I would give Dr. Shoemaker and his business, Ormond Medical Arts, a zero, if that were available. My husband and I went there for years and never saw Dr. Shoemaker; instead, we dealt entirely with this staff. When my annual mammogram showed something concerning, they did a needle biopsy. Shortly thereafter, late on a Friday afternoon while we were getting to go out to dinner at a fine restaurant to celebrate our anniversary, we get the call. At 4:30 pm., I am told by his office staff that my biopsy tested positive for cancer. If that doesn't rate a visit from the doctor, nothing does, but no, by phone, on a Friday with no possible way to call anyone else or even do any research. "Cancer" was all she told me, completely ignoring any details in the pathology report, which I later found out indicated an in situ, "stage 0" lobular vs. a metastatic, stage 1 ductile cancer, which is far more serious. Besides that, it was tiny, at about 4 millimeters. The only detail she gave me was "cancer," and that I'd need some combination of surgery, chemo and radiation. When I eventually found a surgeon and asked if this is how his practice would have treated it, no meeting, a phone call from an assistant and no detail, he said, "Absolutely not; we would never treat a patient that way!" I needed a lumpectomy and nothing more. I asked why I had never even met Dr. Shoemaker, one of his assistants told me he was never in the office. I wrote him a letter, thinking that was the only way to contact him. And guess what! His wife answered, not the doctor. She told me the assistant had done nothing wrong and that the doctor was frequently in the office. There was no explanation as to why a cancer diagnosis did not rate a conversation with the mysterious Dr. Shoemaker. My husband and I found another primary care physician and never went back. read more
