This review is for Doctor Dewey Torres, a general surgeon.
I was referred to Dr. Torres by my trusted gastroenterologist for an evaluation to see if my gall bladder needed to be removed. Dr.Torres shares a suite with his Doctor wife. It is in an old building that reeks of mold and urine (???). But I was still open-minded at first and willing to like him, trust him, and respect him - even though I was NOT pleased with the first impression given by his office suite. It seems like a successful surgeon should be able to afford a nice, CLEAN, modern, good-smelling office, not something outdated, dusty/dirty, and malodorous.
The wait time was average, paperwork had a few grammatical errors printed on it. No big deal. Then the nurse called me back and when she saw that my husband was coming, she told me that "the Doctor would NOT be pleased". I INSISTED. I was given a paper robe and paper sheet and advised that I would have to undress at some point. This seemed reasonable as I'd never had a gall bladder exam before.
Soon, the Dr. came in and introduced himself, and I learned all about how highly regarded he was (through his anecdotes and paper clippings). He seemed nice enough and he did put me and my husband at ease. But when he was ready to do the exam, he asked my husband to leave and wait in his office while I remained in that room with him for the "medical" portion of the appointment.
He told me to get completely naked - no panties or bra. The gall bladder lies below your right set of ribs, so I had no idea why I had to take off my panties and bra since they wouldn't be covering that area at all. But my doctor had referred me, SHE liked and trusted him, and the female nurse was remaining in the room.
Once naked and lying flat with the robe (open in the front) covering my top and the paper sheet over my bottom. Dr. Torres proceeds to give me a breast exam (despite my protestations that I'd just had a FULL exam though my GYN two weeks ago). It did not follow a typical breast exam procedure, though it didn't seem overtly sexual - just ODD.
Next he went down and palpated my pelvic area - only way to really say it - he gave me an external pelvic exam. He even lifted up my sheet, and commented on a tattoo I have in a decidedly private place. I had no clothes on underneath that sheet. He LOOKED at me - and touched the tattoo. Again, nothing overly giving me a feeling of anything inappropriate going on - just the exam itself was odd.
But MOST importantly, he NEVER ONCE touched, palpated, or assessed the area of my body where my GALL BLADDER is located. The very REASON for my visit!!! Done looking at and feeling my breasts/pubic area, he had me get dressed and told me to meet him in his office where my husband is waiting. In his office, he then tells me and my husband that there's NO WAY to determine - through any kind of PHYSICAL EXAM - if a gall bladder needs to be removed!!! (WHY DID HE DO ONE THEN?? And WHY, instead of palpating the swollen, sore gall bladder, did he do a breast/pelvic exam. You base it on symptoms (which I'd reported to him LONG before the "exam") and tests (I'd already had done well BEFORE my appointment, and of which - he had received a copy of the results weeks ago). He then tried to schedule an appointment for the surgery but couldn't give me a straight answer as to whether or not I needed it.
I declined to make a follow-up appointment. read more