Singers Beware of Dr. Levine's greed BUT READ ON!!!
I am an operatically trained, former professional singer. I now sing in my Church Choir. I had been noticing over the last six months that my extensive time on the phone was costing my vocal chords to become inflamed, leading to mild laryngitis. At the time of my appointment, I had a raspy vocal quality and my voice was cracking well below my passaggio (for non-singers, a point where you change the intention of air placement based on vocal range). I suspected that from years of talking on the phone, I had developed some poor vocal techniques. When I met Dr. Levine for the first time, I informed him that was well experienced with the workings of the vocal chords and related physiology. I said I was there to confirm, there was no sign of damage but most importantly, that I wanted a reference to a speech therapist that would work with me to retrain my speaking voice to support 3-5 hour of phone interactions on a regular basis.
Without affirming he had no contacts for therapy, Dr Levine stuck the scope hose down my nose, looked around for a few a minutes. He then confirmed that there were no signs of nodes, polyps or legions. That was the good news. He then went on to tell me that he did not know of any speech therapists not did he even offer me a prescription to find one on my own, which I have the option of with my PPO policey. I was infuriated. I knew I'd just been had. I knew I would be getting a bill from him, when he knew full well from the onset of the exam, he couldn't prescribe the therapy referral that I knew was required to permanently resolve this chronic re-occurrence. Sure enough, the bill came, $800+ for the Larynoscopy exam, of which my excellent insurance coverage only covered his initial consulting. I was on the hook for $750.
Fortunately, the Medical Assistants at the counter could sense my outrage and disappointment. I wish I had remembered her name, but one of the young ladies was aware of another Summit Doctor known for expertise with singers. Dr. Lowell Gurney, in their Berkeley Heights office. In need of a resolved, I scheduled with Dr. Gurney for the following week. As soon as we opened our discussion, he confirmed my suspicions about chronic inflation and hoarseness from the phone were a combination of holding my head down while talking, incorrect placement and support. He had two speech therapists he could recommend, one was more specifically expert with professional singers the other speech impairments. After talking with the two therapists, I decided on the one that was not as well versed with singers because I never have a problem with my singing placement, its my talking that fatigues and damages my vocal chords..
My hope is I can help direct you to a sincere caring medical professional in Dr. Gurney. Dr. Levine, should you read this, I hope you will listen to the objectives of knowledgeable patients before you consider treating them for something you know you can't follow through on. We're not living on Dr's salaries.
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