June 23 video commentary:
Original June 22 post:
Here is the general text of a complaint I have filed with various federal & state agencies regarding the University of Utah Orthopedic Center, and a doctor I tried to see there today for knee and foot pain.
----------------------
June 22, 2015
Complaint against:
1. Dr. David J. Petron
2. The medical assistants who spoke with me during my 6-22-15 7:45am visit to the University of Utah Orthopedic Center.
3. The University of Utah Orthopedic Center, 590 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 (801) 587-7109
4. The University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics, 50 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah (801) 581-2121
Summary of complaint:
Being overweight is a large contributing to the status of my health. Being able to be accurately weighed during my health care visits needs to be a key part of my care. I have arthritis in my hips, knees, and feet. My arthritis directly impacts my ability to walk and hike. Being overweight makes my arthritis worse.
On the morning of June 22, 2015 I was turned away from the University of Utah orthopedic center, because I requested that I be allowed to be weighed on a scale in the clinic before I saw the doctor I was scheduled to see.
Scheduled for 7:45am on 6-22-15 with Dr. David Petron.
Details of visit:
Arrived at the clinic at about 7:32am.
Was handed a health survey electronic tablet. Started answering the survey.
A medical assistant young women took me back to an exam room. I asked the woman if I could quickly use the restroom. She agreed.
When I returned from the restroom the survey tablet screen had turned black. I asked the woman why. She said there was no need to deal with that now. Her tone was generally curt and dismissive.
The medical assistant asked about my height and weight. I told her my height and approximate weight. But I also asked her if I could be weight on a scale, so that we all weren't just guessing.
The medical assistant told me that no scale was available "in their hallway."
The medical assistant finished her questions and walked out of the room.
I waited more time for Dr. Petron to come into the room.
While waiting I went to use the restroom a second time. While near the restroom I spent 30 seconds going out (via an external public atrium hallway) and verified that another clinic on the 2nd floor of the orthopedic center had a patient scale available. The staff at the very near clinic answered yes, that they did have a scale.
Within 60 seconds of my departure from the restroom near Dr. Petron's exam rooms I returned to his clinic area. I informed the staff that the other 2nd floor clinic in fact had a scale I could use to be weighed. However the staff at that point refused to take me back to the exam room I had been placed in just a couple of minutes before.
10 to 15 minutes later a manager man came out and told me that Dr. Petron was refusing to see me because I had walked out of the exam room.
I explained to the manager that I walked out to use the restroom, and I quickly checked to see if a scale was available at a nearby clinic just a very short walk down the 2nd floor atrium hallway, because the medical assistants refused to do any such checking themselves.
At no time did I actually see Dr. Petron first hand, and I never had a conversation with him. All my talking before I spoke with a manager was with Dr. Petron's medical assistants.
The manager said that maybe he could get me in to see a foot doctor, but that Dr. Petron would not see me, "because he was busy."
I told the manager that I was the first person on the schedule, and the matter of being too busy to see me was a ridiculous claim.
When the medical assistant staff refused to see if there was a scale I could be weighed on, I then had the gall to do such checking myself, for 30 to 60 seconds, while using the restroom and while waiting for Dr. Petron.
Dr. Petron never made any effort whatsoever to speak with me in person about the matter. He simply allowed his staff to, in the first instance, act rudely. Rudely about the health survey electronic pad turning off. Rudely about my repeated requests to be weighed before I saw Dr. Petron. And he refused to speak with me directly before booting me out the door.
I am overweight. I was morbidly obese in the past. I have arthritis in multiple joints. And my weight and arthritis and the associated high levels of pain all does impact my ability to walk, and to engage in exercise activities such as hiking. It also impacts my ability to care for my two kids.
Today I was booted for simply asking to be weighed, and after spending 30 seconds to verify that a scale was in fact available in a very near part of the building, and after lower-level staff refused to check to see if a scale was available nearby and after they brushed off my weighing request.
Being properly weighed at each visit is a key part of my care.
Strange that Dr. Petron and his staff refuse such requests.
And if a patient has the gall to spend 30 seconds to verify that a scale is available very near in the building and on the same floor (after low level staff refuse & brush off his requests), that's enough for Dr. Petron to boot you out the door.
Unfriendly. Pompous. Rude. Uncaring. This atmosphere pervades the orthopedic center now, apparently.
And a full willingness to actively retaliate against patients who take simple actions to find out if a given simple medical test (eg: being weighed on a scale) is in fact easily available in a very nearby part of a given building.
Yes there are caring providers at the university. But there's also some providers who, at the drop of a very small feather, and on a whim, will turn people away.
A sports medicine doctor who refuses to weigh his patients.
A sports medicine doctor who boots long standing patients quickly out the door if they have the gall to verify that a patient scale is available nearby to use.
Strange.
For a patient with a history of weight issues, and where weight issues are a large contributing factor to his health, that's a very strange stance to take.
Discrimination claim: That the University of Utah Orthopedic Center, and Dr. David J. Petron, actively discriminate against people who are overweight, and whose weight has a high impact on their health. A refusal to follow any reasonably conversational health care process before booting a patient out the door. No conversation with Dr. Petron at all - just with dismissive rude lower level staff who refused my weighing request. And when I spend 30 seconds out in an external public hallway during a very brief restroom visit break period to verify that a scale was in fact available, that's enough for Petron to simply & easily & quickly boot people such as myself right out the door, in spite of my history with the orthopedic center as a past surgical patient, and a general patient of the University including when I was even more obese at a morbid-type level. Also in spite of the fact that my entire family are patients of the University, and in spite of my wife having kids born at the U Hospital.
Doctors with zero patience for their patients really don't deserve to be within the medical profession.
And a State health care institution should be interested in serving the public who pay their salaries, and serving the citizenry generally as a whole.
So this is not just a matter of being turned away by Dr. Petron today, I was also essentially turned away by the State of Utah today, because I asked to be weighed on a scale, and because I had the gall to verify that a scale was easily & readily available on the same floor of a State of Utah facility. I needed to be weighed as a key part of my health care. They were angry that I asked. They were angry that I checked when they in the first instance refused to check. And they happily booted me out the door when I came & told them I could be easily weighed at the office very near to their office all on the 2nd floor of the Orthopedic Center.
At the Orthopedic Center I have had two carpal tunnel surgeries, and I've had knee evaluations done there.
My wife had babies at the U of U Hospital.
My wife and my kids are patients of the University.
When a doctor and his staff act very rudely, and when they turn people such as myself away, not just my health care is impacted. The care of my entire family is impacted.
=============
June 22 addendum - quotes from related social media comments:
Federal & state agencies have been informed. Also the accrediting agency who accredits the University Hospital.
The
days when a doctor and his staff can act in such a rude and
unprofessional and uncaring manner, act in a vacuum that is, have
passed.
And for a State of Utah organization to act in this way really is pitiful. The citizenry of this state deserve better.
Today
I was treated with essentially zero care. The medical assistant who
first met me, her attitude, typified the entire visit. Rude. Curt.
Dismissive. And when I pressed to be weighed, outright anger and threats
of ejection quickly came. Then your Dr. Petron followed through and
booted me out the door - all because I wanted to be weighed. It was too
much for him.
A patient, standing up for his rights - too much for the pompous rude god-complex doctors w/in some of your clinics.
Patients are way at the bottom of the pile at the University. God-complex doctors are at the top. No one listens to the concerns of patients there.
===
Heart disease is probably made worse when patients visit rude doctors, for example Dr. Petron at the Orthopedic Center.
Also
being able to exercise effectively can help with your heart, as can
loosing weight. But there's no scales available for patients to use at
the orthopedic center. If you ask to be weighed by one, even if they
have one, you'll be booted out the door.
Thanks,
University of Utah Health Care. Thanks to the angry MAs at Petron's
office. Thanks to the angry managers who helped carry out the "protocol"
of completely ignoring the requests of patients - a request to be
weighed. Too much for a sports doctor to handle.
When a patient pops their head up at some locations of the University system, a game of whack-a-mole is then engaged.
"You speak up? You question my god-like-status as a doctor? You're out of here!" --- is the general response.
Heart disease awaits.=============
June 23 addendum:
University Hospital staff saw some of the above posts on their main Facebook page. They deleted them all, and they blocked the ability for my regular Facebook account to post on their main Facebook page.
I have just transmitted the following complaint addendum to the University of Utah Office of Equal Opportunity. The following addendum text will also be shared with relevant federal & state authorities.
---
The hospital staff who operate their public-facing public-forum Facebook page saw my complaint notes, deleted all of them, and then blocked my regular Facebook account from being able to post any comments there going forward.
So my regular Facebook account has been completely blocked by Hospital staff from being able to post in a public forum where the Hospital maintains a public presence.
Members of the public may well comment on their treatment at University facilities in that forum.
To block & censor comments from members of the public in that forum really is inappropriate - for a public entity.
The University of Utah is a part of the State of Utah. The U Hospital is not a private hospital and their doctors are not private employees.
Rather than having any dialogue, their general response has been so far to a.) refuse to talk, b.) refuse to have relevant medical managers & doctors call me on the phone [after requests were made to the Hospital customer service dept.], and c.) attempt to censor any and all complaints I may make about the University in public forums - where their staff can click on the delete & block buttons.
State of Utah employees clicking delete on comments from members of the public, comments from patients, comments made in a fully public forum where the University Hospitals & Clinics have chosen to have a public presence.
=============
June 23 addendum:
University Hospital staff saw some of the above posts on their main Facebook page. They deleted them all, and they blocked the ability for my regular Facebook account to post on their main Facebook page.
I have just transmitted the following complaint addendum to the University of Utah Office of Equal Opportunity. The following addendum text will also be shared with relevant federal & state authorities.
---
As a follow up to my 6-22-2015 complaint, further adverse action has been taken against myself and my family by the University.
The
University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics maintains a public Facebook
page. I posted a complaint on that public forum page where the Hospital
has chosen to have a public presence, and to allow public comments. The hospital staff who operate their public-facing public-forum Facebook page saw my complaint notes, deleted all of them, and then blocked my regular Facebook account from being able to post any comments there going forward.
So my regular Facebook account has been completely blocked by Hospital staff from being able to post in a public forum where the Hospital maintains a public presence.
Members of the public may well comment on their treatment at University facilities in that forum.
To block & censor comments from members of the public in that forum really is inappropriate - for a public entity.
The University of Utah is a part of the State of Utah. The U Hospital is not a private hospital and their doctors are not private employees.
Rather than having any dialogue, their general response has been so far to a.) refuse to talk, b.) refuse to have relevant medical managers & doctors call me on the phone [after requests were made to the Hospital customer service dept.], and c.) attempt to censor any and all complaints I may make about the University in public forums - where their staff can click on the delete & block buttons.
State of Utah employees clicking delete on comments from members of the public, comments from patients, comments made in a fully public forum where the University Hospitals & Clinics have chosen to have a public presence.
=============
Copy of 6-24 email sent to the University of Utah Office of Equal Opportunity:
On the main Facebook page for the University Hospital, at
https://www.facebook.com/
, they have a "posts to page" section where any member of the public can post comments.https://www.facebook.com/
I posted:
1. The text of my UOEO [University of Utah Office of Equal Opportunity] complaint.
All of these comments fell within the bounds of a public-forum type exchange. Initially someone responded asking for my contact info so that customer service could contact me. Then a few hours later all of my posts had been deleted, and my ability to post anything whatsoever on that particular page had been blocked by hospital staff (page owners on Facebook can block certain people from being able to post).
Page owners on Facebook can decide to allow posts or not generally, or to allow "posts to page" or not. But when those features are enabled it's generally understood that anyone can post.
A private group or individual blocking people from their Facebook page is one thing. A page which is put out by a State of Utah entity (a government-set-up group more directly covered by the First Amendment & so on) which censors comments and blocks citizens is quite another.
And this is all in addition to what's occurred with my virtual excommunication from the Orthopedic Center in response to being asked to be easily and quickly weighed on a scale, well before Dr. Petron was ready to see me.
The first MA woman who saw me asked my weight. In response I asked to be weighed on a scale. And things went down hill from there. Continual deferments. More irritation and anger on their part. And when, during a quick second restroom break (needed because I take blood pressure medicines) I had the gall to verify that a scale was in fact easily & readily available, that was too much for them. They had plenty of time to weigh me before Petron was ready to go into a room with me. And when I pressed to be weighed when Petron was ready, that made them even more angry. An MA young man stated that they weren't sure if Petron could see me because he was busy. But I was the first person on his schedule that day. And then several minutes later a manager man claimed that Petron didn't want to see me because I "walked out." That wasn't true either really. Again during a very quick second restroom break well before Petron was ready to go into a room with me I simply verified that a scale was in fact easily available at another very close clinic on the second floor. I quickly came back & asked the front end receptionist to let me back and to tell the MAs that I had found a scale I could be weighed on. But I was never brought back in. They let the clock run. Then a male MA came out and I saw Petron in the far distance. The male MA spoke to me ultimatum-style, and said "do you want to see Petron or not?" I responded that I wanted to be weighed on a scale as part of the visit. The male MA walked with me to the other clinic & then disappeared. As he walked he stated that he wasn't sure if Petron could see me. Then 10 to 15 minutes later a manager man came out to deliver the excommunication. The manager man was angry and upset also. He said it was Petron's protocol to not weigh anyone, and that Petron would not see me because I had "walked out." He also said Petron was too busy to see me. I told the manager that I was the first person on Petron's schedule, and so the "too busy" claim was ridiculous. I then left.
Because took the initiative myself to get an accurate weight, so that I could answer the first MAs question accurately, that made them even more angry. And so they retaliated in the ways they did - by expressing anger, by expressing irritation, by deferring my request and making me wait out in the atrium-waiting room for several minutes, and then by claiming that Petron could not see me because he was busy and because "I had walked out." It was all very disingenuous and strange.
They
refused to let me back in after a second restroom break. They refused
to walk with me to the other 2nd floor clinic well before Petron was
ready to see me, so that I could be weighed there. They refused to have
Petron talk with me before a.) making me wait 10 to 15 minutes more, and
before b.) having a manager booting me out.
Separately
I have requested of the Orthopedic Center management that they not will
myself or my insurance company for the 6-22 7:45AM appointment. They
have not responded.
[wife's name] - my wife & patient of the Midwife group, and of Greenwood dental & family care.
[children's names], my children, patients of Greenwood pediatrics and family care, born at the U hospital.
When staff at the U hospital & clinics act in this way, the care of an entire family is impacted.
When other U hospital staff act to censor and shut me up on their public Facebook page, our care is impacted.
I took some initiative during a very quick restroom break well before a doctor was ready to see me that a scale was available. But that initiative was too much for these people.
===
Copy of related 6-24 email sent to the University Hospital customer service department:
Today I found the following note on another U page:
"Censorship is incompatible with the goals of an institution of higher education."
at
https://support.csbs.utah.edu/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=38
It's also incompatible with the operation of a government. The University is a part of the State of Utah, and Utah is a state within the USA, and therefore is subject to the First Amendment. Employees at the U are government employees.
On the main Facebook page for the University Hospital, at
https://www.facebook.com/UofUHealthCare
, you have a "posts to page" section where any member of the public can post comments.
There is still one complaint on there from someone else about a prisoner who died due to scheduling error at the hospital. But my posts put on there this week were all deleted by U staff.
I posted:
1. The text of my UOEO complaint.
2. An addendum comment.
3. A comment in response to a posting of the U Hospital on their main page.
All of these comments fell within the bounds of a public-forum type exchange. Initially someone responded asking for my contact info so that customer service could contact me. Then a few hours later all of my posts had been deleted, and my ability to post anything whatsoever on that particular page had been blocked by hospital staff (page owners on Facebook can block certain people from being able to post).
Page owners on Facebook can decide to allow posts or not generally, or to allow "posts to page" or not. But when those features are enabled it's generally understood that anyone can post.
A private group or individual blocking people from their Facebook page is one thing. A page which is put out by a State of Utah entity (a government-set-up group more directly covered by the First Amendment & so on) which censors comments and blocks citizens is quite another.
Your State of Utah employed staff have actively censored and blocked my speech, in a public forum, a forum where other members of the public are still allowed to comment, including a still-present comment put on there by someone complaining about the death of a prisoner due to a scheduling error. You have attempted to shut me up as a patient.
And this is all in addition to what's occurred with my virtual excommunication from the Orthopedic Center in response to being asked to be easily and quickly weighed on a scale, well before Dr. Petron was ready to see me
[wife's name] - my wife & patient of the Midwife group, and of Greenwood dental & family care.
[children's names], my children, patients of Greenwood pediatrics and family care, born at the U hospital.
When staff at the U hospital & clinics act in this way, the care of an entire family is impacted.
When other U hospital staff act to censor and shut me up on their public Facebook page, our care is impacted.
I simply asked to be weighed in direct response to a question about my weight from an MA. For several years I was morbidly obese, and I'm perhaps up to 50 to 70 pounds overweight now. I have high levels of left foot & knee pain which are directly impacted by my weight. So being asked to be weighed in response to an MA's question, and while visiting a sports medicine doctor, seems like a reasonable request. Weight tracking would be a highly useful activity for such a person I would think.
I took some initiative during a very quick restroom break well before a doctor was ready to see me that a scale was available. But that initiative was too much for these people.
=========== September 22, 2015 addendum: ===========
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jonathan
Date: Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 7:31 AM
Subject: Orthopedic Center complaint follow up
To: david.entwistle@hsc.utah.edu, BRIAN NICHOLLS <Brian.Nicholls@utah.edu>
Cc: david.petron@hsc.utah.edu, Michael S Bown <michael.bown@hsc.utah.edu>
Request for the University Hospital customer service department:
That
the entirety of my complaint regarding the Orthopedic Center be
reviewed by a Hospital review committee. The OEO/AA office as completed
their (faulty & flawed) report. And so I now request a "committee"
review of my complaint, as is my right.
The rest is for you all and for the record:
My response to the attached OEO/AA report.
It's
worth noting that the Orthopedic Center has "mood" evaluation
electronic pads in use which ask question after question regarding mood.
May I suggest that you begin having the staff at the Orthopedic Center
filling out those questionnaires themselves before they begin seeing
patients.
Also acts of free speech on
Facebook, engaging the First Amendment (redress of grievances), cannot
and must not be abridged. Labeling my free speech online regarding the
University as "spam" is an abuse (in an increasing list of University
abuses). Again the University is a GOVERNMENTAL organization, not a
private one. You ARE bound by the First Amendment, and citizens have
every right to tell their government & fellow citizens when they
believe problems are present with the operation of government.
A quick google search on the First Amendment reveals the following sentence: "...The
right to petition government for redress of grievances is the right to
make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government,
without fear of punishment or reprisals..."
WITHOUT FEAR OF REPRISALS!?!?
Is labeling the free speech of a patient and citizen as "spam" a reprisal? Yes of course.
Categorizing
the words of a patient as "spam" is inappropriate and probably illegal
classification of speech by a citizen. It's your jobs to listen, not to
label speech by patients as spam.
Reprisals
and retaliation in response to speech are what the University appears
to be all about these days. A separate example is included below. But
these two examples are not the only ones my family has seen and
experienced first hand.
Mr. Nichols
and Mr. Entwistle, the University is not a private organization, even as
you both either serve as an enabling force for such an assumption, or
as you actively pursue and attempt to enforce that assumption.
A de facto church being in operation at the U and within the U.
A
church type culture and organizational structure and response from a
State governmental entity. Belief maintenance. Heresy Trials.
Excommunications. Patients right on the bottom. Doctors & hygienists
and medical assistants and clinical managers - they are all way far
above whatever a lowly patient may claim or state.
THERE WAS CAUSE for my filing complaints. When no cause is the preferred outcome, then no cause will be found.
Why
are the U hospitals & clinics so very averse to complaints, and why
do patients who press for reasonable courteous honest treatment get so
easily booted like trash?
Give an honest account regarding poor treatment.
Get booted in response.
Get blocked on Facebook.
Get your free speech accounting labeled as spam.
The abuses from the University keep piling up.
The
entirety of the response of the University so far to this matter
represents an abuse. More evidence of the abusive culture is quoted
below.
People at the University are more interested in covering their own rear ends, than in quality patient care.
This is the message I shall be sharing with my friends & family, until such time as I am convinced of the counter argument.
Why
does my family continue going to the University? Because the Utah
government is MY government, in spite of all of your efforts to treat
the University like your own personal private club.
And because there are some good providers at the University, who are good IN SPITE OF the abusive culture there.
Sincerely,
Jonathan
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jonathan
Date: Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 3:38 PM
Subject: University of Utah School of Dentistry and Leslie Berg: direct retaliation and ejection, if you complain about poor treatment.
To: Craig Proctor <craig.proctor@hsc.utah.edu>
Cc: Michael S Bown <Michael.bown@hsc.utah.edu>, david.entwistle@hsc.utah.edu
September 21, 2015 update, regarding the University of Utah School of Dentistry:
On July 20, 2015 my wife & I had back to back visits at the Greenwood Center location for the University of Utah School of Dentistry.
Problems noticed:
Problem 1: For the 7-20-2015 visits or myself and my wife the hygienist involved was not particularly friendly.
Problem 2: For the 7-20-2015 visit for myself, my cleaning was incredibly painful. No anesthesia was offered for me. If in the mind(s) of the relevant staff root planing was being done, at no time was the option of anesthesia offered.
Problem 3: For the 7-20-2015 visit for myself, root planing was billed out for, even though only a regular cleaning was scheduled. At no time prior to or during our visit did anyone warn or tell us a non-regular cleaning was going to be done, or was being done while it was happening.
Problem 4: While I did receive a few conciliatory phone calls from a dental medical director, Dr. Craig Proctor, the regular manager for the clinic, a public employee by the name of Leslie Berg, is very angry that I have complained about her clinic to people within & outside the University (as per a 9-21-2015 conversation I had with her).
On 9-21-2015 I had an extended conversation with Ms. Leslie Berg, a public employee of the University, and manager over the School of Dentistry clinics.
I wanted to speak with Ms. Berg because of insurance and clerical issues for the 7-20-2015 claims (in-network vs out-of-network issues), and so as to help ensure the 7-20 visits for myself and my wife would be covered as "in network" with my insurance.
Ms. Berg's tone and approach was essentially the exact opposite of Dr. Proctor's.
Ms. Berg was angry, angry that I had complained to anyone about problems with the visits.
Ms. Berg wanted myself and my wife, out the clinic door, permanently, in as much as she said to me "I don't know why you want to continue to come to our clinic if you are going to complain about us to the university and to other parties." She made this point several times during our 9-21-2015 chat, and was quite upset that I had complained about the visit to other University entities and to entities outside the University.
From Ms. Leslie Berg of the University of Utah we have a direct attempt at retaliation, retaliation in response to my complaining about what happened during the 7-20 visits for myself and my wife.
Ms. Berg said that I had "demanded" to speak with her on 9-21. I told her that I had requested to speak with her, because clerical type network insurance problems which seemed more in her sphere of influence as opposed to that of Dr. Proctor, and I explained this to her staff. But Ms. Berg choose to characterize my request as a "demand."
Ms. Berg said that she "did not like my approach." This was her first volley in what became an argument with Ms. Berg. In our 9-21 chat she was combative and retaliatory, and her actions directly served to undercut the otherwise good work of Dr. Proctor. Again Dr. Proctor was conciliatory and cordial and kind. Ms. Berg was angry and irritated, and she sought to deflect-at-all-costs any and all complaints about bad-and-poor actions of her staff.
Ms. Berg's preference was to call myself and my wife, as patients of the University, liars, rather than to take ownership of any miscommunication or lack of communication or inappropriate actions on the part of her staff.
Ms. Berg also did not address the issue of anesthesia during the supposed "root planing:" None Was Offered to me.
At the University of Utah, if you complain as a patient, a game of whack-a-mole is engaged.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Dr. Proctor tried to not do this, but Ms. Leslie Berg picked up the virtual mallet today (9-21) as from the referenced game, and began virtually whacking away at my family.
Examples of how the game has played out with the dental clinic (paraphrasing Ms. Berg's direct responses):
Me and my family: "The hygienist was rude to us."
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: No comment, and "we don't like the fact that you complained to other parts of the University and to external entities."
Me and my family: "The hygienist never warned me she would code my visit as 'root planing' even though only a regular cleaning was scheduled."
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: "Our hygienist and the resident doctor involved both claim they gave you proper notice. So it's your word against theirs, period, end of story, and I'm probably going to give more weight to what they claim as opposed to what you and your family are claiming."
My response to the above whack: My claim is that the hygienist was rude and that she never warned me about doing any root planing during a regularly-scheduled cleaning. I was never warned, at all, and no anesthesia was offered for the supposed 'root planing,' as is common when such procedures are engaged.
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: "I am upset that you complained about our clinic to other University departments and to external entities. Wouldn't you be happier going elsewhere?"
My response to the above whack: "Dr. Proctor's response to our complaint was positive. Ms. Berg's response is the exact opposite of Dr. Proctor's in tone & substance."
The reason I felt it necessary to escalate the issue to other parties was because Ms. Berg was completely unreachable via phone prior to my escalations. She never returned my phone calls. No return voicemail. Nothing. And her staff at the clinics never take messages so that she can call patients back in a timely manner.
But I ask myself now what would have happened if she would have called me back? Her tone is so very abusive & negative now, now that I have finally spoken to her - I bet her tone would have been inappropriate from the beginning, had spoken with her earlier.
The whack received from Ms. Berg: You "demanded" to speak with me today even though Dr. Proctor said that only he should be speaking with you moving forward.
My response: "I requested to speak with you because of clerical insurance 'in vs out' of network errors and issues, and it seemed like you would be the best person to speak to about such issues. I did not 'demand' to speak with you. I simply explained the situation to your staff today, and that the problems seemed more relevant to your scope of work.
The whack received from Ms. Berg: "I am going to end this conversation, now." Click.
My response: Leslie Berg has been the manager of the U of U Dental School clinics yesterday, today, and she probably will be the manager moving forward.
With such a manager, one who is fully willing to engage in direct retaliation against patients who make complaints, first and foremost because patients have the gall to complain & raise their voice, is not a person who can be trusted with the medical care of my family.
Dr. Proctor is a good man.
Leslie Berg is undercutting his good work.
After Ms. Berg hung up on me today I phoned a professional dental association and spoke with it's director, to have this man help me as a kind of sounding-board.
Their director shared with me the following concerns regarding the U dental school, as follows (paraphrasing what he shared):
1. The U School of Dentistry is very top-heavy.
2. The U School of Dentistry has experienced a great deal of turn around regarding their upper leadership.
3. The U School of Dentistry, and the U hospital generally, doesn't really care if a patient is unhappy with treatment. Entrenched government employees don't have any incentive to change or act better.
4. The U is a government agency, and entrenched employees like Leslie Berg could apparently care less what patients think or what their experiences are.
5. Miscommunication is a fact of life in dentistry, and patients being properly warned about procedures up-front is also a continuing issue professional dental associations are trying to help with.
6. Maybe the University will let Ms. Berg go if this is how she's going to act and if this is how she's going to treat patients.
----end of paraphrases & impressions from a director of a professional dental association.
Regarding item 6, one can only hope Ms. Berg will be let go soon from University employment.
But there is a great tendency within the University to pounce on patients who complain. To iron-fistedly stand by providers who act badly. To defend the status quo, even if that means patients who complain are booted right out the door - booted without any sort of due process.
Not really appropriate actions for a governmental agency, nor for a "caring" hospital.
Step 1: Patient has a bad experience with a given provider.
Step 2: Patient complains.
Step 3: Patient is retaliated against, retaliation which usually includes quick booting out the door in response.
The University cannot and does not tolerate complaints from patients.
Dr. Proctor is an anomaly within the current abusive culture. A man who did try to be conciliatory. But his own entrenched staff acts to directly undercut his good actions & good intentions.
The University of Utah is not a church, but parts of it still operate like one. Belief maintenance. Heresy trials. Excommunications. These tools are all actively used, today, by University staff.
The First Amendment does apply.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Complaining about the U dental clinic to other U departments, and to relevant external organizations, are all attempts to "petition my government for a redress of grievances."
Ms. Leslie Berg acted directly to attempt to abridge this guaranteed right of my family. The right to complain about poor treatment from governmental officials who operate health clinics.
Retaliation in response to my usage of the First Amendment.
Yes the University is not a church, and it's also bound by the Constitution and so on. Employees like Ms. Berg don't know who their working for, nor are they familiar with how good dental practice is and should be done.
My wife is Chinese, and I wonder if that was the
reason the hygienist was upset during our 7-20 visit? Was that the
reason the hygienist coded the visit for root planing even though no
warning was given for the change? Was that the reason she engaged a very
painful procedure with no anesthesia being offered? Was that the reason
she is now completely misrepresenting what I was told during my visit
regarding what exactly was going to be done?On July 20, 2015 my wife & I had back to back visits at the Greenwood Center location for the University of Utah School of Dentistry.
Problems noticed:
Problem 1: For the 7-20-2015 visits or myself and my wife the hygienist involved was not particularly friendly.
Problem 2: For the 7-20-2015 visit for myself, my cleaning was incredibly painful. No anesthesia was offered for me. If in the mind(s) of the relevant staff root planing was being done, at no time was the option of anesthesia offered.
Problem 3: For the 7-20-2015 visit for myself, root planing was billed out for, even though only a regular cleaning was scheduled. At no time prior to or during our visit did anyone warn or tell us a non-regular cleaning was going to be done, or was being done while it was happening.
Problem 4: While I did receive a few conciliatory phone calls from a dental medical director, Dr. Craig Proctor, the regular manager for the clinic, a public employee by the name of Leslie Berg, is very angry that I have complained about her clinic to people within & outside the University (as per a 9-21-2015 conversation I had with her).
On 9-21-2015 I had an extended conversation with Ms. Leslie Berg, a public employee of the University, and manager over the School of Dentistry clinics.
I wanted to speak with Ms. Berg because of insurance and clerical issues for the 7-20-2015 claims (in-network vs out-of-network issues), and so as to help ensure the 7-20 visits for myself and my wife would be covered as "in network" with my insurance.
Ms. Berg's tone and approach was essentially the exact opposite of Dr. Proctor's.
Ms. Berg was angry, angry that I had complained to anyone about problems with the visits.
Ms. Berg wanted myself and my wife, out the clinic door, permanently, in as much as she said to me "I don't know why you want to continue to come to our clinic if you are going to complain about us to the university and to other parties." She made this point several times during our 9-21-2015 chat, and was quite upset that I had complained about the visit to other University entities and to entities outside the University.
From Ms. Leslie Berg of the University of Utah we have a direct attempt at retaliation, retaliation in response to my complaining about what happened during the 7-20 visits for myself and my wife.
Ms. Berg said that I had "demanded" to speak with her on 9-21. I told her that I had requested to speak with her, because clerical type network insurance problems which seemed more in her sphere of influence as opposed to that of Dr. Proctor, and I explained this to her staff. But Ms. Berg choose to characterize my request as a "demand."
Ms. Berg said that she "did not like my approach." This was her first volley in what became an argument with Ms. Berg. In our 9-21 chat she was combative and retaliatory, and her actions directly served to undercut the otherwise good work of Dr. Proctor. Again Dr. Proctor was conciliatory and cordial and kind. Ms. Berg was angry and irritated, and she sought to deflect-at-all-costs any and all complaints about bad-and-poor actions of her staff.
Ms. Berg's preference was to call myself and my wife, as patients of the University, liars, rather than to take ownership of any miscommunication or lack of communication or inappropriate actions on the part of her staff.
Ms. Berg also did not address the issue of anesthesia during the supposed "root planing:" None Was Offered to me.
At the University of Utah, if you complain as a patient, a game of whack-a-mole is engaged.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Dr. Proctor tried to not do this, but Ms. Leslie Berg picked up the virtual mallet today (9-21) as from the referenced game, and began virtually whacking away at my family.
Examples of how the game has played out with the dental clinic (paraphrasing Ms. Berg's direct responses):
Me and my family: "The hygienist was rude to us."
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: No comment, and "we don't like the fact that you complained to other parts of the University and to external entities."
Me and my family: "The hygienist never warned me she would code my visit as 'root planing' even though only a regular cleaning was scheduled."
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: "Our hygienist and the resident doctor involved both claim they gave you proper notice. So it's your word against theirs, period, end of story, and I'm probably going to give more weight to what they claim as opposed to what you and your family are claiming."
My response to the above whack: My claim is that the hygienist was rude and that she never warned me about doing any root planing during a regularly-scheduled cleaning. I was never warned, at all, and no anesthesia was offered for the supposed 'root planing,' as is common when such procedures are engaged.
The whack received from Ms. Berg in response: "I am upset that you complained about our clinic to other University departments and to external entities. Wouldn't you be happier going elsewhere?"
My response to the above whack: "Dr. Proctor's response to our complaint was positive. Ms. Berg's response is the exact opposite of Dr. Proctor's in tone & substance."
The reason I felt it necessary to escalate the issue to other parties was because Ms. Berg was completely unreachable via phone prior to my escalations. She never returned my phone calls. No return voicemail. Nothing. And her staff at the clinics never take messages so that she can call patients back in a timely manner.
But I ask myself now what would have happened if she would have called me back? Her tone is so very abusive & negative now, now that I have finally spoken to her - I bet her tone would have been inappropriate from the beginning, had spoken with her earlier.
The whack received from Ms. Berg: You "demanded" to speak with me today even though Dr. Proctor said that only he should be speaking with you moving forward.
My response: "I requested to speak with you because of clerical insurance 'in vs out' of network errors and issues, and it seemed like you would be the best person to speak to about such issues. I did not 'demand' to speak with you. I simply explained the situation to your staff today, and that the problems seemed more relevant to your scope of work.
The whack received from Ms. Berg: "I am going to end this conversation, now." Click.
My response: Leslie Berg has been the manager of the U of U Dental School clinics yesterday, today, and she probably will be the manager moving forward.
With such a manager, one who is fully willing to engage in direct retaliation against patients who make complaints, first and foremost because patients have the gall to complain & raise their voice, is not a person who can be trusted with the medical care of my family.
Dr. Proctor is a good man.
Leslie Berg is undercutting his good work.
After Ms. Berg hung up on me today I phoned a professional dental association and spoke with it's director, to have this man help me as a kind of sounding-board.
Their director shared with me the following concerns regarding the U dental school, as follows (paraphrasing what he shared):
1. The U School of Dentistry is very top-heavy.
2. The U School of Dentistry has experienced a great deal of turn around regarding their upper leadership.
3. The U School of Dentistry, and the U hospital generally, doesn't really care if a patient is unhappy with treatment. Entrenched government employees don't have any incentive to change or act better.
4. The U is a government agency, and entrenched employees like Leslie Berg could apparently care less what patients think or what their experiences are.
5. Miscommunication is a fact of life in dentistry, and patients being properly warned about procedures up-front is also a continuing issue professional dental associations are trying to help with.
6. Maybe the University will let Ms. Berg go if this is how she's going to act and if this is how she's going to treat patients.
----end of paraphrases & impressions from a director of a professional dental association.
Regarding item 6, one can only hope Ms. Berg will be let go soon from University employment.
But there is a great tendency within the University to pounce on patients who complain. To iron-fistedly stand by providers who act badly. To defend the status quo, even if that means patients who complain are booted right out the door - booted without any sort of due process.
Not really appropriate actions for a governmental agency, nor for a "caring" hospital.
Step 1: Patient has a bad experience with a given provider.
Step 2: Patient complains.
Step 3: Patient is retaliated against, retaliation which usually includes quick booting out the door in response.
The University cannot and does not tolerate complaints from patients.
Dr. Proctor is an anomaly within the current abusive culture. A man who did try to be conciliatory. But his own entrenched staff acts to directly undercut his good actions & good intentions.
The University of Utah is not a church, but parts of it still operate like one. Belief maintenance. Heresy trials. Excommunications. These tools are all actively used, today, by University staff.
The First Amendment does apply.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Complaining about the U dental clinic to other U departments, and to relevant external organizations, are all attempts to "petition my government for a redress of grievances."
Ms. Leslie Berg acted directly to attempt to abridge this guaranteed right of my family. The right to complain about poor treatment from governmental officials who operate health clinics.
Retaliation in response to my usage of the First Amendment.
Yes the University is not a church, and it's also bound by the Constitution and so on. Employees like Ms. Berg don't know who their working for, nor are they familiar with how good dental practice is and should be done.
Why else would we be treated badly?
Just because U employees & managers really hate complaints from patients?
Sincerely,
Jonathan
On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 3:44 PM, BRIAN NICHOLLS <Brian.Nicholls@utah.edu> wrote:
Thank you for your patience with this process. I have attached an electronic copy of the report sent to you via U.S. Mail. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.Respectfully,BrianBrian Jay Nicholls, J.D.Equal Opportunity ConsultantOffice of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative ActionUniversity of UtahOffice: 801-581-8365Fax: 801-585-5746This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.P Please be environmentally responsible and print this e-mail only if necessary.
