Mitch Albom: What Do You Do When the Doctor is No Longer In?

Mitch Albom, Tribune Content Agency on May 31, 2023

How would they know that this part of my anatomy always hurts, or that part always gets injured? How would they know when to lean back with a soothing tone and say, “Relax, it’s probably just a headache. Remember last time?”

Retiring? My doctor can’t retire. I’m too old to be breaking in new people!

And yet, apparently, I am not alone. Doctors are leaving in record numbers. Pressure. Burnout. Age. The whole COVID-19 thing.

Scott, my doctor, is 66. According to reports, 40% of American doctors will turn 65 or older in the next decade. And by 2033, we could have a shortage of nearly 140,000 physicians. If every one of them sees 100 patients, that would mean 14 million people could soon be feeling like me right now.

That will be a real medical crisis.

Retiring? No way. Marcus Welby never retired. And he looked old when that show started!

But I have to face the music. Last week, I went for my final physical at Dr. Lewis office. One last check of the ears, the throat, the glands, the lungs, the heartbeat, and the you-know-whats.

It was melancholy. I think I heard the stethoscope sighing.

At the end, Scott gave me a hug. He even thanked me. I don’t know why. I’m the one who should be thanking him, for every time he squeezed me in, every time he texted to see how I was doing, every time he phoned in a last-minute prescription, every time he called with the lab results and said, “Good numbers! Keep up the healthy living.”

I remember my mother once saying, “A parent should never outlive a child.” In a perfect world, a patient would never outlast a doctor.

But it’s happening. My doctor is retiring. And I’m just sick about it.

Who do I see about that?

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)