Do I have I HAVE to be referred by my PCP first?

Hi everyone, PLEASE bear with me, this is going to be  a LONG story, but I promise that it is really important for me and I need help/answers as my surgery depends on it... I'm wondering if anyone can help me: I currently have Blue Shield of CA although being recently laid off in May, I am continuing this HMO coverage via the COBRA act, so I only have 18 months maximum coverage. My PCP's office has been horrible about handling my case. Back in October 2006 I started my doc supervised diet plan(weight loss medication, diet and exercise) and unfortunately did not lose hardly any weight. Then in March of 2007, I visted my PCP again and we discussed bariatric surgery which he felt I was a perfect candidate for (I am 28, 5'3" and 285 lbs. - comorbities-depression). He was very enthusiastic and thought I was a shoe in and he told me to formally write up all my previous failed weight loss attemps so that he could have his nurse submitt that along with all my medical records,etc to the insurance for authorization. It took me like 2 weeks to write up this paperwork, because I went back 10 years and was very detailed in my attempts, weight loss/gain, duration and so forth. I turned in my documents to my PCP's office in April 2007. I was given the name of a particular assistant that would be my contact for the approval. Unfortunately a little over a week later (after giving my PCP my documents) I was laid-off of work and my coverage ended. It took me about 2 weeks to re-instate my health coverage using COBRA as I did not want to be left without health insurance during this process. I called my contact girl at my PCP's office in early May to see where we were at and she said he had submitted the paperwork to the insurance and it was jsut time to wait, and that she would contact me asap if she got word back. A month later, I still hadn't heard from my PCPs office, so I called again and spoke to the young girl, she was kind of annoyed and said "I will call YOU, jsut like I call my other patients when I hear something!". I waited another 2 weeks and then decided to call the insurance group myself and was told by them that they had NEVER received any type of paperwork, and that they had a maximum 5 day turn-around on authorizations so I would have already heard soemthing by now. The medical group put me on hold  and called my PCP"s office right then and there to find out what was going on. Apparantly, my paperwork had never been submitted and my contact girl told the insurance that they were waiting on some documents FROM ME and that I needed to call her. OH BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE....so, I call my PCP"s office, to speak to my contact person, and she tells me that she has not submitted the paperwork because she does not have the documents that I sent her office back in April 07 (my weight loss attemps), that they are in the doctors office and she JUST left him a message saying she needs them ASAP so she can submitt the paperwork FOR SURE the following morning. So, she lied to me the first 2 times (for 2 months) about having submitted the paperwork and I ask her why she told me she had, and she is just going around in circles, not giving me a clear answer and she basically jsut tells me it will all jsut be done tomorrow morning FOR SURE. I ask her to please give me a call to follow-up when she does, explaining that I cannot afford to continue paying for my health insurance out of pocket for much longer, and I want to know if I can have the surgery or not. She promises she'll call me. Needless to say, she never calls me. I called AGAIN and my PCP's office wouldn't put her on the phone, instead I had to leave a message because she was 'busy' and I never got a phone call back. I called the insurance, and sure enough, they never received anything. So finally, I made an appointment to see my PCP just so I could see my doctor face to face and ask him what the deal was. When I arrived, he seemed to be going in circles talking about other things (my throat, and so forth) and then tried to quickly dismiss me and get me out the door, then I just asked him "What's going on with my surgery? I submitted everything nearly 3 months ago, I never get a call back from X and I can't keep paying for the premiums much longer??". All he says is "We're working on it". And he has this smurk on his face and walks out. I had filed a complaint, 2 weeks prior to that doctor's visit, with the insurance group regarding my doctor's staff and how my case has been cancelled. I think it has now become 'pesonal' between my PCP's office and my situation and they are just doing this out of spite or because his assistant was embarassed that I involved the insurance and they had to call her directly. I tried to switch doctor's, but Blue SHield said that a medical panel woudl have to review my case and authorize the switch and that if I did switch doctors, I woudl have to start the process all over again. Like I said before, I dont' think I can afford to keep paying so long. I am so confused and said that my own doctor is participating in this immature behavior. Does anyone know if I can just see a surgeon directly or do I HAVE to go thru my PCP? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

if you dont need a referral then you should be able to go right to the sureon

Thanks for replying, Mr. Viscio, How can I find out if I need a referral or not? THank you!

Call the carrier they should be able to tell you if you need  referral.  Or the surgeon's office should have enough experience in that area to know whether you do or not