Dr. McCulloch has the bedside manner of a cobra. He is rude and dismissive of his patients.
My 94-yr-old mother, who has dementia, recently moved in with me and I needed to get her established with a doctor in the vicinity. Due to her age, I wanted a geriatrician and chose Dr. McCulloch, as he is one of very few geriatricians in this area. One would think this means he has special knowledge and expertise in communicating with and treating the elderly; however, Dr. McCulloch lacks the skills to communicate with and sympathize with his patients and shows no interest whatsoever in putting them at ease.
At the first "getting established" appointment, I found him a bit distant, but didn't want to judge too quickly. At the follow-up appointment, I told him that Mom's hearing aid battery had died, and I asked if he would speak loudly enough for her to hear him. He told me that he was trained not to communicate with his patients by raising his voice--that it was disrespectful! As he proceeded with his questions, I was "translating" and answering for Mom, who was becoming increasingly upset that she couldn't hear what he was saying. I pointed out that mother was feeling sidelined and left out of the communication about her. At this point he said, "I do not raise my voice. I ask my elderly patients with hearing loss to look at me and read my lips." Seriously??
Next, as he prepared to move forward with his examination and was going to look in Mom's ears, Mom said, "You have such pretty blue eyes! Take off your glasses so I can see them." (Mom likes to build rapport with people by paying compliments, a habit that I associate increasingly with her dementia. Any geriatrician should be patient with some of the odd behaviors of patients with dementia.) Instead of smiling and looking at her for a moment with his glasses off, Dr. McCulloch brusquely snapped, "I am here to examine you, not the other way around!" I wanted to say, "We are paying you, not the other way around!"
When I got my Mom in the car, I told her we would NOT be keeping the next appointment, and she was relieved. We have since found a wonderful geriatrician in Mobile. read more