McNamara Thomas J, MD

If you want a doctor that still truly cares and is not treating you as a widget in a large practice, then in my opinion Dr. McNamara is not for you.

Dr. McNamara was my physician for a few years. He was recommended to me by a surgeon for a work-​up prior to surgery. This was in the early 90s when Dr. M. still practiced at a two-​doctor office on Shields Drive. His staff there seemed adequate to me, or at least I didn’t have any major problems, except maybe for long waits a few times. Dr. McNamara himself seemed fabulous to me. He was attentive, a good listener, in tune with the latest knowledge, etc. etc. I suggested to my husband also going to Dr. McNamara and to a few friends as well, as I recall. All was well.
However, at some point, Dr. McNamara joined Potomac Physician Associates, and that’s when my experience started steadily worsening. There were many examples of plain incompetence: unreturned phone calls, mix-​ups, rudeness, disorganization, inability to keep a record of patient requests, and the like. All of these bad experiences were with the staff, not Dr. McNamara himself, whom I continued to see as competent and attentive if (and that was a big IF) I was able to actually see or speak to him. One incidence of incompetent staff work, however, resulted in my complaint to the office manager, who was extremely rude and defensive. I don’t know what conversations took place behind my back as a result (another fellow patient described the staff manner as «Byzantine,» and it might be an apt description), but when I addressed the issue with Dr. McNamara, he became very defensive too. He admitted that the office maybe wasn’t «perfect» and «needs work» but he never acknowledged that I was within my rights to bring up the problems or seek better staff service. In fact, Dr. M. hinted that since I was «unhappy» with them, I should consult another physician, which I eventually did.
My husband, however, preferred to stay with Dr. McNamara as a force of habit, and because he valued him as a physician. This summer I needed to get in touch with Dr. McNamara concerning my husband’s medical issues. I called the office and asked whether I could e-​mail him, as I didn’t see any e-​mail address listed on the web site. I was told there is no e-​mail (I wonder why) but that I could fax Dr. M. a note and he would get back to me. He never did. My fax was simply ignored or lost, and I know it got there because I have a fax confirmation. I then called the office twice and specifically asked Dr. McNamara to call me on my cell. He called my home number. Twice. I called the office again and spoke to Leanna (sp?), explaining that I was having «communication» difficulties, that my fax was ignored and I got two calls to my home number, where I specifically asked not to call because I am not there. Leanna’s demeanor was very cavalier, and none of this seemed like a big deal to her. It didn’t seem to occur to her that, perhaps, an apology might be appropriate. I then asked her whether she was aware how much patients complain online about the staff problems, and she said she had «no interest» in that. I repeated my question: does she not care that patients have expressed frustration with the staff, and she confirmed «that’s right.» So much for that.
I then spoke to Dr. McNamara, probably for the last time. Again, he was defensive about the staff problems. He said that it was «frustrating» running «a big practice» and that if I had concerns about the organization and accuracy of test results, I should «take» my husband and go to a different practice with him. My husband is not a minor child. I cannot «take» him anywhere. And besides, is this a constructive way to address the issues? There are many people who complain about the staff. One fellow poster even called them «worse than bad.» Is the best way of solving the problem by getting nasty to the person who brings it up? Even if I respect Dr. McNamara’s clinical abilities, I believe this behavior lessens his effectiveness as a physician and my opinion of him as a medical professional. I also feel that because Dr. McNamara was angry and frustrated about the staff issues during this last conversation, he gave the actual medical problems I wanted to discuss a short rift. He was impatient; he would give short, snippy responses like «there is nothing you can do about that» before I even got to explain what «that» was, and seemed genuinely uninterested in helping me and my husband. This is really troubling because Dr. McNamara can sound like a caring doctor, so it seems that he is caring only when no criticism is directed at him or his staff. Discussions of medical issues and resulting treatment recommendations should be uneffected by doctors’ sensitivity to criticisms of his staff. Very sad.