I was a patient in this office for three plus years. My new doctor decided not to accept my insurance, so I was forced to move to yet another doctor. He then got sick and his office told me to go back to Mid Atlantic Dr. Chiang because they didn't know when you would be back. I needed to get my injection of Vabysmo because I was having Cataract Surgery the end of September. I called Mid Atlantic and explained to them the situation and told them I needed to come back to their office to get my Vabysmo injection. They said OK and made my appointment, I called two weeks before the appointment. They never told me to check with my insurance or last doctor's office to get my injection approval or transferred to them (I never had to do this before). When I got to Mid Atlantic Office on 9/4, they did all the preliminary eye exams and dilated my eyes. Then they took pictures and told me to wait in the waiting room. I waited and then was taken to a room. Two nurses came in and the one female nurse said to me "I guess you are expecting to get your Vabysmo Injection today", to which I replied yes, why do you ask? She said they might not be able to give it to me and that they had to check with their billing dept. first and left the room. I did open the door after they left to tell them that I did have a secondary insurance and also a grant for the injections.They said yes we know. A little while later Dr. Allen Chiang and the two nurses came back into the room, Dr. Chiang proceed to tell me why he could not give me the injection I had been receiving since Feb. at the other doctor's office. He said the injection is approved for that doctor and his office only and that was why he could not give it to me He told me that it's my insurance companies fault and also mentioned congress at fault too! When I questioned the situation, like why they never told me any of this prior to my appoint, he got very upset and said that his staff work overtime and very hard to take care of their patients and it's not up to them to tell me these kinds of things. He told me that if I wanted to pay full price for the Vabysmo Injection he could give it to me. He then offered to give my Avastin a drug that people get initially when first diagnosed with this condition which he had started me on in 2018. He said if I wanted to get this drug it would be free. I told him I was concerned because I now had a new condition in that eye called FUCHS and also a bad cataract which was scheduled for surgery soon. He said that the only difference between Vabysmo and Avastin was that he would have to see me back in five weeks for another injection. He said that his office would try and get the Vabysmo approved by then. I was very upset and concerned about getting a different drug before surgery and not being able to discuss it with the Cataract doctor or my insurance company before this appointment. I asked if I could please have a few minutes to make a decision before agreeing to get this different drug. I was in tears, but I felt that I had no other option but to get the injection or cancel my upcoming surgery and postpone months from the scheduled date. I tried to give my other doctors a call but of course at 4pm could not get through. I was left with no other choice but to get the injection. The nurse came back in and I signed the agreement to get the Avastin injection. The nurse gave me 4 drops of novocaine. I asked for more because I always got 8-12 drops. They usually gave me more and then they let you sit for like 15 minutes before giving the injection so the drops have time to work. No sooner had the numbing drops been given then Dr. Chiang came in and injected my eye. I screamed it was the most painful injection I had received in 6 years! He then said I will see you after your surgery and left. The nurse wasn't going to even rinse the eye, but I asked him to please do it. I did tell him that I wasn't going to come back to the office because of how I was treated today! He actually said he understood, and wouldn't want to be coming to a doctor expecting one thing only to get something else shoved down their throat.And to top it all off, a few days later I got a call from the office manager, who told me I would be getting a letter from Mid Atlantic dismissing me from their practice, because they said I was rude to their staff! I did call my Insurance Aetna and they told me that Mid Atlantic Office could have called them and gotten a rushed 48 hour approval for the Vabysmo Injection. They didn't even need that as they knew about this appointment 2 weeks prior and had plenty of time to get the approval. Someone in that office didn't do their job and they were just covering up! Hence, the dismissal from the office. I am 66 years old and now have to get another doctor again. Not to mention reschedule my surgery. I have never felt so belittled by a doctor and their staff before! BEWARE IF YOU WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS NO SYMPATHY! read more
