Out of medication and without a doctor — her former physician had left Hawthorn Medical Associates three months earlier — Fairhaven resident Noelle Aubin was given a 60-day prescription and sent on her way. If she couldn’t find a new doctor before it ran out, she says the practice told her, she could get refills at urgent care or the emergency department.
Finding a new primary care doctor has been easier said than done. Aubin has been trying to do so since November 2025, to no avail. None of the providers Hawthorn suggested are near Aubin, and even if she were willing to make the trip, they couldn’t get her in until August. When she called Southcoast Health, she said she was told that no doctors were available and was placed on a waitlist.
