The earlier review consists of hearsay and exaggerations from a disgruntled former patient of another doctor:
1) One can't blame Dr Apun for Dr Reyes' sudden retirement. He had fully planned to stay on, but for various circumstances involving his own health, he appropriately requested to step down, and gave notice in a full-page newspaper ad. If the patient was taken aback by the admittedly unforeseen circumstance, she wasn't playing attention.
2) The records retrieval and chart copying charge for $10 for each child and $1 per page is wholly fabricated. If it were true, it would be highway robbery. But shouting that a banana was priced at $14.95 does not mean it actually happened.
When a copy of a chart is requested, the .75 cents per page is a standard dictated by the New York State Dept of Health; that has always been the case with this and most physicians' offices. The contention that "the most" one can charge for copies of charts is .25 cents per page is the creation of an ulterior mind. Likewise, the retrieval charge for accessing the records from storage is also a standard $5/child--always has been, and always was at the time, and is based on actual expense.
However, with some rare exceptions--mostly chronic or persistent congenital conditions, such as diabetes or development delays--complete charts are mostly useless for the offices that receive them. Pediatricians' offices require one thing for the vast majority of healthy children that transfer to their practice: an updated immunization record. And here's the real kicker: Copies of these are always available for NO CHARGE. Free I tell ya! So while the story relayed by the reviewer makes for great cigar-chomping, muckraking, scenery-chewing melodrama, for what she REQUIRED to transfer to the physician of her choice, she could've easily had for a song and a dance. Without all the ensuing drama.
3) Former employees, released for just cause, have one thing in common: an axe to grind. Add to that the embellishment of a former patient of a former physician of a former office, and you have makings of tabloid fodder with about as much validity as TMZ.com. A more accurate test would be asking current patients in the (usually full) waiting room for their opinion: Are they there for the no doubt impending censure of the office of "doctor misconduct new york" (whatever that is) or just to bask and soak in the "money-hungry" milieu?
Bemoaning unforeseen circumstances that are no one's fault, creating phantom charges from thin air, citing the suspect testimony of biased vindictive parties: these are the shrapnel of a destructive mind bent on some kind of self-satisfying vengeance. Keep this in mind before swallowing wholesale anyone's OPINION (me included!). Here's a novel idea: If you're in need of a pediatrician, come in one day. Look around. Ask other parents their thoughts. Schedule a visit. See for yourself, not based on someone's delusional bad experience. Then if you're so inclined, write your own (good or bad) review, based on objective facts. THAT, folks, is accurate and constructive. read more
