Opinion: Primary care physicians try to give their all — until they can’t. It’s time to flip the archetype to teamwork
My colleague, Skip, was the kind of primary care doctor I always wanted to be. He could riff on the evaluation of a patient with new joint or liver inflammation like an improvising jazz musician. He could discern a familiar rash in the most puzzling plumes of hot, angry bumps. When I had lab results that flummoxed me, I’d go see Skip. He’d tip back in his chair, swivel a bit in thought, and make sense of the findings.
Six months before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, Skip died by suicide. At his memorial service, a friend described Skip’s dedication to his patients: he would overhear Skip tell his wife he’d be home to cook dinner, only to get into a series of telephone calls with patients and miss dinner altogether. Patients described how when they were ill, Skip would double book them into his schedule or go see them at home.
