Dr. Franklin D Deguzman, MD

Inappropriate questions that did not pertain to visit

It has been years since I saw him. When I did he spent a lot of my time talking about himself or his other patients' situations. I tried to talk to him about getting disability and he cut me off to say, "There is no disability" followed by, "There is no money for disability." I applied for disability anyway to be declined because of statements he had made. He did not care that I was not able to work. One time I was telling him how I had been struggling when he cut me off to tell me that there were other people a lot worse off than me. There were lots of times I felt like he could not wait to get me out of the his office. There were a number of times that he talked down to me and over me. On the other hand, he was okay at times, but a lot of the time I left the office frustrated or angry. After several years of that I chose to stop seeing him.

I asked about increasing my dose of antidepressant because of my low mood. He said that increasing my dose of antidepressant would decrease my mood. I told him that for me, it doesn’t. He said, well, that’s how it worked at Case (where he went to med school 30 years ago). He did not let me ask questions or finish my answers. For example, he wouldn’t let me finish telling him my medications. He would again interrupt me mid-sentence to ask the next question. During my evaluation, Dr. Deguzman’s accent was difficult to understand so I politely asked him to repeat some of his questions. He said “I have a Filipino accent. You will understand me, I am very easy to understand". After politely asking him to repeat a later question, he said, “These (questions) are very simple, you are making this difficult”, and repeated this sentiment several more times, as I politely asked him to repeat some of the questions. It was an hour long evaluation. I said “I don’t know what I did to upset you, what… did I do to make it difficult and how can I make it easy?” He said he’d been doing this for 30 years and nothing can upset him now. I just need to answer the questions. He did not let me ask questions or finish my answers. For example, he wouldn’t let me finish telling him my medications. He would again interrupt me mid-sentence to ask the next question. He said he retired and practices once a week for fun. I don’t know what he finds fun about the way he interacts with people. There’s a reason he’s the only psychiatrist available in the area. When I was telling him my meds he said I would die if I took those together- the things I’ve been taking together for years. He later recommended I continue them. He switched his stance back and forth on other meds I’m on and when I asked him to clarify or explain, he took it as me arguing or challenging his expertise, or something that otherwise angered him. TeamCare, his practice, performs at a similar level of effectiveness.

As a medical marijuana patient he seems to have strong convictions this is not an appropriate method of treatment. If you are currently a medical marijuana patient I would not recommend him. The psychological evaluation is very intensive and filled withpersonal triggers that are not permitted to be elaborated on. I felt like an insurance billing not a patient. Talks alot about hos qualifications and credentials. questions asked to what a box a patient fits in.

He was a horrible doctor. He over medicated me, and treated me poorly. On one occasion he made me cry. On one occasion told me that he didn't have time to listen to my problems (which were relevant to my condition). After he made me cry my husband started coming into appointments with me. While he said he didn't have time to listen to my problems he did, apparently, have enough time to talk to my husband about Douglas MacArthur for 20 minutes after he found out my husband was a History Major and WWII buff. He terrified me in many ways telling me that if I tell my husband that I was suicidal the police were going to come and arrest me, and that the only way the hospital would take me is if I was in handcuffs. Another time he told me that if my medication stopped working they would not increase it any further, and I would have to get ECT. He put me on anti-depressants, increased the dose too much, and then put me on anxiolytics to counter the anxiety from the antidepressants. I was… taking off everything. I have few complaints about the rest of the Philhaven Staff. They were always polite, and seemed caring. I gave them one star for 'ease of appointment' because through the three different doctors they sent me to only one was within 20 minutes of my house despite them having a local office. Also once I started seeing Dr DeGuzzman they would not let me change phsychiatrist until I told them I would stop coming completely unless they gave me another one. It is also worth noting that if you insurance requires you to use a mail order pharmacy Philhaven will not fax the prescription information to the pharmacy.

Dr Franklin DeGuzman should not be a doctor!I consider him dangerous, offensive, rude and seriously out of line. Never in my life have I been handled by a DOCTOR with such carelessness and foolishness.He would not answer one question I asked him. He told me that I have a right to be insane... when I am not insane, just struggling with depression. I went to him because I needed my medications from my family practitioner to be tweaked or changed because of side-effects, not to be told I can call my self 'Jesus' and have the right to be insane. He actually said, "it is okay to be insane, it's your right." The worst part was that he told me I have two options. 1) Keep taking the medications I am one, not change them. or 2) Get off the medications and suffer from severe depression. He told me to look up the medications for depression on the internet, see which ones I thought were the best and would have the least side effects. then when I (not him, the doctor) found medication that… was appropriate he would write me the prescription. Wow, I never knew I had the RIGHT to self medicate prescriptive drugs!!! Isn't that against the law, surely!This unfortunately, is not the first time he has treated a patient this way. A few weeks later my friend made a comment about this so called Doctor DeGuzman who he had to see and made similar remarks, claiming that he was a dangerous person to anyone who needed psychiatric treatment.Please be warned, it is not worth the risk of going to see this not-so-Doctor. You, as a person, not some animal, deserve better treatment; there are better Psychiatrist out there.Be safe.

Dr Franklin DeGuzman should not be a doctor! I consider him dangerous, offensive, rude and seriously out of line. Never in my life have I been handl ...

I felt a little uncomfortable when I first met Dr. Guzman but that was perhaps because of my own situation. He is truly concerned about his patients and over time I have come to trust him implicitly and to appreciate his brilliance. He is a doctor who grows on you once u get to know him. I like him immensely for his care and concern and I respect his medical advice. He is truly brilliant in his medical analysis, especially pertaining to the drugs he prescribes. I would definitely recommend him. Take time to get to know him as he is willing to do with you! I trust his diagnosis implicitly. Not to mention that he is such an interesting and nice person.