I was a patient at ECVA, and today I learned that both my 15-year-old son and I were being…read moredismissed from the practice. According to the office manager, the reason was that he considered my behavior unacceptable because I raised concerns about how certain situations were being handled.
My son had an appointment on September 30, during which I believed his glasses had been ordered. However, the order was never placed, and no one contacted me to follow up or explain what had happened.
What I find particularly unacceptable is that ECVA never contacted me to address the incident, discuss my concerns, or attempt to resolve the situation. There was no follow-up phone call, no discussion, and no effort to hear my side. Instead, management simply decided to send me a dismissal letter through the mail.
When I spoke with the office manager, rather than addressing the conduct of his employees or taking responsibility for the lack of communication, he accused me of being mean to medical staff, which I strongly dispute, and told me that my behavior was unacceptable.
He then made an incredibly inappropriate statement: I "should have thought about it before," referring to my behavior and the fact that my son was also being dismissed.
Let me be clear: We are talking about a 15-year-old child who had absolutely nothing to do with this disagreement and had just been seen at the practice the previous week.
I found the manager's comments condescending, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. I am a patient, not his employee, and I do not need an office manager lecturing me about my behavior or telling me to think about the consequences of standing up for myself.
I told him that I would not tolerate disrespectful treatment and that he was not my therapist. His responsibility as a manager should be to address legitimate complaints, ensure his employees behave professionally, and treat patients with respect.
Instead, I felt as though I was being personally scolded for questioning the service I received.
What concerns me most is that the manager explicitly connected my son's dismissal to my alleged behavior. Based on his own statements, I believe this decision was retaliatory.
The fact that ECVA chose to dismiss a minor patient who had no involvement in the disagreement, without first attempting to address the situation with me, is particularly disturbing.
Patients should be able to raise concerns about their care without being belittled, reprimanded, or made to feel that their children will face consequences.
In my experience, this situation reflects a serious lack of professionalism, accountability, communication, and respect for patients.
Perhaps ECVA management should spend less time lecturing patients about their behavior and more time examining how their own employees and managers treat the people who come to them for medical care.
Extremely disappointing and unprofessional.
