I saw Dr Coggins 20 years ago, and I found him to be very arrogant, impatient, incompetent, and…read morerude. (He seemed far more interested in pandering to wealthy older women, than in actually helping people.)
I went to see Dr Coggins about a mild birthmark on my face, that had been laser-treated by another doctor in the past. However, he decided that he would use acid on me, and not a laser.
Well, not only did he keep me waiting for 2 hours each time that I saw him, but when it was finally time for my procedure (and I was on the table and he was literally about to apply the acid on my face), Dr Coggins suddenly stopped everything, and said that he refused to do the treatment unless I had a biopsy done.
What?!
When I had stated, yet again, that it was just a normal, flat birthmark, and that he should have mentioned a biopsy during our initial consultations, he said " Well, then you can leave right now!" and he began to actually leave the room. (The nurse next to him seemed shocked, but she kept quiet.)
Out of sheer desperation, I grudgingly agreed to have the biopsy done. So, he cut a tiny piece out of my cheek with a scalpel and placed it in a vial to be sent off to a lab.
On top of this, Dr Coggins did a poor job applying the acid on my face... I could tell something was wrong because the pain felt too deep. But he just brushed it off.
Well, even though I took good care of the wound, for some reason it began to look odd and infected. When I eventually returned for a follow up visit, he just brushed it off and gave me some Retinol-A samples.
Since two weeks had passed, and nothing improved, I returned. When I expressed my concerns and frustrations, he blamed ME, and actually called me an "A**HOLE", and then left me alone in his office while he visited another patient!
Was I dreaming?!
Stunned, I sat alone in his office, with my face bandaged, for what seemed like hours before I mustered up the nerve to complain to the receptionist. Since this was in front of the other patients in the waiting room, she tried to calm me down and hush me up. I eventually left. (Thankfully, since the wound did eventually get better, I foolishly returned to show him. This time, Dr Coggins seemed nicer to me, as if nothing had happened. )
Lastly, on top of this, not only didn't the acid do much to fade my birthmark, I soon discovered that I was actually charged a lot of money for the the pointless biopsy, which of course, came back negative. (I was never told that I was going to be charged... and my credit suffered because I had refused to pay for it. Eventually, I did pay it, just to get the collectors off of my back.)
While l admit that this was all 20 years ago, and that Dr Coggins may have changed since then, I had to finally document my own experience.
In retrospect, I was far too naive back then, and I should have made formal complaints, but I was too ashamed... and I just wanted to forget the entire thing.
But I never forgot... and, sadly, most of the other doctors that I've seen over the years haven't been much better. So, thank you, Dr Coggins, for preparing me for what was to come.
