At times, and most likely on first introduction, Dr. Vanam may present as reasonably personable,…read moreprofessional and efficient. I would encourage potential patients not to let themselves be misled by the small act of Kabuki theater she performs so unctuously, smiling insincerely, on introducing herself to new patients.
If Dr. Vanam takes you on as a patient and your experience with her is like mine, you will see her maybe twice a year, at the mandated annual wellness visits, perhaps, when she will ask you why you are there (as if it were not mandatory and pressed upon you) and what you want to do about your health. She will make you feel as though it is your responsibility to come up with whatever you need medically, no matter how serious or complex your particular health status is. You will never get her on the phone, or receive a call back from her upon request, and you should, in her mind, at all times recognize and feel badly that you are imposing on her whenever and however you attempt to interact with her.
Dr. Vanam will tailor her treatment to her own moods, or how she feels about you personally, not AMA best practices or anything so bothersome or (to her) inconvenient as prevailing medical standards. Have you been taking a very run-of-the-mill, commonly-prescribed medication at standard dosages for something basic like blood pressure or migraines for years, perhaps? She will change it up for no reason at all aside from, perhaps, her own boredom, and never mention it to you or ever ever - god forbid! - explain to you why she has made the change. You will just find out what has happened when, say, you notice a different color and shape of pill as you leave the pharmacy and suddenly read the label to find your long established and functional routine has unexpectedly been upended.
The randomness and lack of respect can be crazy-making. But if you complain about anything at all to anyone, and she gets wind of it, Dr. Vanam will find creative ways to punish you. Be very clear, she does not care about you or your health except to the bare minimum extent she is required to pretend to do so in order to maintain her medical license. (I generally prefer female doctors and had one for almost two decades in another state whom I still miss sorely. But Dr. Vanam seems congenitally incapable of accessing within herself the sort of compassion for her fellow human beings that characterizes the best medical professionals and, indeed, most decent people. Her superciliousness and arrogance are much more in line with the kind of male surgeon some of you familiar with the health care system will recognize by type, who expects everyone to admire him almost to the point of paying tribute on a daily basis, and considers any hint of questioning of any pronouncement he makes the practical equivalent of denouncing God, your fellow man and all religion.)
Mostly you will deal with Dr. Vanam's staff or PAs, who are generally efficient, knowledgeable and very nice, due evidently to the fact that human resources is managed by the group, not the individual doctors. But as to Dr. Vanam individually, you will hear way more often than you expect that she is on vacation and always that she is too busy (she runs an extremely full practice, with more patients than she can reasonably handle presumably because it is more remunerative that way ...) to stoop to interacting face to face or in real time with mere patients like you. (It is sort of like, "Silly patient to expect anything of the sort - little you and the important Doctor?!") She practices medicine mostly by means of referrals to specialists, which she does not manage personally, and which typically expose you, the patient, to delays of months each time as you wait to be seen, and sadly, quite often get messed up by staff inattention or insurance miscoding.
While Dr. Vanam was "my" doctor, I tried mightily to be the ideal patient, endlessly patient, always friendly with staff, doing everything exactly as instructed, not making any quick judgments. But it got to the point where I wondered what Dr. Vanam actually did herself, if anything. It seemed as though others dealt with or resolved the problems Dr. Vanam's personal feelings or preferences, or simple 'forgettings,' created. She was never once, in almost a year's time, involved in prescribing a treatment or medication or handling any medical situation herself. I wasted truly crazy amounts of time with a series of incorrect referrals, referrals to specialists who each informed me they did not handle the kinds of medical work for which I had been referred.
