Sorry if this is long, but it is important.
When I first went to Dr Poorsattar, she was very personable, and listened to all my concerns, writing notes on a sheet of paper and a laptop. She will do both in-person and telephone appointments. At one point she stated that she was the best endocrinologist in the county.
On subsequent appointments, she did not remember what was discussed in the prior appointments, so I would have to remind her of what we discussed, then she would start a new page of notes. In addition, no matter when my appointment time was, it would be at least an hour waiting in the exam room before she would get to me. This happened on each subsequent in-office visit. She was more timely on the telephonic appointments though. After seeing me, I scheduled my next in-office visit before I left.
Subsequently, I ended up in the hospital for a major operation, and could not make my next appointment. From my hospital bed, over two weeks before the scheduled appointment, I called the office and told them I was cancelling my appointment. I had to reiterate twice to the staff member on the phone that I was not going to be able to make it, and didn't know when I could make it in the future, so I was not going to reschedule yet.
A couple of days before the appointment that I had already cancelled, the office called me to remind me of my upcoming appointment. I again reiterated to the office person that I had previously cancelled my appointment due to being in the hospital, and that I was unable to make the appointment.
The day of the cancelled appointment, I got a call from Dr Poorsattar's office. I again advised the office member that I was in the hospital. Moments later, Dr Poorsattar herself got on the phone and started asking me questions. I advised her that I had previously cancelled the appointment. She continued asking general questions about why I was in the hospital. Not once did she or any of her staff indicate that this was now a telephone appointment. I was trying to be cordial, but didn't want to answer any more questions. After a couple of minutes, we ended the conversation.
Three weeks later, I get a notification that my health insurance had been billed for an "in-person" appointment by Dr Poorsattar. I immediately called the office, and Dr Poorsatter told me that she never knew that the appointment had been cancelled, and that since she had spoken to me, the appointment was billed as normal.
I immediately filed a grievance with my insurance company. Dr Poorsattar told them that they were completely unaware of any cancellation and that by personally speaking with me on the phone, services had been rendered in good faith. This is a lie.
This behavior in unscrupulous, and in my opinion, unethical. Take that as you will. - Mike Reply
