General Practitioner
Medical doctors who treat all sorts of patients with most types of health problems are called general practitioners. General practice physicians do not specialize in a particular type of medicine. These family doctors generally complete a one- or two-year residency after medical school. There is no special test or board certification required for general practitioners.
A general practice doctor is often the first physician a person will see when complaining of symptoms that are later diagnosed as mesothelioma. The general practitioner will decide what medical tests should be performed to discover what is causing a person’s shortness of breath or chest pain, for example. The family doctor is often the one who orders the initial chest x-ray or CT scan to reach a diagnosis of mesothelioma.
After mesothelioma is diagnosed, a patient is often referred to an oncologist who specializes in cancer treatment. The oncologist will enlist the aid of even more specialists. While the help of these specialists is critical, many patients choose to keep their family doctor involved in the process. All a patient need do is mention this wish to the oncologist’s staff, who will make sure that medical records are forwarded to the general practitioner.