I initially went to City Dermatology Skin Institute for a mark on my face. I don't normally go to the doctor for anything, but the mark was bleeding regularly and I was pretty sure it was cancerous. On my first appointment, I could not see the doctor until I asked an assistant. Finally he came in and told me that it did not look like I had cancer, but I requested a biopsy anyway. The office called a few days later to say I was cancer free. However, as the doctor removed the stitches from the biopsy surgery, the doctor tells me it looks like I do have cancer after all.
While I was being prepped for surgery, the physician's assistant asked her assistant to get a needle to numb my face. The physician's assistant rejected the first needle her assistant chose because "those are the dirty needles." The staff did not know which needles were clean or dirty, and no one seemed to know why those dirty needles were even in the room. I can't be sure until I get tested whether I have Hepatitis or another blood disease from a dirty needle.
I waited a long time after the initial numbing injection for the surgery to begin and I mentioned to an assistant that I hoped the numbing injection was not wearing off. She said she would give me one more shot to be sure I didn't feel anything, but she stuck it into my jaw and hit the bone. Even though I was numb, it hurt and I told her so. She responded, "Well, what do you expect? I just stuck a needle in your face." After surgery, I had to reapply my own bandages at home because they has been so poorly done at the office.
I went to the office after recovery to have my stitches removed and had to spend an hour in the waiting room for a scheduled appointment. When they finally called my name, I went with the assistant into the exam room before they realized I was the wrong patient in the wrong room. During my exam, I again had to request the doctor before he would come see me himself. After he took out my stitches, I asked him to examine another mark I was worried about on my head. He looked at it and again said it did not look cancerous. I insisted on an biopsy anyway, which was completed by an assistant and sent to the lab.
I went home and I was not feeling right. My knee was hurting, which is unusual for me, and I had white boils on my chest. I called to share my concerns the doctor but I was told it was probably nothing. I did some research and diagnosed myself with a Staph infection. I also learned that biopsy incisions as large as mine should have been stitched after surgery to avoid infections like this. At my next appointment a week after I first complained, I showed the assistant the incisions and the infection but she said everything was alright. When I showed the doctor, his eyes got wide and he said the biopsy sites should have been stitched. This would never have happened if the doctor was present during my biopsy.
It was also confirmed that my second biopsy was cancerous and I scheduled my second surgery. As with the first surgery, I had to reapply my own bandages when I got home. The doctor started me on an oral antibiotic as a safety measure but I still got an infection.
During my time at this office, I noticed other things that really concerned me. There was no liquid soap in the bathroom because the dispenser was empty. Instead, they had a small bar of soap like you might get from a hotel. Everyone who used that bathroom used the same bar of soap. I went back to the bathroom on another visit and there was no soap, not even the little bar from before. In all my visits, I have never seen anyone wash their hands. The staff members always wear gloves, but then they touch the patient clipboards and do not change their gloves or wash their hands, even though many patients with many ailments have touched them every day. Many elderly patients are treated at this clinic and they do not have the immune systems to deal with possible contamination, much less a Staph infection or a blood disease.
I spoke with many of the assistants while I was a patient and learned that everyone had only worked at the clinic for three months to a year. Most were working on a practicum for the medical school a few miles away. Everyone, from the front desk to the physician's assistants, was a trainee. The front desk is very unorganized in general. I called ahead once to confirm an appointment and they said I had no appointment even when I did. I had to wait at least an hour for each appointments. The assistants are can't even answer my questions or apply bandages properly. Their bedside manner is atrocious. They are generally nice people, but they do not know what is going on and that is scary. I knew something was wrong with me, yet no one seemed to know what was going on or what they were doing. These assistants should be supervised at all times while they are training but the doctor was not in the room ninety percent of the time. I understand that you have to learn, but you cannot learn at your patient's expense.
My friends asked me many times throughout this process why I continued going to the clinic. I never expected to have more than one procedure there after my first experience, but I was worried Medicare would charge me extra for changing doctors. Now that my procedures are completed, I will never go back there again. The doctor was really good, but he is too busy to know what his staff is doing. I am not only dissatisfied with my experience, but I am concerned for his existing and future patients.
Beware and be prepared to ask questions if you choose City Dermatology Skin Institute.