The buck stops with me

A patient I saw today had just flown in from the UK. She had endometriosis, and had been advised IVF. She had an endometriotic cyst ( chocolate cyst) in her right ovary, and her IVF doctor refused to start her IVF treatment until the cyst was removed. He referred her to her gynecologist, for removal of the cyst. She got so fed up while waiting for the IVF specialist, the GP and her gynecologist to get their act together ( 6 month in exchanging correspondence and 6 months just to get the needed appointments) that she got fed up and flew down to India to start her IVF treatment cycle with us. We promptly aspirated her cyst and have started her treatment. This is what doctors need to learn - patients want a one-stop-shop, where all their needs can be met, rather than being bounced back and forth from specialist to consultant to the referring doctor. Medical practise needs to be patient-centric; and the doctor who can do this properly will always do well.