Absolutely terrible hospital. They do not care at for patients or their families. We were lied to…read moreseveral times. I would recommend finding another provider for your loved ones if at all possible.

It takes a certain talent, I suppose, to simultaneously champion "professionalism" while…read moreorchestrating an elaborate farce of miscommunication, deception, and discrimination--yet the distinguished staff of Springfield Regional Medical Center and Clark State Community College somehow managed this remarkable feat. As a humble intern, father to a seven-year-old daughter, and aspiring medical laboratory technician in 2015, I was summarily dismissed from my internship not with the dignity of a conversation, nor the courtesy of a written warning, but via a piece of paper slyly slipped into my hand, accompanied by an enigmatic directive to call a supervisor who, with all the empathy of a malfunctioning answering machine, told me, "Leave the hospital." In that moment, my professional aspirations, financial stability, and trust in academic institutions were crushed--flattened like a hot pan in the dish pit I toiled in for years to pay for it all. Let us briefly pull back the velvet curtain and examine the star of this spectacle: the "Snow White Comment." In an industry that prides itself on clinical objectivity and evidence-based judgment, how delightful it is to discover that my facetious remark--saying Snow White was my girlfriend--was apparently interpreted as a dire indicator of mental illness. The staff's response? Not a gentle word, not a query into my well-being, not the faintest attempt at clarification. Instead, they fashioned a narrative where sarcasm morphed into psychosis, and humor was entirely forbidden--a bold new standard, no doubt, for preparing students for the real world. Keri William Richards, whose missive on my alleged "unprofessionalism" reads like the script of a melodrama. According to her, I was incorrigibly rogue, "not listening," "doing my own thing," and, most egregiously, "wasting his time and ours." This, despite not a single documented conversation, warning, or opportunity to improve--apparently, the sacred principle of feedback is reserved only for those faculty members whose professional conduct is not above reproach. Keri's definition of professionalism seems to be whispering lies behind closed doors and doing everything possible to refuse any sort of open dialogue or feedback. Let us be exceedingly clear: I was denied the fundamental right to know, to respond, and to correct. The staff, while clutching their pearls at my supposed lack of professionalism, demonstrated an Olympic-level ability to avoid direct communication and procedural transparency. In the end, they achieved only one thing: violating my rights under the Ohioans with Disabilities Act of 1969, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of perceived psychological disability, especially without due process or accommodation. It's almost as if irony itself drew up their policies. The harm was not limited to my sense of justice. It was financial--thousands of dollars in student loans for non-transferable, academically sub-par credits, all because Clark State sold me a bill of goods about their transferability. It was emotional--my trust in educators forever eroded, my self-confidence battered, my dreams of becoming a licensed MLT lost. Most cruelly, it was personal: As a father, I wanted only to build a better life for my daughter, to show her that hard work and education opened doors. Instead, I was shown the back door--quietly, furtively, without so much as a whisper of honesty. Yet, the ultimate punchline is that I did not wither. While Clark State and Springfield Regional Medical Center clung to their misconceptions, I worked--scrubbing hot pans in restaurants, burning the midnight oil, fighting for every new opportunity. I completed my bachelor's and a master's degree, and I now serve as a dual diagnostic clinician, helping those with substance use and mental health challenges. Clearly, clinical incompetency is not a malady from which I suffer. And so I say: if these institutions wish to lecture on professionalism, perhaps first consult a mirror. It is no small hypocrisy to preach patience, empathy, and growth while practicing cowardice, dishonesty, and discrimination.