Hard not to have a specialist, seems Primary Care Doctors job now is not treating patients, but referring them to specialists. Don't get me started on the WAIT to get in to see a specialist. Or the gray area between specialties, or difference in opinions from their perspective. Where one specialist asks what another specialist thinks about a health condition, and when you ask, the response is, "I don't know, that is in the other (first) Doctor's specialty, not mine.
An example. I went to the Eye Doctor in January. He determined it was time for cataract surgery. His practice no longer does cataract surgery. Referred to a cataract specialist, and had surgery set for May on one eye and June on the other. Get to the specialist, says he can't do the cataract surgery until I have a pterygium removed from one eye (my good eye). He does that surgery, but says it is too big so he refers me to a cornea specialist. Finally get in to see the Cornea specialist and had the surgery, although he said he was surprised the other specialist didn't do the procedure as it was "small". Go back to my eye Doctor who referred me to the first specialist specifically because of the size of the pterygium. Is surprised that I got sent to the cornea specialist. Anyway, the wait to get evaluated again for cataract surgery.....this time with the second specialist.......isn't until February. Who knows how long the wait will be for actual surgery. I will be lucky to only have the wait for specialists to have put my surgery off by a year.
And went in for my annual physical and my Primary care Doctor brought up a referral to another specialist that he made 5 years ago for a health situation, wanting to know why I did not have surgery. That was resolved 4 1/2 years ago with that specialist saying that situation would never be an issue.