My experience with Raluca and her team have been awful and absolutely unprofessional. I was referred to her by my physician as a result of abnormalities found in my EKG in an attempt to get clearance for cosmetic surgery. My first and only office visit (October 11th) left me concerned and extremely stressed out as I needed the clearance by October 18th. Upon my first visit, she had an EKG tested on me with the same results as prior. As a cardiologist, I would assume or have some confidence in my doctor to be knowledgeable of what they are reading on paper. However, Dr. Arimie made me feel nervous, yet not concerned. She stated given the background of my health and well-being (mind you I am in shape enough to scale big mountains at high altitudes), that I should not worry about the abnormalities of the results seen on the EKG machine. She also noted that I do not have any heart murmurs and my lab test results came back with no issues including normal blood pressure, no diabetes, or anything that would insinuate an actual cause of concern. Regardless, she still wanted to run a stress echo test just to make sure while simultaneously stating how this test still will not give her any reassurance. Go figure. I'm sorry but if you want me to take a test that will not give you comfort or what you are looking for, why have your patient incur a medical bill that is worthless?!
Meanwhile, Dr. Arimie confidently reassured me that I will have clearance by the 18th and I should not worry. She also stated that I am at low-risk for the medical procedure that I was scheduled to get done. A week passes by and I received a call from the office informing me that my insurance denied the request. Surprise? Not really.
Quickly, thereafter Dr. Arimie went MIA. I then referred back to my nurse and anesthesiologist for my cosmetic surgery and informed them of the status of what was going on. At this time, the nurse and anesthesiologist reviewed all of my medical history, lab results, and lastly, my EKG results. My anesthesiologist had some questions to clarify with the cardiologist, Dr. Arimie. Both the nurse and anesthesiologist called Dr. Arimie and her office countless times a day for multiple days. They were exhausted by the time they came back to me and just did not know what else to do. I finally called the office myself and much to my dismay, I was dealing with an unresponsive and unreliable doctor that was consistently unavailable.
Today (Oct 27th), I FINALLY received a call from the doctor's office and not Dr. Arimie herself, but the office manager. She stated that the doctor will ONLY correspond through written documents and through fax. However, she mentioned she wanted me to take an echocardiogram which is an ultrasound that I could pay for out of pocket. Here I am, 5 days before my surgery and Dr. Arimie will not even pick up the phone to speak with another doctor, the anesthesiologist.
To me, there is something shady going on. Could it be solely for the purpose of getting money?? If you really care about your patient's well-being and have some concerns, would you not try and schedule the echocardiogram well before the 27th of October??? I relayed the information back to my anesthesiologist and we are just upright done with her.
Furthermore, the staff at the office is extremely unprofessional. I have had some attitude given to me with a couple of them when explaining the urgency of the issue. I don't get any returned calls when they say they will.
At this time, I am locating a more professional cardiologist who is ATTENTIVE and not wishy-washy. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!! Don't waste your time. Please go to another cardiologist, one who is more technologically advanced with professional staffing including the doctor itself. read more