The doctor is great but some of his front office staff members are incredibly unprofessional and discourteous. Otherwise, I would have happily given his office 5 stars.
A quick look at the walls of Dr. Freedman's office will tell you that this he has a tremendous amount of experience and is great at what he does. He has at least a dozen letters and certificates of achievement from podiatric boards and local politicians all reflecting the great work that he has done.
I came to the doctor with a recurring problem with my foot. I knew exactly what it was and I didn't want to waste any time with unnecessary procedures and ineffective treatments (been there, done that). I knew that it would require an outpatient surgery and I didn't want to wait or reschedule a visit to have it done (it required at least a month to heal and there was a tap dance convention coming up that I planned to attend). The doctor took my prior experience with this problem into consideration and after examining my foot for himself, he agreed with me and did the surgery right there on the spot. I've had this surgery twice already, but it is no less stressful, not to mention that getting a needle in your foot hurts A LOT. He was very professional, but he also tried to make me as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances. He put this freezing cold spray on my foot just before injecting me with the anesthesia to help lessen the pain of the needle. A few minutes later, he was ready to work.
The procedure was quick. When it was over, he told me to make a follow up appointment and sold me a pretty nifty post surgical kit that included about a month's worth of no-sting wound wash, ointment, gauze and bandages. I did have to go out and buy some thicker gauze and tape. (The first night, I bled through the thin gauze and flimsy bandages). Still, I give his office points for convenience.
About 2 weeks later, I get a phone call at work from his office. The girl on the phone spoke with obvious hesitation and a "I have bad news" tone in her voice. I thought she was getting ready to tell me that I had cancer or something (The doctor's office has a poster displaying pictures of several seemingly harmless blemishes that all turned out to be cancerous, which I assume is a way to promote skin cancer screenings). After taking forever to tell me why she called (to get me to make a follow-up appointment) it became clear that she didn't have all of her facts straight and wasn't exactly sure why she was calling me. I informed her that her method of delivering this information gave me an unappreciated scare and that I would call her back when I had the time to sit down with my calendar and choose a date for my appointment. Her phone call was not only unprofessional, but it was avoidably and unnecessarily distressing.
Two days later, I received a letter in the mail from the same girl, dated the same day that she had called me at the office. She reiterated that the doctor informed her to contact me to make a follow up appointment and to contact the office upon receipt of the letter. I considered this to be excessive, and I contacted the office. The same girl answered, but put another woman on the phone instead. This person immediately identified herself as the 'office manager' and started trying to overtalk me. I explained to her my displeasure with the excessive and unprofessional contact and told her that the last girl that called me and made me think that that something might have been seriously wrong regarding my biopsy results. At this, the office manager LAUGHED. I was deeply offended by her callousness and it took everything in my power not to tell her about herself. She then said, "Well, can we move past this now?" and tried to pressure me into making an appointment. Again, I bristled at her apathy and I told her that I would NOT make an appointment until I was ready to do so, but that in the meantime I wanted the calls and the letters to cease. She simply replied, "Fine".
These experiences are no reflection whatsoever on the doctor and his professionalism. So far, I have been pleased with the quality of care I have received from him. However, I do hope that he has a serious conversation with his staff about the importance of professionalism and courtesy when dealing with patients, especially when communicating with them by phone. read more
