Allen Ratcliff
1/5
There seems to be a recent downward trend in his ratings and our experience reinforces that. Aside from the arrogance of this doctor and his staff, he provided no benefit to us at all. It’s insane that so-called “providers” are allowed to take in the money they do while not providing value for their patients. What other non-government business models allow for such nonsense?
My wife visited him from out of town. Her records were sent beforehand. After examining her and supposedly reviewing all her information, he laid out a simple course of action. Get an MRI. If it shows X, we do A. If it shows Y, we do B. My wife left relieved there seemed to be a path for treatment. The insurance company toyed with whether or not to pay for the MRI, so we paid out of pocket the very next day to get this man the information he requested to start a treatment plan. The MRI results were hand delivered to his office by my wife.
A day or 2 later (this timeline is important) we got a call from his office saying he wasn’t following through with treatment. No explanation and no alternative. We had to schedule and pay for an “office visit” video call the following week to drag the information out of him.
During that call, I asked him pointedly, “you told her you’d start treatment promptly with the results of that MRI, what changed a day later.” He immediately went into some explanation of how he’d consulted with her other doctors and blah blah blah. I let him finish but the Orlando ophthalmologist he was referring to was unavailable until the following week. Carlos seemed to be conflating the timeline to answer my question since we know he’d not spoken to that ophthalmologist a day after my wife’s visit. So while any response of “after consultation with your other doctors” may ultimately be true, it does NOT explain the immediate change of course a day or so after his promise of treatment. If those consultations happened, they occurred later and he still hasn’t answered my question, which you’d think would be a requirement if you’re paying someone for a service. He also told us that verbally the ophthalmologist said things contrary to what the ophthalmologist had written in her records. This could be true, but you’d think that clear discrepancy would warrant a little more discussion, explanation, or investigation. We got none of this from Carlos.
When I told him we’d paid for the MRI out of pocket based on his promise of treatment, he arrogantly began talking over me and telling me “that was your choice. That was your decision.” Which is true, I suppose, but he’s attempting to absolve himself of the fact we did it based on his medical advice and promise of treatment.
The final straw was towards the end of the call when my wife asked what the next step was then. He said “you need to see a surgeon.” My wife said “what kind” and he replied “neuro.” I began laughing at him at that stage and said “you haven’t even read through her files have you!? She’s
been dealing with this for years and there’s paperwork and imagery in there from 3 neurosurgeons already. 2 recent. That’s what led us to rheumatology.” Carlos became visibly flustered, had no answer for why he was recommending something he’d seemingly overlooked had already happened, had no other answers or recommendations, and just started saying “you should get a second opinion then you should get a second opinion.” Over and over. It felt to me like we’d cornered him for not knowing about the neuro background and he just wanted to get off the phone.
I would highly recommend looking somewhere else for treatment. After a lot of money has been spent visiting him, getting an MRI based on his recommendation, and paying for a call just to get results, there was zero value in dealing with him. He didn’t follow up on his promise of treatment, he conflated the timeline when I asked him for explanation, and he seemingly hadn’t reviewed her files thoroughly. I’m offended that we had to pay this man a dime and he should be ashamed for taking people’s money while providing no help.
