A GP in Apt
Rando public domain photo of some doctor’s exam table
We saw a new GP today, here in the town of Apt, which is a big deal.
Apt has a hospital and a couple of clinical labs, but until now we were going 45 minutes away for a quality GP. Turns out physician care can be spotty in rural areas. In the U.S. too.
Recently, however, the government recruited someone to open a practice in Apt’s recently constructed public building. When we heard the news, we went to see him.
The guy’s around 60 years old, from Bourgogne in the north with a house in Paris (I think) and two sons in Marseille. I asked if the travel was too much. He seems to like it: he’s volunteered in Africa and Asia with an organization I think called Aide Médicale Internationale.
I was excited: this was someone accustomed to working with people in different conditions. Hopefully that meant he had the ability to relate to my itinerant background.
I had come prepared with a translated list of my still minor ailments and answers to the expected questions about diet, exercise, vaccinations and medications, which he read quietly before asking me for more info. Though he had little English, his French was clear and he spoke at a reasonable pace.
He also smiled and took his time with me. Nice.
He shared insights other doctors hadn’t, noting, for example, that by switching hand positions on my bicycle I could reduce the symptoms of my carpal tunnel syndrome. Multiple doctors had failed to point that out to me. (UPDATE: It worked.)
I also asked for referrals, including one for a visit to a gastroenterologist I had already scheduled for this Friday. He wanted more info. They don’t automatically give colonoscopies here, preferring a cheap stool test every two years that catches cancer early, in which case the colonoscopy and treatment follow.
To me that makes sense. Colonoscopies are a business in the U.S., where it’s believed that if a technology exists for prevention or cure, we are morally obliged to use it, even if it is invasive and expensive. Then, if you find a polyp the first time, you need to schedule the next procedure much sooner. But polyps are pretty common. That adds up to a lot of money.
Europe, on the other hand, basically says, Nah, a polyp doesn’t equal cancer, and colonoscopies risk tearing the colon. Even if you have cancer, it’s treatable if you catch it early. So they make it very easy to test for it. I know people who have benefited.
He suggested I take the results from previous colonoscopies to my consultation on Friday — anticipating, perhaps, that they too may question the need. (UPDATE: They didn’t.)
He wrote me some other referrals. All in all a good visit. I doubt this guy will stay more than a couple of years, but I switched to him as my primary care doctor anyway (you need to designate one under the French system.)
Total cost? $8.00. Eight dollars. Which I intend to claim from my U.S. insurer. The French health system paid for the rest.
