I have been taking a friend to south coast ortho for a few months and have been impressed with her treatment and the doctors and staff there. So when I got referred for evaluation I was looking forward to it.
As a retired medical professional and after years of dealing with my spine related issues. I have had several surgical consultations. Usually educational but surgical intervention has never been an option. With some scary mobility issues developing recently, I was hoping to find out what had changed.
My first appointment with Dr. Curcin was a little concerning as he came into the room empty-handed and had apparently not bothered to scan through my medical records..asking me to explain why I was there. There is far too much going on with my spine for me to 'fill him in'..this was incredibly unprofessional, to begin with. I try to explain the highlights of the issue, he states I need an MRI, of which my physician had already ordered.
I returned after getting the MRI, and as I am waiting, I can hear the doctor walk up to the door, open the file and stand there and read it...all of 60 seconds. He then walks in and gives me a one-sentence synopsis of my MRI and we were done. He shows me no MRI report, goes into NO detail. He is interested in NO further discussion and gets defensive and pissy when I attempt to discuss it further..Literally saying "What do you expect me to do Ms Alexander"..VERY RUDE! Cut me off and developed defensive body language. He had NO intention of going into any details.
WHAT did I just PAY for? I can read the MRI report and glean the information he provided! WHAT a WASTE of money! A more qualified professional sits down, a report in hand, pictures to show are even better..and explains what the MRI found in DETAIL..and a good physician uses their skills to evaluate the new report compared to the old. as it had been 10 years since the last MRI. I got NONE OF THAT! He actually tried to tell me there were no changes in 10 years..that is blatant BS! Too many physical symptoms directly contradict that, yet these symptoms were being completely ignored.. He literally REFUSED to discuss the MRI further.
Obviously, no surgical money to be made on me..so we are done here..get out.
The interaction took 5 minutes or less. I was so disgusted by his unwillingness to even discuss the MRI..almost felt like I should apologize for wasting his time. I walked out of there in tears of frustration and dissapointment..Not that there was no surgical intervention..but there had been NOTHING learned or gained from a VERY expensive MRI and Consultation Fee! I am feeling entirely ripped off and as if I was mistreated by an arrogant, unconcerned medical provider.
In all fairness... the rest of the staff have been very nice. My friend, who did get surgery, was treated by another physician and they were awesome. But, apparently, not everybody working there is on the same page with patient care. What a shame. read more