Austin Diagnostic Clinic

This is a warning to all patients, but especially the ones who are medically vulnerable, fragile, and complex as well as anyone with a disability, regardless of age. This is not the clinic for you. Turn back now, and go somewhere else. They deserve no stars at all. It’s a shame I had to give them even one in order to post this. I’m about to tell you why.

I’ve been going to ADC since 1998. I’m a medically complex and fragile patient with multiple disabilities, including expressive aphasia due to a traumatic brain injury. Basically, I can speak. I just can’t tell you what I’m thinking.

Historically, ever since my brain injury I’ve had much more difficulty verbalizing than writing as a means of communication. I find trying to verbalize my thoughts frustrating and often pointless. Each time I try to explain something, I am also painfully reminded of how my life and future was taken from me by a 74 year old man driving an 18-wheeler at night with no lights on his trailer. I’m still angry. Perhaps you can understand, after struggling for 30 years in total, with 25 of those years as a patient at ADC, I wanted to communicate my relevant history, questions, and concerns to my doctors. I wanted them to finally have everything they needed to know, with all the details, presented coherently. I was so relieved to finally tell them things I’ve never been able to say. In fact, it didn’t even occur to me that I really ought to communicate more in writing, until last Autumn for a number of reasons which are unimportant to draw out here. Thankfully, ADC has a patient portal with messaging capabilities. I was quickly able to shift over from my frustrated and agonizing attempts to verbally communicate, to writing messages instead.

However, I’ve been met with so many obstacles, I’ve found your staff have put timely and appropriate care out of my reach. This appears to be a result of a complete absence of support for my revised communication preference and needs, from both nurses as well as managerial staff in both those offices. Westlake especially, but also Circle C.

I’ve had considerable difficulty educating your office staff and increasing their sensitivity towards people with disabilities. I failed, mostly because I lack any support whatsoever from management and physicians at those offices. I should also mention, in part it’s due to staff who are too incompetent or simply don’t care, and thus unwilling to gain the emotional maturity and advanced empathy skills needed to successfully work with people who have disabilities. Instead, it seems they prefer to focus on themselves all day, and socialize. Or that’s what I’ve observed.

I originally thought the staff simply have to be told over and over and over again, my need to communicate through writing due to disability. What I’ve found is I still get that offensive reply back from them that instructs me to call them if I want to discuss the issues I’m having. There’s simply no comprehension of the information I’ve told them numerous times. It’s a struggle to deal with obtuse people who act as the gateway and biggest obstacle to critical medical services.

One afternoon several weeks ago, I was trying to make an appointment for my dermatologist. I’ve had an ongoing skin infection for maybe eight years now, maybe ten. It won’t go away, likely due to some of my other chronic ailments and conditions. To accomplish this, I first went to the ADC patient portal, then searched for an appointment at my desired location for the desired time slot (morning)….

I found nothing…..

Not for months and the portal scheduling system doesn’t go any further ahead apparently. After some tinkering, I realized I was no closer to obtaining an appointment and finally relented. I searched for an appointment at my least favorite location, mainly because it’s difficult for me to get to, park in the only available parking spot, which is usually at the far edge of your lot, and almost too small because pickups or some behemoth SUV is parked on either side and have wandered without any care for others, across the white parking lines, grifting some of the only spot available. Assuming I can get in the space, it’s still half a mile away from the doors to the enormous complex. There are never disabled parking spots available. Never. Then I must navigate the complex itself assuming I can get in from the lot. There are wheelchairs near the door sometimes, but no one to help me get to whatever office I’m trying to reach. It’s horrific how little you people care or think about someone who has difficulty ambulating due to pain. There’s no dermatologist at your north location, however. It was a small mercy to me.

I messaged my dermatologist’s staff I needed a morning appointment, any day of the week was fine, and to put me on a waitlist should nothing be available, in case there was a cancellation. I got fed up after several rounds of explaining over and over and over again just the one disability and need for accommodation—to be able to write. It was like some weird brain disease wherein all those affected can be easily identified by the complete absence of a functional short term memory, sensitivity or empathy, and the ability to literally lose every bit of information to which they can’t personally relate.

I sent a message to either the practice manager or clinical manager, though I’m not sure which because I’ve heard too many different accounts over the last few years over this woman’s job title. I suppose I could have misunderstood, but thats irrelevant. In the message I laid out the issues and told her I was fed up and needed her to address them and the enormous frustration they cause when I’m unable to do something as simple as make an appointment to see my doctor.

The dermatologist’s staff had become the main obstacle to me accessing care from my dermatologist since I have to go through them first. Then I explained these issues were so needlessly repetitive, I found it exceedingly frustrating.

This manager shot back a reply, completely avoided my complaint and instead decided to attack me personally. I wrote back, and informed her since she was not willing to address the issues I brought to her attention and instead chose to attack me personally on unrelated things, I would start searching for another dermatologist outside of ADC since the clinic didn’t have another one available to me.

For the record, the issues upon which this manager, who is also a nurse, found objectionable, were my request probably a year or more ago that staff and nurses follow up with any messages I sent by leaving me a voicemail. I explained every single time I sent a message that needed a response via voicemail that it was because it took between seven and ten days for their responses to show up on my end when they used the message portal.

Just recently, I suddenly began to receive messages and responses sent to me within perhaps three or four hours, or less. I THOROUGHLY explained in every single message sent after that, I was now getting their messages, so they could either leave a voicemail or send a message through the portal, their choice. This manager also attacked me stating I had given their office a phone number, in one of my messages, that didn’t work. This was a message I sent where I again explained they could leave a voicemail or send a written response through the message portal. I wrote a number for them to call thinking it would save them the time of having to look it up. Unfortunately, I fat fingered it and it was off by one number. They still had my correct phone number in the system as well when they added the incorrect number too. Am I to understand ADC staff could only deign to call one of those numbers, and upon not getting through, were not able to dial the other one, which was the correct one?

Though I didn’t want to leave my dermatologist, I found myself spending all my time dealing with her staff, explaining things over and over and over and over again. Why? Why was it necessary to waste my time like that? To frustrate me to no end? If you can’t be bothered in a medical practice to fully read and pay attention to what a patient’s message says, you need to get yourself a job in a different industry. You shouldn’t be subjecting your particular brand of ignorance, stupidity, and a refusal to learn or pay attention to anything to anyone who actually needs the help you’ve been trained and paid to give, yet fail to do so again and again.

How did this manager respond? She didn’t. She completely ignored me and I the issues I brought to her.

I’m on medical marijuana for neuropathy, which usually leaves me incapable of dealing with all the nonsense ADC clinic staff do on a daily basis. This “babysitting” and hand holding has been an exhausting, frustrating, offensive, and wholly unnecessary ongoing concern mostly at Westlake but also Circle C. Because I’ve had to spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with your staff since the one manager didn’t want to address anything herself, I hadn’t been able to take my medical marijuana in weeks. So at this point, I’m dealing with your nasty, incompetent, and aggressive staff instead of being able to take medication as I should and gain relief from symptoms that make life unlivable.

That was the one manager, either the clinical manager or practice manager. I don’t care who it is. They’re both offensive. The other manager, who says she’s the practice manager, termed me as a patient from ADC, where I’ve been getting care undoubtedly since she was in grade school. Long before she was the arrogant and rude ADC manager she is now.

Why was I terminated, you ask? Who knows? I’ve asked both Circle C and Westlake, through several portal messages, and voicemails as well. I’ve asked the nasty, rude, and arrogant manager as well as the one who can’t be bothered to train and/or discipline her staff. Then I left three messages for administrators. Not one single person has returned my calls or answered my messages. Not one of you. The closest I got to a reason, was the nasty and arrogant manager who said it was because I wasn’t able to answer and talk on my phone.

If that isn’t a textbook example of not just federal civil rights violations, but your own policy at ADC. What malfeasance is this? You would terminate your 25 year relationship with a sickly, fragile, and medically complex patient, where I have every single doctor I need, because I can’t speak on the phone?!?! Are you out of your minds?!?! You’re killing me. Literally. I have no refills on anything and my internist has refused to refill anything until I get labs?!?! I can’t get a single response out of your pathetic, negligent, civil rights violators you call your medical team?!?! And you want me to have labs now though I won’t get any results or any refills because I’ve been termed?!?! Are you stupid?!?! You must be!

You walked right into my personal injury lawyer’s hand. You are now in the land of tortious injury, medical malfeasance, and malpractice, which may actually lead to wrongful death.

And what have you done to stop it?! Not a damn thing!

You’re in for a tough battle. I’ve been a government auditor for decades. My speciality was Medicaid audits, but I could audit pool chairs at the YMCA if needed. I know exactly what you’ve done, how to give a clear reckoning of it, and who to contact. You’ll be overrun by investigators and auditors for several levels of government when I’m done with you.

Because I couldn’t get a believable and valid reason for my termination, because quite frankly you don’t have one, nor an understanding of who was involved in this decision, I have no choice but to report and file grievances against all my doctors’ staff, their nurses, the managers, my former doctors, and the clinic as a whole. You’ve brought this on yourselves. Both clinics had until COB yesterday, July 24, 2023, to give my an explanation and reinstate me as a patient. I haven’t had a single phone call or message from any of you.

Furthermore, you provide no means for a patient to report patient rights violations, other than to talk to the very people who violated them in the first place. Are you really that incompetent? You must be. I can’t begin to imagine everything you’ve done over the years to other similarly medically vulnerable and disabled patients. But I’ll guarantee you this, I’ll notify every board, both medical and nursing, every single state agency that oversees your certification to provide services, every single civil rights agency, both state and federal, then CMS and my Medicare Advantage Plan, whose contracts you’ve violated, not just because you denied critical care to someone based upon her disabilities, but you’ve violated your own patient rights policies and have no means for a patient to report those violations, both of which are always part of any Medicaid and Medicare or other government funded insurance contract with which I’ve worked.

I suggest you get your act together and give me some answers. I start filing grievances and complaints later today.

Regarding Complaint#[redacted]:We have contacted the patient and are attempting to reach an agreement about the charges in question.[redacted], Practice ManagerADC Rheumatology & Infusion Services ~ Westlake Internal Medicine ~ Westlake Dermatology ~ Westlake EndocrinologyPhone [redacted]...

[redacted]Fax       [redacted]

Patient complaint involved her understanding that there would be no charges for services rendered except for her co-pay and labs.  Patient stated that she was told misleading information by various staff in the clinic and that therefore she should not be responsible for the charges.Interviews with the physician, the clinical staff, and the front desk business staff at the office all indicated that no one would have told her that procedures were covered by her office visit co-pay.  Patient did sign a financial responsibility form that acknowledged that she understood that there were charges related to all in-office procedures.  Patient said that she was told differing information after signing the form, which negated her acknowledgement.An attempt was made to reach a compromise about the charges in question, however the physician was adamant that the charges were valid whiel the patient continued to feel that she had been mis-led.We have reached an agreement to remove the charges for the two in-office procedures on 2/28/17 and 3/08/17 with the understanding that the patient will no longer be seen in the Dermatology department at ADC.  The patient stated that she was "fine about this outcome".

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business - although the details of the response are misleading I feel- and are leaving out many mistakes and details the business made about the case - we did in fact reach an agreement and I'm am fine with the outcome and do not need to add complaint. in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Thank you sincerely for your help Revdex.com.
Regards,
[redacted]