In July of this year, my mother called Dr. Milstein's office from her phone to schedule an…read moreappointment for herself, as she has a heart defect and atrial fibrillation and needs to be seen by a cardiologist, and for me, to get checked out for some problems with that area.
My mother spoke to the woman at the reception, who, she said, scheduled both of us for September 10th. The woman said she would call her if a slot became available earlier. On September 9th, no one called her or reminded of us appointment, which made my mother worried, telling me she didn't like it, that something was going on, something like this had never happened before.
We ordered a car and arrived early for the appointment. There were several reception desks for different doctors, about four.
We went to the first one we saw, noticed that it had a different doctor's name, and we walked away.
We started looking for Dr. Milstein's receptionist. We started asking where Dr. Milstein's receptionist was; we wanted to sign up for an appointment.
Then, the woman at her desk hid, ate and drank, kept her face downcast, and acted strangely and inappropriately, hiding her eyes and face, unwilling to talk.
My mother asked where the doctor's receptionist was, and she said we had to see her, but she wasn't Dr. Milstein; we hadn't come to see her. We said we had an appointment, and she said she was Irina and that she had canceled our appointments because she'd called and my mother had blocked her phone. Then she lied about calling me and me blocking her phone number, even though I'd never called her and they didn't know my number. It turned out she didn't have my mother's number either, even though she'd called her and made an appointment for both of us. Then this woman became aggressive, started yelling, kicking us out, and provoking us into conflict.
My mother demanded that a doctor be called in to look into the situation, since we hadn't shown up for our appointment with this Irina; it wasn't her office, and she wasn't a doctor. She started insulting my mother, called our general practitioner, who was on vacation at the time, lied to the receptionist, and started pitting us against each other, threatening to report us and have our insurance taken away. She screamed that she was all-powerful and could do anything. She tried to give my mother a heart attack right there in the cardiologist's office, knowing she was sick. It's a good thing I was there with my mother, otherwise I don't know how it would have ended.
This kind of thing requires legal action; it's unacceptable treatment of patients.
This Irina yelled that she wouldn't schedule any more appointments for us, that she didn't want to know or see us, to which my mother replied that she hadn't come to her house and that she wouldn't tell her what to do. This brazen and insolent woman kicked us out and refused to call the doctor. Meanwhile, some Armenian strangers showed up at our appointment, conversing in Armenian and laughing at us. My mother then claimed she'd sold our appointments and decided to cancel our appointments, claiming we didn't show up so she could charge us her insurance.
I don't know if the doctor is aware of this scheming, but we contacted our health insurance that same day and reported the cancellations so they wouldn't be charged.
This is outrageous and unacceptable, this kind of treatment of first-time patients who can't see the doctor, who didn't even bother to inquire about what was going on in her office while hearing the screams of her frantic receptionist.
She was recommended to us as a good person and an excellent specialist. We'd been trying for so long to see her, and this is the result. A brazen, inattentive attitude toward patients, a business based on auctions: the highest bidder gets the appointment.
We believe such people cannot be doctors, as the title of doctor presupposes, first and foremost, love for people, caring for them, and providing medical care. They are all from the former USSR. In the Soviet Union, such situations would have resulted in their dismissal and criminal prosecution, disqualification, and stripping of their diploma, along with a ban on practicing medicine.
It seems like these aren't doctors, but veterinarians, they don't swear the Hypocratic Oath. They're not interested in their patients, only in money and their expensive insurance plans.
We are from the Soviet Union, my mother is a military doctor.
We are Jewish, and the doctor is also Jewish. We found it strange that she had Armenians working in her office who hated Jews. We heard them speaking Armenian. This Irina's face changed when she saw us in person, and also the Star of David pendant on my mother's chest. This is not the first time we have encountered discrimination and aggression from Armenians.
Be careful when reading reviews about doctors, even if they are well-written, don't believe them until you see for yourself.
