Doctor Lisa Ellis and her clinic Austin Infectious Disease Consultants (AIDC) abandoned me as a patient in the middle of a health crisis, creating a tremendous amount of stress and uncertainty for me.
In the spring of 2013, i attempted to return to see Doctor Ellis at AIDC after witnessing the travesty that is the David Powell Clinic (see my review of Donald Brode, M.D. for more information on that clinic).
An appointment was made by the scheduler, and then cancelled by the doctor via her nurse who coldly cited multiple catch-22 "policies" which allowed them to abandon me as a patient. As i was wrapping my head around this, her nurse then suggested several times that i return to the David Powell Clinic, defended them without having any information on what my experience there was like, and concluded i was "clinic-hopping" (read: frivolous).
Dr. Ellis and AIDC were well aware that i was scheduled for surgery on a tumor - which turned out to be Stage III Urachal Cancer. I certainly did not need to be left without an infectious disease doctor on top of everything else going on and did not find another one until i relocated out of Texas almost two years later.
After i filed complaints with AIDC, the Texas Medical Board, and Texas Health and Human Services, Doctor Ellis learned that i would be switching from Medicaid to private insurance in 8 months time and offered to "consider" taking me back then, but of course i did not take her up on that. The best doctors put people over profits.
Throughout the whole ordeal Doctor Ellis, who i saw for two years and who i was previously on good terms with, never called me once to explain or apologize. If she had, she could have easily avoided this negative Yelp review. (Many people in Texas find it difficult to explain, and impossible to apologize.)
It took three months and multiple emails and letters for me to get a written statement re AIDC's unethical policies from the Clinic Manager - who repeatedly missed every opportunity to apologize for anything other than her own negligence in failing to get back to me in a timely manner - but here they are:
(1) AIDC assumes any patient who seeks a second opinion and/or care at another clinic is not coming back and classifies them as no longer a patient. [I know of no other clinic that operates this way.]
(2) An agreement among doctors at AIDC prevents patients from switching doctors for any reason - even if the doctor is the one who chooses to drop the patient, and even if doctor and patient were on good terms. [This severely restricts freedom of choice in choosing doctors, one of a patient's major rights.]
(3) AISD no longer accepts out-of-hospital HIV patients on Medicaid. [This is a major restriction on freedom of choice in choosing doctors for HIV patients on Medicaid in Austin as AISD has half the available pool of Infectious Disease doctors.]
I say policies should bend for the people, people should not bend for policies!
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I reported Doctor Lisa Ellis to the Texas Medical Board, and to Texas Health and Human Services, which have my complaints on file.
Be sure to give my name, Grey, and cite my file/case #s when you write your complaint. If they receive multiple complaints they are more likely to take action.
Texas Medical Board File #: 14-2152
Texas HHSC Case #: A01032014.0080014
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ADDRESSES FOR REPORTING PROBLEMS WITH AUSTIN INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONSULTANTS
Practice Manager
Austin Infectious Disease Consultants (AIDC)
1301 West 38th Street, Suite 403
Austin, Texas 78705
Texas Medical Board
Investigations Department - MC 263
PO Box 2018
Austin, Texas 78768-2018
Texas Health and Human Services
Provider Complaints
Health Plan Operations
Office #320
PO box 85200
Austin, Texas 78708
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TEXAS RANKS AT OR NEAR THE BOTTOM IN HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA
http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/report-card-texas-bombs-another-national-health-care-test-this-time-for-emergency-services.html/
BETTER SOLUTIONS:
Rather than subjecting yourself to substandard medical care at the Austin Infectious Disease Consultants, i recommend finding a good General or Internal Medicine doctor who will write your prescriptions for you &/or relocating to a better state that has strong laws in place to protect LGBTQ people (like New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, California, Oregon, Washington) and that has expanded Medicaid.
When we are ready for a real solution to America's healthcare problems - the simplest, most compassionate, most cost-effective plan - which every other developed nation except the United States has for these reasons - is: SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE / MEDICARE FOR ALL read more