I had a recent appointment with Dr. Kuhnke. The website said they speak both English and German.
As soon as I entered the examination room, I had requested the doctor to speak with me in English. What I received was a lecture in German instead, that lasted for quite long. He asked me how long since was I in Germany, and continued to complain that people come and study in Germany without learning German, and how one cannot do the same in France. I was there for my appointment, and to get diagnosed of potential ear infection, and not to hear his frustration getting out on me. I would not have made an appointment, had the website said only German speaking patients were admitted. Please remove this option if you only (want to) speak in German.
When I complained about ear pain, sinus pain, and headaches and asked if I had an ear infection, he looked into my ears and mentioned that there was wax accumulation over my tympanic membranes, but did not answer if this could be an infection, and prescribed an over-the-counter ear drops (which is fine). He refused to clean my ears, saying it is "too much to do" (when wax accumulation was the diagnosis). In the end, made a very rude comment, not intended in a medical/precautionary/jovial way - "Unless you think that your wax from one ear will come out of the other ear, you should know not to use the ear buds for cleaning". It felt like a racist and condescending remark. By the way, he spoke decent English, but spoke only in the end when I was discharged.
It is a pity that when patients like me who do not speak German, and already stressed with health issues and the doctor adds unnecessary stress. This experience was unprofessional, racist, and uncalled for. read more