To say the least, I was honestly shell shocked by the experience I had with this doctor.
The story goes like this: I live in the hood, and I have been trying to search for a PCP in the vicinity who could take care of my basic medical needs. So I saw a 4 star review on yelp discussing the strengths of this doctor, and voila, I made an appointment and went into Dr. Chu's office in Forest Hills.
So upon entering his consultation room, which is about the size of a standard bathroom of a studio apartment in Forest Hills, I explained to Dr. Chu my reason for visiting him, which appeared to have been ignored. Anyway, as he continued to flip through the medical records of other patients for another five minutes, I began to wonder if he actually noticed my presence. Then he started asking how I heard hus name, and why I chose to see him and not someone else. Meanwhile, he paged his receptionist and yelled at her (yes, yelled at her in a different language) for not paying meticulous attention to the way patients filled out their registration forms... my heat sank. I felt I probably made a wrong decision in seeing him.
Dr. Chu then told me he would have to take history, which will last no less than 30 minutes, therefore he said I should not "fool around" because if I do so, I would be "wasting his time." So I thought, perhaps it was a language/cultural issue (English is not his first language) and I let that go. I responded to his questions and we finally got to the section of medical history and current prescriptions. I told him that I am on Zoloft , which he had me spell it out for him, and so I did. Then he looked up in his electronic handheld device trying to find out what "Zoloft " is and its side effects. After doing a 5 sec search, he looked at me and said "Do you know nausea is a side effect of Zoloft? Who told you to take it?" (I told him I feel nauseous at times but it doesn't bother me and it was NOT my reason for seeing him anyway)... I was speechless. For one, I cannot understand how a practicing MD not know what Zoloft is. And two, how could he suggest to me that Zoloft is not a good medication simply based on his 5 sec search on his handheld device when clearly when he had NO clue what this medication is for? He didn't even bother to ask why and for how long I have taken it. These are just some examples of his lack of respect for patients.... there were so many instances when he constantly interrupted me by saying "When I ask you a question, you tell me yes or no. I do not want to know about anything else that I don't need to know about. You understand or not?" Right, I understand the doctors have the most power in deciding what's most relevant and I was not interested in sharing my life history with him either. But interestingly enough, he would push for information such as where I went to college, what school it was...which I thought was information no more significant than my actual medical history and physical manifestations. By this time, I was ready to head out but I felt like I should at least complete the intake with him even though I already knew I would not go back and see him.
I finished the rest of the session with him, and in all honesty, those 45 minutes was the worst time I had ever spent with a medical professional. Poor bedside manners, leading questions, lack of knowledge and the worst of all, a lack of respect for patients.
And just FYI - whoever said that he "graduated" for Harvard needs to be corrected. Dr. Chu did not receive his MD from Harvard although he hung no less than a dozen of Harvard certificates in his clinic hallway. He simply completed continuing education at Harvard, which by no means is comparable to someone who actually went to Harvard for their medical degree. Enough said... read more
