When will they find a suitable replacement for Dr. Van Marel?

Depends what you mean by suitable. I have openings, what sort of doctor is this Van Marel?

they already have a new internist there...Same as Van Marel...

Not same as Van Marel.....Doug Van Marel was an amazing Doctor who took his time with his patients. He cared about them, answered their questions, made sure they knew all they needed to know about their specific illness. He did'nt herd his patients through his office as if they were cattle. I'm not trying to be critical of the New Doctor they brought in to replace Dr. Van Marel, he is really nice and sincere, but does'nt seem to know about certain illnesses that an Internal Medicine Doctor should know about. We felt rushed through because he was TOO busy. And Hes not the only one...the Dr. we were seeing at BC was even worse....don't get me wrong, he was nice....but again, we were rushed through, he tried to change everything that Dr. Van Marel accomplished, that was working, and all he wanted to do was argue with us about the meds my husband was taking...We have'nt had decent care since Doug left.....so now we are going to have to drive to Billings twice per month just to see a decent internal doctor, either that or drive out to Mayo every month...can't afford that!!! We miss Dr. Van Marel.

[This message has been edited by T Brown (9/25/2009)]

I understand how you feel. Dr. VanMarel was also our doctor and he is an awesome doctor. We were hoping to continue to have him as our doctor in Spearfish, SD but our insurance is not "in their network". Maybe you can continue to see him there. I believe he is at the Queen City Medical Center. Good Luck!

sadly it is hard to find the right doctor for various things, I agree...Doug was good in many ways, I also agree, and was nice and kind to deal with, but he also misdiagnosed me twice with some fairly major things and my cost of medicines was astronomical...In one month my co-pay was over $900 and I ended up throwing half of it away due to the misdiagnosis...I haven't found the right doctor yet either but haven't really tried...I did recently change my cardiologist however...

We were hoping to continue to have him as our doctor in Spearfish, SD but our insurance is not "in their network".

Boy, it's a good thing the government isn't telling you which doctors you can see.

Good news everyone! Obama has replaced Dr. Van Marel with a death panel!

Unfortunately Jim can't go without seeing an Internal med Dr.,...He has to have his blood monitered regularly. We have a great Oncologist, whose been doing what he can, but again, he's a cancer Dr. and Jim does'nt have cancer, Yet! So....off to Billings we go. I'm sorry for your misdiagnosis, but fortunately for us, Dr. Van Marel was the one that found Jim's disease, and sent us to specialists, who got us out to Mayo Clinic and got him on the Liver transplant list. I guess Dr.'s do make mistakes sometimes, unfortunately.

T Brown: I see Dr. Van Marel is here in Spearfish. Due to your wonderful kudos about him, I will try him. Just BTW, Spearfish is only 180 miles, Billings 140 from Miles City, it'd be worth an extra half-hour drive to Spearfish to see him, instead of seeing doctors in Billings you don't like. Just an idea...plus it is beautiful here and you could visit Deadwood too, if you like that sort of thing Good luck to you!

180 miles on the death road. It takes significantly longer to get to Spearfish... because of the death road.

[This message has been edited by Buck Showalter (9/25/2009)]

Whatever Buck. It takes 2 1/2 hours to come from Miles City to Spearfish. The road isn't bad. Sometimes I wish you'd just shut up.

That road is sh*t, it's a longer drive than that.

B!tch about Billings then take your business out of state, I pity the fools who don't know they pay your health care costs.

[This message has been edited by Buck Showalter (9/25/2009)]

Lots of deer on that road for sure...I live in Stacy so I have to travel that road a lot...from Stacy to Spearfish it is two and a half hours so probably a tad longer from Miles City IMO...

I am wondering when the Directors of H.R. need medical attention who do they go and see? Do they go to B.C.? or out of town?

Good Question!?!? We actually found a decent Dr. in Billings...He was referred to us by Jim's Oncologist....Hes personable and really knows his "stuff", so we're happy for now!!! We'll be moving out to Rochester, MN , hopefully within the next year. I know Jim will get the best care there. Laurie....good luck with Dr. Van Marel....I hope you like him as much as we do. When you see him, tell him hello and we miss him....a lot!!!! Terry

Whats your doctors name T.Brown?? Always need to know names of good ones IMO...

What is Dr. Van Marel's area of medical practice? The whole Spearfish - Rapid City area has some really good doctors. I see a cardiologist in "Speedy-village" that is awesome.

He is an internist that has an interest in Cardiology and gastric stuff too I think if memory serves me correctly...at least that is what his Holy Rosery bio said...to me his greatest ability is his searching for causes of illnesses and not giving up on the patients IMO...My misdiagnosis wasn't all his fault as my condition was so very rare...He tried mightily to help me but in the end it took exploratory surgery to get to the bottom of it...

Jims new Dr. is Bakar Duval....he is through BC.

OK, thanks...will file that away for future reference maybe...