Judgmental, Condescending, and Dismissive. If I had to summarize my experience with Dr. Sedgewick, these are the things that immediately come to mind. I took my father to Dr. Sedgewick in an attempt to set up a new glaucoma provider for him since moving to Loudoun County. My first interactions with the office should've been a red flag, as the scheduler was terse and talked over me on the phone. Nevertheless, administrative interactions don't determine the quality of the physician, and so we kept the appointment.
Upon arriving to the office, my father and I were escorted back to the exam room by a courteous woman which helped sooth my concerns over the previous interaction with the scheduler. Upon entering Dr. Sedgewick began with "normal" first appointment questions (why are you here, medical history, etc.). Almost immediately, the appointment fell apart. When discussing my father's double transplant due to diabetic complications (kidney and pancreas), his response was, and I quote, "Wow, you must've made some really terrible life choices!" My father is not overweight and was forced to lead a very active lifestyle given that he was a janitor in a large hospital for 30 years, so his assumption is incorrect and degrading. Upon discussing a prescription my father currently takes to prevent increased eye pressure, again Dr. Sedgewick made a judgmental and snide remark. When trying to explain to the doctor that my father, an Asian-American, has a genetic predisposition to diabetes-related complications (especially to the eyes) with a family history of impacts regardless of lifestyle choices, to further my point, the doctor began to speak over me and make a series of broad stereotypical statements about "poor life decisions."
This all happened in less than 5 minutes after Dr. Sedgewick entered the room. While preparing to dilate my father's, Dr Sedgewick reached out to hand my father a tissue. My father has extremely limited vision and cannot see anything except within a very narrow range in front of his left eye. When I explained that to Dr. Sedgewick, he scoffed and asked very sharply "Then why does he even wear glasses?!" Calmly, I explained to him that his low-vision specialist from Johns Hopkins wanted him to keep wearing his glasses, because it does help with eye protection and maintaining the very limited vision my father has left. I then told Dr. Sedgewick that if you hand something to my dad, you have to tell him (i.e. Here's a Kleenex). Dr. Sedgewick continued holding and waving the tissue down near my dad's waist (out of his area of perception) and never said a word. He completely disregarded what I just told him. "Dad, the doctor is trying to hand you a tissue. It's down near your waist," I stated since clearly Dr. Sedgewick was choosing not to.
In a matter of minutes, we had been ignored, talked down to and talked over, and judged without merit multiple times. I asked simply that Dr. Sedgewick consider his approach to bedside manner and "Please be kind to us when we answer questions and stop rushing to judgment." This sent Dr. Sedgewick over-the-top. He turned his chair around, blocking me in a corner, and got in my face. What would cause a physician, someone who's tasked with the care and well-being of others, to respond so harshly with being asked to be nice? He shouted "THAT'S IT! THIS IS OVER! GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" which we gladly obliged. So, I have father with dilated eyes, that received no medical evaluation, and was ignorantly judged by a doctor that doesn't even know him.
Never mind the fact that Dr. Sedgewick is out of touch with diabetes research showing strong genetic linkages to physical impacts and susceptibilities. Never mind the fact that Dr. Sedgewick came across as a chauvinist and intolerant toward a viewpoint that conflicted with his own assumptions. Never mind the fact that Dr. Sedgewick seems to promote an unhealthy office culture that allows a scheduler to shout at patients and lacks any semblance of phone etiquette. I simply cannot accept or tolerate the way Dr. Sedgewick talked to or treated my father. It was abhorrent. Just because Dr. Sedgewick's name is on the sign out front, does not give him the right to be a terrible human. I cannot provide a rating low-enough to match how I'm feeling about this entire experience. ZERO STARS, if Yelp would allow it! read more
