I drove 3.5 hours (7 hours round-trip) for this appointment, only to have Bakewell refuse to see me because I was 10 minutes late after getting lost in the maze of his own hospital complex.
I had to stop and ask people for directions just to find the office. What makes this even more outrageous is that the receptionist acknowledged that I was within their stated 10-minute grace period, yet he still refused to see me and told me I needed to reschedule.
Since I was experiencing pain in my eye and it took more than a month to get this appointment, I asked - no, begged them -- to reconsider. I explained that I had just driven 3.5 hours to get there. The receptionist took her sweet time going to ask Dr. Bakewell, then came back several minutes later and told me that he refused to see me because I was 10 minutes late.
Another receptionist explained that Dr. Bakewell would have had to spend more than 2 hours with me for my appointment. My question is: If that is true, what exactly was Bakewell doing with the next 2.5 hours of his time? Apparently, whatever it was, it was more important than seeing a patient who had driven 3.5 hours to be there.
I explained that I was experiencing pain in my eye. They didn't care. There was no attempt to understand the circumstances, no effort to accommodate me, and no regard whatsoever for the fact that I had driven 3.5 hours ONE WAY for this appointment.
The lack of compassion and regard for a patient is astounding! Asking me to drive another 7 hours ROUND TRIP was completely unreasonable and, frankly, impossible.
At this point, I have to look at what happened as a blessing in disguise.
There is no way I will ever let this man touch my eyes. I am still experiencing pain. Now I need to drive to L.A., where a more compassionate doctor has agreed to see me right away
Shame on you!
I'm going to share this experience with all my friends in Tucson to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else! read more