By André Fecteau
On Monday, Dr. Bill James will close his well-established practice at the corner of Kent and James streets after 35 years of service — there’s nobody to take it over.
Thousands of patients will be affected by his departure.
One of these is eight-year-old Taylor Guzzo. She went to James for a strep throat infection. In two weeks she will need a follow-up.
That may prove to be difficult because by that time, the pediatrician will have moved to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario to do research work on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other mood ailments.
When she learned that James was leaving, Taylor’s mother, Louise Guzzo, says she cried. She called all her friends’ pediatricians, but had no luck finding a replacement.
She has even been told by a nurse that there are no pediatricians taking new patients because of a serious shortage of family physicians in Ottawa.
Guzzo is frustrated. “What am I to do, now? We’re the capital of Canada and we don’t have pediatricians in the city,” she says. “It’s ridiculous.”
Marie-Josée Lapointe’s six-year-old son is also a patient of James.
She says she panicked when she learned James was leaving, adding it’s hard enough to find a new pediatrician in Ottawa, and even harder to find one that parents will trust.
“There’s an unconditional trust relationship (with your pediatrician),” says Lapointe. “With James, it was so easy. He was an extraordinary physician. He was calm, he had empathy for the parents.”
Lapointe says she is lucky, because her son doesn’t suffer from a chronic illness.
“He is a healthy child, but what about children who need regular follow-ups?”she asks.
James tried to refer his patients to other pediatricians, but the great majority of them can’t find anyone.
Most of them will turn to their family doctors, while others have been referred to one of James’s colleague, Dr. Sahar Al-Bakkal.
Matthew Carlow has been going to James since May 2004. The eight-year-old will keep seeing James regularly at CHEO.
Matthew’s mother, Cheryl Carlow, says she is happy James will still see her son for ADHD. “He had been recommended to us as the expert.”
She says her son will have to see her family doctor for other medical problems.
Guzzo says her last choice will be to go to a walk-in clinic, although she says she’s had some bad experiences.
She says she spent close to a day waiting in a walk-in clinic, and the doctors didn’t detect her daughter’s strep throat infection. “They said nothing was wrong with her.”
A couple of days later, Guzzo called James’s clinic. “I got an appointment the same day. He checked her throat and did the tests. We had the results by the end of the day.”
Guzzo is angry at the health system.
She says the government should encourage medical students to specialize in pediatrics and family medicine.
“We wouldn’t run into these problems,” she says.
Although she respects James’s decision, she says she will miss him. “Nobody will replace James. He was the best,” she says.
James, who was vacationing in Florida, feels the same way. A notice posted at his office states: “I will miss my patients and wish you all the best.”