Abandoning patients of retired doctors: “It's legal, but worrying,” declared CMQ president

More doctors are retiring at age 60, while others are delaying to avoid neglecting their patients. In both cases, this represents a very “worrying” situation for the president of the Quebec College of Physicians.

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In an interview on the Mario Dumont Show, D^R Practitioners tend to retire around age 70, while “many” remain active beyond age 65, explains Mauril Gaudreault.

“It still worries us in college,” he admits. We propose recommendations […]including extending the doctor's career.”

The ultimate goal is to provide progressive retirement, to honor physician requests while meeting patients' needs.

d^R Gaudreault mentions a support guide for doctors over three years to help them in this orderly retirement. The goal is to leave some patients quiet, according to the specialist's judgment.

For example, those who see their family doctor only once a year before patients with a chronic illness or need of acute care can be removed from the list. This represents the first step towards “safely evacuating customers,” CMQ's president explained.

In the case of “regular” patients, doctors will have to find another doctor before removing them from their register, according to the accompanying guide.

When asked by Mario Dumont about those who retire “suddenly”, D^R Gaudreault admitted that it was legitimate. On the other hand, certain aspects of the code of ethics suggest that a doctor should not suddenly stop his practice and abandon 1200 to 1500 patients, he noted.

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