By Emmanuel Fashakin
I have been a Doctor for 43 years. 99% of my patients adore and love me. I am accessible to them 24/7. I provide good care. I practice medicine the way it should be practiced. People tell me I have poor Google reviews. I decided to find out why.
My investigations show that the 99% of patients who received excellent service, and who are satisfied with our services, seldom remember to, or ever bother, to leave Google reviews. Most of the patients who go on Google, I found out sadly, are those who had a grudge or were upset, or malcontent, very often for reasons for which the Doctor and his staff were blameless.
One patient had a Medicaid HMO. She came to the office to see the Doctor one evening. An eligibility check showed that I am no longer her listed PCP (Primary Care Provider) by her insurance carrier. My front office staff explained to her that her PCP has been changed, we are no longer her PCP, and if we provide services to her, we would not be paid. She was advised to call her insurance carrier the next day to change back to us, and then return to the office. She rather went to Google and left us a nasty review.
Another patient signed up for Obamacare. He chose a Bronze plan with a very high deductible. A deductible is the amount the patient must pay before the doctor gets paid a dime by the insurance carrier. He made several visits to the office. The insurance carrier applied deductibles to all of them. His deductible bill came up to $457. He did not pay a dime despite being sent statements. He came to the office and wanted to be seen again. My staff said no, you have to at least pay some of your outstanding bills before you incur more debts. He left the office angrily and promptly left us a bad Google review that we are uncaring and that my staff are rude.
A 57-year-old came for a follow-up for Diabetes, Blood pressure, and High Cholesterol. A few days after the visit, she was called back to see the doctor because her diabetes was uncontrolled, and she has a Urinary tract infection. At the office, she refused to pay her usual copay, only $20, because she said that she saw the doctor only the week before. My staff tried to explain to her that this is a new visit. Your insurance carrier requires you to pay copay at EVERY VISIT. After arguing unsuccessfully with my staff for almost 20 minutes, she left the office and promptly left us a 1-star Google review, claiming that my office is very dirty, and my staff are rude.
Another patient came to the office with an obvious viral cold. He also has a history of allergies. He insisted on being prescribed antibiotics. I explained to him that there is no evidence of bacterial infection, and that antibiotic use would not be appropriate. He left me a 1-star on Google. He said I am a bad, incompetent and uncaring Doctor.
I leave the worst for last. This 31-year-old new patient called my office for a same-day appointment because he had an urgent matter. I personally saw him in my Richmond Hill office. This fella was being employed by New York MTA as a driver. His employment physical showed abnormality in his EKG (Electrocardiogram). He brought a form from the MTA Doctor. The doctor explained that due to the abnormality in the EKG, he must see his own doctor to get Medical Clearance. The MTA Doctor insisted that the Medical Clearance report MUST INCLUDE a report of an Echocardiogram and Cardiac Stress Test, or a Stress Echocardiogram, which incorporates both tests.
The physical examination of the young man was normal. Heart sounds, everything, normal. No murmurs. We repeated the EKG. It has a few changes which in my opinion were not significant. I explained the situation to him. Left to me I would have cleared you right now, but your job insisted that you must have these two tests done. I ordered the tests on our EMR and send him to the front office to pick up the referrals.
A week later, he was back in the office. I saw the report of the Echocardiogram, but no report for Stress Test. He confessed that he never did the stress test. He gave no reasons. The echocardiogram was normal. I was at a dilemma. The job doctor had insisted that they needed the Echo AND Stress test. But to be honest, the probability that this 31-year-old non-smoker with no other medical conditions, and normal Echo, having coronary heart disease is negligible. I explained to him that he should have done the stress test as demanded by his employer, but that I am comfortable to clear him without it. However, if the job insisted, he would have to come back.
About five minutes after the young man left my office, I had a “ding” on my phone. I got an alert that I have just received a Google review. I very seldom check those reviews, because I have come to know that they were rarely sensible or objective. But this one caught my eye. The reviewer left his actual name, and the name was the young man who left my office five minutes earlier.
I noticed that he was typing on his phone as I was typing out his Medical Clearance report. I was curious to see what he wrote. We provided excellent service for the young man. We saw him promptly on the same day he called, he was never our patient, and I gave him clearance to work, despite his not complying with the tests required by his employment doctor. I was expecting a glowing report expressing his appreciation, but what I saw was the shock of my life!
The man wrote that I am a dishonest doctor. That I examined him, found that he was okay, but still insisted that he had to do more medical tests. He averred that I ordered the tests on him to make money. That all my actions were dictated by greed. Even though I had learned to ignore Google reviews, this one was especially bad. This man is impugning my integrity when it was his employer who insisted on the tests, and I got no financial benefit whatsoever from his doing the tests. I had no hand in choosing which company did his test. My staff did that. I have never collected incentives from any radiology place. That is against the law. I was very hurt and upset. The story had a final twist.
A few days after this incident, the young man was back. His employer rejected my clearance for him to work. They insisted that he had to do the cardiac stress test. The first thing I asked him was: why did you impugn my character and reputation on Google when I had provided excellent service to you? He denied leaving any Google reviews. I told him that I saw him typing, that the alert came within minutes of his departure, and Google had used his real name. He became speechless. I had done my best for horrible patients all my professional life, but this one was too much for me. I gently asked him to collect his medical records at the desk and find another doctor to do his clearance.
There you have it, folks. Be very careful how you use Google reviews pertaining to providers of medical services. My investigations showed that patients asking for unwarranted extended absence from work, and others asking for strong painkillers, or other medically unnecessary services, who were denied, were frequent Google reviewers.
One patient exclaimed to me a few weeks ago: “you are such an excellent doctor, why is your Google review so bad?” I smiled at her. I told her I don’t care too much about it, that our patients know the worth of our services, but the Google reviews are so bad, because, people like you never take the time out to write Google reviews.
The comment from this kind patient prompted me to write this Google Review Rejoinder.
Emmanuel O. Fashakin, M.D., FMCS(Nig), FWACS, FRCS(Ed), FAAFP, Esq.
Attorney at Law & Medical Director,
Abbydek Family Medical Practice, P.C.
Web address: http://www.abbydek.com
Cell phone: +1-347-217-6175
“Primum non nocere”
