Advanced Internal Medicine

Below, is a letter that I wrote to Dr. Virella. She responded via her assistant who told me that I should perhaps consider another doctor to take care of me. I felt like a fired patient. In my opinion, Angelina was uncaring and negligent, but apparently that does not matter to Dr. Virella. Medical professionals who care about their patients follow up and don’t hang up on patients. Doctors who care about their patients don’t dismiss their legitimate concerns. My God, I needed surgery.
Dr. Vivian E. Virella, M.D.
Advanced Internal Medicine
5425 S. Florida Ave.
Lakeland, Florida 33 813
Dear Dr. Virella:
On October 20, I paid you a visit concerning my XXX. I told you at the time that I had had the XXX for a number of years and that it periodically caused me a great deal of pain. Only by lying down did the pain subside. You gave me a brief examination and referred me to Dr. XXX for surgery «STAT.»
Your office filed with the XXX to cover my visit to Dr. XXX’s office, and because my application was STAT, you asked me to call Angelina on October 23, the following Friday.
I did as you requested and called Angelina on Friday. She told me then that she had not heard anything concerning my submission. She said that she would let me know as soon as she heard something. After waiting more than two weeks, I began to get concerned, so I called Angelina on November 5 to inquire if she had gotten approval from XXX. Once again, she told me that she had not received a response. I asked her this question during our conversation: During the more than two weeks that I have had to wait, how many times did you call XXX to inquire about my application? She said that she had not called once. I reminded her that you had labeled my case STAT, but she said that meant nothing to XXX. She dismissed my concerns. The next day on November 6, she called me to say that my application had been approved.
I thought that it was rather odd that Angelina would call me the very next day, so I called XXX on November 10. I asked them when my application had been approved, and they told me that it had been approved on October 22 – a mere two days after I had visited your office. I was informed that the confirmation had been faxed to your office on October 22.
I called Angelina yesterday to tell her about what I had learned, but she said abrasively that she did not have time to argue with me.“I know the whole story”, she flippantly said. When she called me on November 6, she intentionally did not disclose that my approval date had been on October 22. She led me to believe that it had just been approved, which was not true. She also said that I had been approved for surgery, but, that too, was a misrepresentation because I have only been approved to see Dr. XXX. She claimed earlier that STAT meant nothing to XXX, yet they processed my request expeditiously. While I was sharing my concerns with her, she abruptly cut me off mid-​sentence by placing me on hold. Instead of her voice, I listened to music until I finally hung up because I knew then that she was not going to return.
In my opinion, Angelina does not care about your patients. She certainly did not care about me. If I had not called her on November 5, I might very well still be waiting for approval to see Dr. XXX. I have never had a medical professional intentionally lie to me, or hang up on me by placing my call endlessly on hold, so I am sure that you can understand why I was taken aback by Angelina’s behavior. I can’t tell you how bad I feel to be treated so poorly. Because my case was labeled by you as STAT, Angelina had a total disregard for my well being. You need to employ someone who is honest, caring, and responsible and does not routinely dismiss the concerns of patients.