I have a special needs uncle who used Dr Cole as his PCP. Somehow he went there multiple times per year and yet did not receive pneumonia vaccine, tetanus vaccine, nor was referred to GI for a colonoscopy despite being well above the age recommended to start screening. He was on 15 salt tabs per day for a low sodium level and apparently that didn't prompt Dr Cole to question that or refer him to nephrology. Btw, he is off all sodium tabs now and is just fine.
I noticed when I went to visit my uncle that his left side was weak. According to his group home, he fell days prior. I mentioned that I thought he had a stroke and they made an appt with PCP, which is an entirely separate issue. Nonetheless, the NP nor Dr Cole found his new onset neurologic symptoms to be important. They told me that they would Order a head CT but that this was not an urgent issue because his stroke was "not acute and he was already on aspirin". So in case staff is reading this, let me tell you what interventions can be made for a stroke, since apparently you are unaware. 1. If someone strokes on a baby aspirin, they probably need a higher dose aspirin and dual antiplatelet therapy. 2. Stroke can be hemorrhagic or ischemic so if someone has a new neurologic symptom and is on aspirin, we should probably make sure they do not have a bleed especially when staff is reporting that he fell. 3. Stroke patients should be on a Statin independent of cholesterol 4. Aggressive physical therapy should be started immediately 5. They clearly need to see neurology since you are incapable of making basic judgment calls on neurologic deficits.
As my uncle continued to have a neurologic deficit's and fell several additional times, I called the office to see if the CT scan could be moved up. They again acted like this was not an emergency so I asked the staff at his house to please take him to the emergency room. The next day we received a letter from Dr. Cole informing us that they could no longer provide care for my uncle due to unrealistic family expectations. Let me be very clear, I called with an emergency, not to tell him that he hasn't had a bowel movement in 2 hours or stubbed his toe.
I realize that it's easy to brush off special needs patients since most of them do not speak and it's an easy bill to Medicare and Medicaid without providing any real service other than continuing to refill meds that have no purpose.
I would suggest seeking an alternate primary care physician. This one does not seem to be concerned with overall patient care. He also does not seem to be particularly knowledgeable nor thorough. read more
