This facility, Dr. Richard Lamar Allen, and Lori Ann Rodriguez, PA, provided primary care for my…read morelate mother for several years, managing her heart medications. From 2022 through the end of 2024, they transitioned her entirely to 15-minute telehealth appointments. During this two-year period, they did not schedule any in-person, physical follow-up examinations to check her heart condition, instead relying on her reading her own blood pressure over the telephone.
I constantly had to call the office out of sheer desperation because they repeatedly failed to process her life-saving medications through her mail-order pharmacy on time. Instead of resolving the delays, staff aggressively blocked me and falsely claimed they could not speak to me without a Power of Attorney just because I was upset, even though my mother was completely mentally competent. Yet, in complete contradiction, they turned around and handed her endless refills. According to CVS Pharmacy, her final 90-day supply was picked up by my mother's sister in December 2024, and they had authorized even more refills on her account. This meant the clinic was allowing her to take heavy cardiac medications well into 2025 without requiring her to step foot inside the facility for a physical evaluation. Tragically, my mother passed away on January 10, 2025 in an emergency room. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Following her passing, I requested her medical records to verify her care. The facility and Dr. Richard Lamar Allen's office repeatedly refused to provide them or confirm the date of her last in-office appointment. Instead, the facility retained legal counsel, claimed Dr. Richard Lamar Allen was on medical leave, and issued a cease-and-desist letter directing me to stop contacting the office. As her daughter and legal next of kin, I had to go through immense trouble, pay for a legal service, and explicitly send them relevant statutes before they were finally forced to release her 177-page medical file, which I am currently reviewing in detail.
Based on my experience, I believe the care and administrative conduct here were highly unethical. My mother's day-to-day care was primarily managed by Lori Ann Rodriguez, PA, under Dr. Richard Lamar Allen's supervision. Furthermore, the emergency room staff notified me that they attempted to contact Dr. Richard Lamar Allen the night my mother died, but the calls and messages went unanswered. Due to these severe gaps in continuity of care and the obstruction of medical records, I am formally filing complaints with the California Medical Board and the California Physician Assistant Board against AV Pediatrics & Family Medicine, Dr. Richard Lamar Allen, and Lori Ann Rodriguez, PA.
