I was "summoned" to this doctor's office after a life-threatening car accident by my insurance company for what they call an IME appointment. This establishment which is more reminiscent of dungeon, banks on the fact that by law in New York the insurance company is allowed to dispute the validity of your medical claim after an accident. My insurance company deals exclusively with this office in Staten Island. First of all, even before my appointment I was notified of a date/time that I must go to this office and see a doctor regarding my claim. The only problem is...I was notified 3 days before my appointment and unfortunately I work full time like most normal adults so I subsequently had to reschedule. After dealing with an extremely rude woman on the phone from their office, and was given a very hard time about rescheduling my appointment I was finally given another appointment date...BUT I WAS NEVER TOLD WHAT TIME. The woman disconnected the call before she told me the time of my appointment and when I called back I got an answering machine. I then left a message and my call was NEVER RETURNED. Ridiculous.
Now by law, if I miss my appointment after it is re-scheduled my insurance company has the right to deny my benefits going forward. So after trying to get a hold of the office several times to no avail...I notified my lawyer of the situation. They were able to get a time of the appointment for me and so that day I went there and saw the doctor. The woman behind the counter asked me to fill out a form regarding my accident. Before I got a third of the way down the first page the doctor stated he would see me now. So I went into the exam room with the Doctor and he began asking me the same questions that I was about to answer on the paper I was given. Before even closing the door or letting me sit down he asked me basically the same questions just several different times and almost began interrogating me about this accident...like I was lying or faking my injury. The doctor was rude as well and his comments/questioning regarding my accident and injury were shrewd and disrespectful. I was in a very serious car accident in which I suffered a spinal injury and this doctor is asking me..."did it really hurt that bad..." and "did YOU think you needed to go to the hospital or did you feel okay". The doctors examination was short. He spent way more time asking questions than he actually did examining my injury, and never closed the door to the room while we were talking and waited until I went and closed the door before he started briefly looking at my injury. The doctor was extremely unprofessional and borderline disrespectful. Despite the fact that the outcome of this exam went in my favor and the future visit of doctors was approved and my claim was kept open, I am extremely troubled by the experience I had with this office. This place should be condemned and shut down. This is a scam to deny people their rightful coverage after No Fault accidents. I'm sure that there are people who try to scam the system but for the rest of the people like myself who are seriously injured in a No Fault accident this place can be a nightmare. This experience going to this office opened my eyes to the problems with insurance companies and BS doctors and I am 100% sure I am not the first person they had DECEIVED and LIED TO about their appointment in order get benefits denied. I feel for the people who have to visit this hell-hole. This place needs to be shut down. It is a scam.
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