Will NEVER return to this doctor. Had an appointment with Dr. Soden (Senior) to discuss having a small pimple-looking bump on my nose removed. Several months prior, he'd told me the bump was just cosmetic, nothing to worry about...that I could have it cut off if it bothered me. I waited for ***90*** minutes to see him. 30 mins late is one thing, but I literally was about to walk out the door before he finally walked in. (Mind you, I had thought I was there to discuss something cosmetic, so, had I left, who knows when I'd have gotten it looked at again!)
Well, when he finally came into the room, he looked at it and quickly said "We need to cut it off and send to the lab to rule out skin cancer." I was shocked. When I mentioned our conversation during the last appointment and reminded him what he told me, he QUICKLY left the room (WITH his iPad that CONTAINS my electronic medical records) saying he "had to go check my records". Well, my records are right there in your hand, sir, are they not? I sat there for TEN more minutes, alone and terrified, not knowing how serious this could be. What doctor someone they may have cancer and then leaves them alone? When he returned, he insisted that we discussed two other things during my last appointment and tried to make it sound like we hadn't spoken about the spot on my nose. I know for a FACT that we did as it was the primary reason for my last visit. For all I know, he was in his office manipulating the notes to cover his you know what.
As much as every part of me wanted to bolt out of that room, I also realized that the sooner I had the spot tested, the better, so I agreed to have him do the procedure and send it to the lab. (Knowing darn well, I was NEVER going back there.) He injected the spot on my nose with a numbing shot which started to spray into my sinus cavity and was running down my throat. When I told him that was happening (I was practically gagging on it), he said, "Oh no, that's not possible, I injected into bone, it can't be going down your throat." Um, YES, I think I know if there's something running down my nose into my throat, and side note, my throat was beginning to numb! After the shot, he LEFT ME ALONE again, saying, "This will take about ten minutes." Well, excuse me, but on the release form you JUST had me sign, it CLEARLY states that some people have adverse/allergic reactions to the anesthetic, so...not sure you want to leave people unattended when it could possibly KILL them.
I was beyond irate by the time I was leaving. When I asked for my records of our last appointment, the lady at the desk called back to Dr. Soden and then told me the doctor said he would have to send them to me by mail or fax. Later that night, DR. SODEN himself left me a voicemail saying, "I understand that you want a copy of your medical records, I was thinking we should wait for the pathology report to come back, so I can send them all to you at once." Sounds extremely fishy to me. Like, let's wait and hopefully everything comes back ok, then she might not care about the records (or lack thereof). And how often does the doctor call you to tell you that vs. their receptionist??? It's like he was trying to be extra careful.
I understand that things change. Perhaps the spot on my nose didn't concern him the first time, but did the second. I'm fine with that part. The way he tried to DENY that we'd even spoken about the problem before is what was COMPLETELY unacceptable. Maybe he's been sued before or something so he's paranoid. Either way, between that and the waiting, leaving me alone TWICE during the appointment, telling ME what I was/was not experiencing during the procedure, not giving me my records right away and everything else, I'm done. I don't care if it's convenient, I will find a new, more responsible dermatologist.
Side note, the results (which he said would take 3-4 days to come in), came 2 days later and, again, the Dr. called to leave the results on my phone. (Thankfully, everything was fine.) A couple weeks later when I cancelled my follow up appointment, HE called and again left me a voicemail. Made no sense to me why the doctor would call me yet again. He was clearly worried that I was going to post a bad review (to match the many others I see here already) or something. I hope he reads these and learns a bit about how to treat people that are paying money and putting their trust and health in his hands.
by Anonymous
xxx.xxx.250.52
September 26, 2012