This place, in my opinion, is dangerous. I have never encountered such poorly educated "doctors"…read more They are children playing doctor. I had an acute onset of severe neck pain and a heart arrhythmia occur at the same moment. The child/doctor at this clinic wanted to check me for a cervical neck problem, which would not affect my heart. She refused to consider any other diagnosis.
A few days later, I called back urgently. I had been to the ER (again) and my liver enzymes had elevated 9x's higher in 72 hours. My heart didn't feel right, I was short of breath, had severe neck pain and liver pain. I also had pulmonary edema.
The child/doctor who answered my call (it was a Sunday so the on call child/doctor) told me that the heart could not affect the liver!!! WHAT? The liver has a circulatory system doesn't it? She refused to help me. (Side note: YES the heart can cause liver failure and vice-versa).
At this point, I was in heart, liver, and lung failure with a new abnormal heart rhythm, weight loss of 20 lbs in a few weeks, no appetite, severe neck pain, pathological anxiety, and a tremor. A few days later, I called AGAIN, begging for help. Saying something was very wrong with me. Rather than help, or even basic compassion, I got this:
I live about 2.5 hours from UVA but I made an appointment at this clinic, and they saw me (thereby assuming responsibility for my care) because I planned to move to Charlottesville when Covid restrictions passed. Indeed, I am moving there in three weeks. So, it seemed to establish a primary care doctor there. But NO...when I called for help, in a very vullnerable state and extremely sick, the doctor I spoke with was obviously irritated with me, "Well what do you expect us to do to help you? Why did you even make at appointment at this clinic? We can't do anything to help you because you don't live in town..."
I finally went elsewhere for help. Turned out I was having a thyroid storm. I had ALL the symptoms although the MD at this clinic only looked at a lab result that was several weeks old and decided it couldn't be my thyroid. She also labeled me as drug seeking because I begged for something for the severe anxiety a thyroid storm causes. Additionally, she labeled me as a psych patient.
Thyroid storm is an ICU level medical emergency. Survival rates without treatment are dim. I'm lucky to be alive, and NO thanks go to UVA. I was seen in their ER twice, this clinic once, and spoke twice to doctors at this clinic begging for help. I received coldness, cruelty, and never even heard back from the clinic to apologize (I alerted them to what the medical issue had been once it was finally diagnosed).
I can't even begin to explain the trauma I am left with or how much this clinic needlessly harmed my trust in medicine or my own mental health. Their cruelty at a time of such need will leave a mark on me for the rest of my life. I'm stable now, all I needed was a bottle of hydrocortisone and some medicine to absorb thyroid hormone.
So, I advise you to avoid this place like the plague. These children/doctors have NO idea what they are doing and they caused me FAR more harm and did NO healing. The specific doctor I saw in the office was named Aviva Friedman. I did not get the names of the two I spoke with on the phone but they were all sub-adequate and I wouldn't let them treat my cat let alone a human being. It wasn't just that they were uneducated, but they were also CRUEL.
Labeling someone in a thyroid storm as psych and drug seeking, while ignoring alarming lab results and symptoms in favor of personal bias is about the worst situation possible. Patients in a thyroid storm are already struggling psychologically due to the surge in thyroid hormone. I told them, repeatedly, that my anxiety was a symptom of something, not a diagnosis. This level of anxiety went on for weeks, unending. Psychological anxiety does not present that way nor does it start as if someone flipped a switch. They refused to listen to me or believe me.
I could go on with more details but by now, you get the picture and you have been warned. After this experience, I will never see a family medicine doctor again. Only an internist. Even so, our medical system, and education in the US is extremely broken. This situation was beyond the pale. I felt as if I was living in a time when women were labeled "hysterical" and tossed in psych hospitals. Yes, that is how pathetic and primitive this clinic was. In no way would they listen to me, they thought they knew better. They also ignored lab results & did not order new labs, which would have shown abnormal hormone levels.
The worst part though, is how snarky, snide, & cruel they were--so sure of their incorrect diagnosis & then how they couldn't even be bothered to call & apologize when they realized their mistake. Surely they realize that I almost died.
They almost cost me my life with their incompetence, bias, and cruelty.
