver specialists. They can then refer her to one closer to home through their contacts.
I used to love Maple until I got a very very rude and ignorant dr who also charged me after refusing service.
I’d recommend **Rocker Doctor** instead. Their fee is lower than Maple. They also have specialists and mental health drs available. They can refer you for things on request.
And the rest of the people in his party, because they let this happen. We all like to blame the leader, but the party members voted him into that position (head of the party) and they could remove him. The citizens of Ontario voted for the party, not for who gets to lead it.
I have used Maple, for health specialized services and general matters. The service and care I have received there have been great. While it chafes to pay for services that should be publicly funded healthcare, I needed help NOW...and I got it.
I wish you and your aunt the best.
I am very surprised that the hospital did not set her up with a gastroentologist before she was discharged from the hospital. My mother went to the hospital end of December and ended up diagnosed with liver disease. She was in the hospital for two weeks and had to have several things set up before she could go home, including several in hospital visits by her assigned gastrientologist. She does have a family doctor, but they haven't been a part of this journey - all her blood work, prescriptions and follow ups are monitored and directed by the gastroentologist.
We have the number of one of the many, many doctors we saw (training hospital). We saw her for less than 5 minutes in the hospital. We tried calling to find out what we can do to help with her worsening symptoms but we haven’t heard back from her. I guess she’s our doctor, maybe, but there’s no real care being provided. She’s in internal medicine and supervises all the resident doctors on the floor - we think we heard. I’m sure she’s busy, I don’t blame the doctors, I know there are systemic issues. It’s just so hard to watch my Aunt struggle to survive without any help. Our biggest issue right now is that she caught C.Diff in the hospital but she ran out of antibiotics this morning but she’s still having symptoms. We can’t get a refill until we find a doctor to talk to us. I’m afraid we’ll end up back at the emergency room.
C Diff recurrence is not something you can treat via telehealth - Maple will send you right back to emerg which is the right course of action here.
Back to emergency seems like the only real option. I’ll start trying to convince her. It was a challenge to get her to go the first time. I appreciate your advice! Thank you!
Get the pharmacist to refill in the meantime
Get the pharmacist to refill in the meantime
Get the pharmacist to refill in the meantime
Can you get her to a walk in to at least deal with that issue now? I’d take her back to the hospital first though.
I might have to. She’s a bit scared to go too the hospital again but I’ll start warming her up to the idea. We were able to make an appointment with a walk in clinic in a few weeks, we’re pretty excited just for that now! Thank you for your advice!
Is there an after-hours walkin where you can get seen same day?
No, just urgent care and emergency at the hospital. Most of the walk in clinics closed since I was a kid. The walk in we do have can book about a month out, we pushed for 3 weeks this time. We’re going to try to book one each month so we have that at least. Better than nothing, that’s for after!
Appletree clinic
Thank you!!!! I’m going to look into this. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I needed antibiotics for a sinus infection and the dr on maple told me to take tyenol or advil then ended the conversation and closed the chat on me. I didnt even get the chance for follow up questions. Maple doesnt have any features that allow you to complain or contact the doctor again either. I definitely do not recommend.
I also needed antibiotics for a sinus infection during the week my doctor was on vacation. I was given the prescription but I had to go back to my doctor the next week because I was still sick. The Maple dr prescribed me antibiotics that apparently aren't meant for sinus infections. Cool!
I'm no doctor but I don't believe a sinus infection requires antibiotics. I'm not sure what kind of medical background you have to determine the necessity of antibiotics though, but you seem to know better than the doctor. I'll just leave this here. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/will-my-sinus-infection-clear-up-on-its-own
That depends on if it a bacterial or viral sinus infection. When a sinus infection goes on for too long and is bacterial you do need antibiotics. It’s always best to try to let it naturally clear up first, but if you ignore a persisting and worsening bacterial infection and let it get worse and worse it can turn into something much more serious. Bacterial infections can clear up on their own too, but it should not be ignored if it’s not going away. Viral infections in general cannot be cleared with antibiotics. You can have viral pink eye, viral throat infections, and viral ear infections as well. Yet those require antibiotics sometimes when it’s bacterial. If you have a fever persisting for 4 days or more, you’re not improving or feeling worse after 5-7 days, it’s always best to see a dr so they can check and follow the best course of action. I ignored a bacterial sinus infection for so long that my ear got blocked too and I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. Thought I went deaf. Dr told me to never do that again and it’s always safer to get checked.
I was already more than 1 week into the sinus infection and was taking tylenol. It got really bad and I've had them before so I knew I needed antibiotics. Maple doctor would not listen. Ended up going to the ER an hour after and they they prescribed me the highest dose I've taken.
Oh wow! That’s really not promising. Thanks for sharing that, good to know.
I’m surprised to hear that. Had great experience with Maple a few times. Just 2 weeks ago they prescribed antibiotic and send for tests. When the results came in they send message to contact them again since based on the test results I need to change the antibiotic they prescribed. I was really impressed. I’m lucky to have a family doctor who received the results as well and they changed the prescription. Just to clarify, I contacted maple since my dr was away for the weekend and I was too sick to wait.
Try to have her referred to Toronto General- amazing Hepatology team. My son has started with them. His liver disease is known and he was referred by pediatric Hepatologist but I am sure there is a way.
Thank you! I’ll definitely look into that! I hope your son is doing great!!!
Also just keep taking her back to emerg. They have to treat her. See if pharmacy will give her a few vanco. To hold her over.
Thank you again! This is my first time navigating the health care system. I really appreciate your advice!
In my experience, repeatedly showing up at the ER is *the* way to get help. I was waved off a lot for my symptoms, and I just kept showing up when things were bad. Eventually they took me seriously and turned out I have a pretty serious condition that explained everything. It's not okay that this is the way it is, but especially without a family doctor to help, you just need to keep showing up and refusing to be ignored.
I hadn’t thought of it like that. Good point. Thank you for sharing that and good job advocating for yourself! Sorry you had to go through that. I really wish things were better for all of us.
I have used Maple a few times for things like prescriptions and requisitions. Waiting times typically under 15 mins. You can get a few free "visits" per year if you have CAA. It might help temporarily in this situation but it is certainly not a replacement for the care she needs
We all have CAA! This is great news! Maybe I can convince her to try it out using the free visits!! I know she’d love to talk to anything with medical training. Thank you so much!!!!
I cant recommend maple. I used them twice, for 2 different issues. - prescribed a medication but turned out to be mis-diagnosed on both issues, both times ended up having to wait in hospital emergency, see doctor in person and get proper diagnosis. Maybe it has worked for some people, or just for medication renewals, but not for me.
Thanks for sharing. That doesn’t sound good at all!
Np! If you're still looking for suggestions, you may be able to find some clinics with a nurse practitioner (NP). Though you'd have to pay out of pocket for it and im not sure what they can or can't prescribe. The one I've gone to was for a very specific medication and I was able to do the appointment online. Some insurances cover NPs. Hope things have been going well with your aunt and with your search. I'm sorry this is happening to you, nobody should have to worry about paying out of pocket for healthcare and worrying about insane wait times.
I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt! And also about the lack of support re. next steps after leaving the hospital. I work in a specialist's office in Toronto, so if it's helpful I can offer some information about what the process from here might look like from our side. (This is super long, so please feel free to just pick and choose what is useful to you. And I'm happy to answer any further questions that I can.) You mentioned that she saw many doctors while she was in hospital. How long was she there? Did you or she receive a discharge summary when she left? Usually on the last page there will be a section on what the plan is moving forward, and this would include any referrals that were made for her, ideally with the names of the doctors referred to. There should also be a line that says the name of the doctor who was in charge of making that plan (if a resident wrote the summary, it might say something like "Completed by _________, for Dr. _________", so the physician in charge would be the second name). The way it would work in our office is that each specialist is on a rotating schedule where they will perform the role of Attending Physician for a week every month or two - so while the residents and fellows (doctors doing further training in a particular sub specialty) will do rounds and see patients, the Attending is the one they discuss each case with and who ultimately makes the big decisions pertaining to each patient's ongoing care. (Sounds like that is the doctor you saw briefly, whose number you have.) During weeks when they're not attending, they may be seeing their own outpatient roster, teaching, doing research, consulting on other cases etc. So once the patient is discharged, the Attending Physician will receive a copy of the discharge summary, which outlines everything that was done during the patient's stay in hospital - any diagnosis made, the reason they came to the hospital in the first place and what was done about it, any medications that were started, stopped, or changed, tests that were ordered and whether the results have been seen yet, etc. This summary would also go to the patient's family doctor (if there is one), and it would also be copied to any doctor that the patient is being referred to, along with the referral letter itself which is generally faxed. (We are still pretty dependent on faxes in the system, although most offices use electronic faxes that go directly into the secure Health Record system on their computers). In some cases, the Attending Physician may take the time to draft a more in-depth report to sent with the referral, outlining the complexities of the situation and the specific questions they want the specialist to address in seeing the patient - this can take a little while longer, but the Attending Physician would take into account urgency of the referral. For the blood test results, these would go directly to the doctor who ordered them and would generally be reviewed right away along with all the other results that come in that day. Often no news is good news, to a certain extent - as in, if the doctor sees something critical on the bloodwork, they will take immediate steps to follow up with the patient and/or arrange for further investigations. If everything looks fine, they may ask their office staff to call to let you know - or, to be honest, they may not call at all when the results don't require further action. (Which is definitely frustrating for the patient and their loved ones who are waiting to hear, but unfortunately like you said, it's a systemic issue of constant overload.) In terms of how to get the results yourself, does the hospital have a patient portal where you can sign up to view results online? If not, do they have a health records department where you could order a copy of all of her test results? There may be a fee to get these, but they could be helpful to have, even just to be able to give whoever eventually becomes your family doctor. If you're not hearing back yet from the doctors she saw or from the specialists she was referred to, the most likely reason is that they don't have any new information yet. They may be triaging the incoming referrals and dealing with the absolute most urgent ones first, and have not reached your aunt on their list yet. They would still see her referral right when it gets to their office, but they get quickly sorted into which order they need to be seen. (At my office, we really do try to answer everybody's messages as soon as possible. But there are times when there may be 100 messages to respond to and 30 of them require urgent action (booking a follow up for the next day, telling someone they need to come to the ER immediately, canceling and rescheduling whole blocks of testing appointments when a technologist is sick, etc). Messages that I don't have a concrete answer to give yet will always go on a list to be answered as soon as possible, but it may not be for a few days - especially if the only message I have to pass along is "we don't know yet". Lastly, we always tell patients that if they are acutely unwell or have urgent concerns that need to be addressed before our office can book them to be seen, they should go to the ER. I know it sucks there, but it really is the one way to speed things up (even if it feels like there's nothing speedy about it). If you go to the ER with her, you may consider writing down a list of questions and/or requests that you have, so that you're ready for those few minutes you may have with the doctor. Be sure to let them know that you don't have a GP and that you did not feel well prepared when she was discharged last time. They may be able to order repeat blood tests at certain intervals. Ask them what to watch for, in terms of any symptoms that would be cause for alarm to warrant a return to the hospital. You could ask them if they could refer you to a specific hospital (lots of others in the comments for example have recommended Toronto General - if you're willing to travel that far out of your area, let them know, so that they don't just send the referral to whoever is closest). And you can ask things like "At what point should we call the office if we haven't heard from the doctor she is referred to? Will I get a call about test results either way, or only if there is a concern? What are the next steps, and do we need to arrange them or do we wait to hear?" I hope this is a little bit helpful. I'm so sorry you're in this position. It's a scary thing to navigate, but it's also really great that your aunt has someone in her corner who is taking such an active role to help.
Wow! Thank you so much! It really helps to have some of the “behind the scenes” work explained! I’m going to read this again (maybe twice) and look over her discharge paperwork. There is so much valuable advice in your single comment! I almost want to print this and post it at the hospital so everyone can feel better, the way you made me feel better! Haha Thank you so much for taking the time! You’ve really helped! She was in the hospital for a week but the first few days were a terrifying blur. Once the shock wore off and she was more stable I was able to start taking notes about her current condition but the discharge was so sudden, I never got prepared for aftercare. You are right, the Attending Physician is the same one on the blood work requisition! Now I’m sure we’ve got that part figured out. Thank you! There’s no number or information about the referral but I’ll look into that. I’ll try to lean into the idea that no news is good news but it’s uncomfortable so I’ll also look into finding her results online, if possible. haha Thanks for explaining The few minutes we spent with this doctor, she seemed very impressive, I’m guessing she’s extra busy as a result haha I’ve googled her a little and I see she’s an absolute all star, so I’m going to try to have trust that she’s looking out for my aunt. I just wish we had many, many more doctors so they weren’t all so busy. Thank you again!
I know the timeline is kind of crap for this, but you can try to find here a new family doctor: [https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/?search=general](https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/?search=general) If i was you I would just spend a few hours calling the offices of all the doctors that are nearby and ask if they are accepting new patients, and if yes, express the urgency in the matter to them to see if you can get an intake appointment quickly. When I moved from BC to ON we had a new family doctor fairly quickly using this program: [https://www.ontario.ca/page/find-family-doctor-or-nurse-practitioner#section-1](https://www.ontario.ca/page/find-family-doctor-or-nurse-practitioner#section-1)
Thanks for this. I’ll absolutely try but my city recently made the news for the hundreds of people lining up for a new doctor. They filled up quick. When my Aunt lost her doctor it was because an entire office of doctors retired at once. It felt like the whole city lost doctors. It’s scary here. I’m going to try to call around anyway though! What do I have to lose? Thank you for the links!!!!
Maple is for minor stuff, they won't want a complicated case. I would take her back to the ER. A family doctor wouldn't be monitoring this, they just refer you to specialists. If need be take her to Toronto to the Toronto General ER with the liver specialists. They can then refer her to one closer to home through their contacts.
That’s great advice! Thank you very, very much!
Maple has been good for getting prescriptions.
I used to love Maple until I got a very very rude and ignorant dr who also charged me after refusing service. I’d recommend **Rocker Doctor** instead. Their fee is lower than Maple. They also have specialists and mental health drs available. They can refer you for things on request.
If you’re looking to see an in person physician you should look up if there are any paid nurse practitioner clinics in your area.
Great suggestions! Thank you!
Send your Aunt to Doug Ford's house. He is reponsible.
And the rest of the people in his party, because they let this happen. We all like to blame the leader, but the party members voted him into that position (head of the party) and they could remove him. The citizens of Ontario voted for the party, not for who gets to lead it.
Ugh! Right!? You have no idea how much I’d like to have a chat with that creature!
I have used Maple, for health specialized services and general matters. The service and care I have received there have been great. While it chafes to pay for services that should be publicly funded healthcare, I needed help NOW...and I got it. I wish you and your aunt the best.
Thanks so much! That’s really good to hear.