If you are considering going to Dr Daniel Belcher in Hilo you MUST read this. If you read this and are still considering going there you should read it again because I am not exaggerating the attitude and ineptitude my wife and I experienced. We ended up going three times and regretted each visit progressively more. Unfortunately our island has very few choices in specialty health services.
The first time - and every time, we faced difficulties in scheduling because it's hard to get them on the phone (website? lol). If you do get them on the phone, you'll have to deal with a "not my problem - I'm in no hurry to help" attitude. I was tempted to get a photo of the receptionist who clearly spends more time on her "scary leopard clown" makeup than she does helping patients or answering the phone during work hours.
My wife is from Norway, and in the process of the U.S. Green Card application the USCIS requires a health exam. When she got in, Dr Belcher quickly let her know he'd been seeing patients all morning as he finished his sandwich there in the room with us. Again the "hang way too loose" attitude, this time mixed with a visible disinterest in anything we were telling him about her health exam. Obviously we were just $$ to him and not enough $$ to make us a priority in his week.
Our papers were slow the first time we went, but at least we got them. Unfortunately they were not signed correctly and were dated 2016 instead of 2018. We found this out almost 9 months later when our Green Card application was delayed and nearly refused because it appeared the exam had been done years ago and was expired in the government's eyes. I'll post the scanned image of the 2016 date that Dr Belcher scribbled if I can find the papers. I'm not exaggerating or making any of this up.
So it was now early Summer and my sister-in-law was getting married in July. Time was running out and my wife spent tear filled nights mourning that she wouldn't make it to the wedding. In mid June we got word from the NCIS that the papers were "expired" and would need a new health exam before July 1st or the entire application would be canceled (the application had cost us $4000+ in fees, exams, lawyer and travel costs).
Our Hawai'i Island has many benefits but health care options are few and the three other Doctors on island who are licensed to do the Green Card health exam all said they were either unavailable in our time deadline because of a medical convention, or were no longer offering this exam.
We reluctantly returned to Dr Belcher's Office and were treated worse than before. The receptionist took a defensive and aggressive tone and informed us that the price for the exam had almost doubled. She and the Doctor took NO RESPONSIBILITY for the incorrect signature and Doctor Belcher walked out of the room twice when my wife tried to speak with him about it. He left her in tears. I hope you never have to experience what she went through - that's the only reason I'm taking time to write all this out.
They told her to "call next week" to get the blood test results and come to get the paperwork. Neither the receptionist on the phone, nor the other one with her over-the-top clown look, nor the Doctor himself informed us that they too would be taking a week vacation right when we needed the results. They knew our time deadline for July 1st but wanted to cash our check anyway.
Finally, when they came back on Monday from the week away I called again. They said they "need time to sort through things after the week away - so come back Thursday to get the signed papers."
I stayed calm on the phone and politely informed them that my wife's flight to get to her sister's wedding left Wednesday and we needed the signed papers no later than Wednesday am. They said to call back after lunch. I called back after lunch and they said the Doctor wasn't back yet, try later. They eventually called me and said to come pick up the papers (guess it didn't take 3 days to do).
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I kept my voice and demeanor calm and professional, but Dr Belcher did no such thing.
"I don't give a damn!" He yelled, when I asked him about the date on the signature.
"Clearly you don't!" I responded, finally losing my temper too. I told him off for failing us, cheating us, and not doing the one thing we were paying him too much for: a legal, correctly dated paper.
I will never go back there and I hope you will be wise and avoid this bunch of lazy, unprofessional, care-nots too. read more