My internist wouldn't give my eye surgeon the OK to go ahead with my cataract surgery, because it was 3 months after I had seen the internist.
OK, I understand, his info was a whole 3 months out of date but gosh. He has been my internist for 17 years and I am not on death's door, so you'd think he could give the OK for something as simple as cataract surgery.
Instead he required another appointment so that he could do essentially nothing but sign the permission form. I guess I understand his rationale - - I wouldn't want to be responsible either, for example if a patient had taken a turn for the worse and it had been 3 months. But it took 3 months after the internist last saw me and told me to see an opthalmologist, before there was a date when the opthalmologist/surgeon could see me and get the surgery scheduled. It wasn't like I let grass grow under my feet. Good surgeons can be frightfully busy and booked up for elective surgeries like this, or at least this was my experience here in New Orleans.
Oh well. Medicare and BCBS paid the entire bill, and my internist was nice enough to squeeze me in on no notice the day before the surgery. I just thought it was annoying.