Dr. James B Elmer

This doctor is rude ,arogant and insulting. He felt my stomach and said my liver was enlarged. He accused me of being an alcoholic. Kind of impossible since I don't drink. I was seen by my primary the next week and of course my liver was not enlarged. Clearly he doesn't know his body parts. During the office visit he did his dictation while I was sitting in his office, like my time isn't valuable.

Dr. Elmer was 'assigned' to me when I went into the hospital with DVTs. I spent 5 days in hospital on heparin while I could get up to the clinical dose of Coumadin. While I was there, not one test was done to determine _why_ I had developed clots. The only concern, as an uninsured patient, was to kick me to the curb as soon as possible. On my last day there, I told him that I was forming a new clot in my thigh. He said I couldn't possibly be forming a new clot, since I had been on heparin and coumadin! So, I was discharged and spent the next 16 days with my situation deteriorating (I was camping in the living room so that I didn't have to climb stairs). On that last day, when I went in for my coumadin check, the tech called Dr. Elmer's office and a stat ultrasound was ordered before my afternoon appointment with him. Amazingly, I had a clot from my knee to my groin, just as I had told him. After my initial test, however, the tech came back in and said, "we'd like to do an… ultrasound of your abdomen". These curious people apparently wanted to know just how far up the clot went. She found 'masses'. When I then went in for my appointment with Dr. Elmer, I was told that I have cancer. I went from his office, to the oncologist's office to the hospital where I had to be removed from coumadin so that I could have surgery. I can't help but believe that if Dr. Elmer had been curious enough to ask what was causing my clots, rather than simply treating them, my cancer could have been found three weeks earlier I could have surgery before I was placed on Coumadin at all! The unfortunate result of this oversight was that I developed permanent damage in my veins: the veins are now over-stretched so that my valves don't close. I can no longer run or seriously ride my bike because of the vein damage. When I suggested this to him, his reply was that, essentially, he took me on as a patient when I was in need that that I was ungrateful. Apparently, I was supposed to be grateful for what I considered his poor care. I was greatly relieved when I heard that he had retired, because I felt that he could no longer hurt patients like me. However, when I found his name on this web site, I felt moved to share my story in the hopes that, unlike me, no one else would choose to have him as their doctor in time of need.

Having been a patient of a variety of physicians I can say that Dr. Elmer is fulfilling his job, has the education to be trustworthy in his knowledge, but like many Doctors is rushed between patients. So, there is little time for a solid interaction in what feels like he actually is fully paying attention. He has several times made statements on my health that at later dates seems oblivious of doing and even contradictory. What I am told at one appointment does not seem to carry over to the next, leaving me in a state of not able to trust whether he has even taken a few moments to review his charts to refresh his memory on his patients health and his choices in treatment. At recent appointments even questioning whether his own diagnosis was made as to why he prescribed the medication given and whether I actual need it. There also seems to be a problem with prescriptions as to giving one at appointments that overlaps ones previously given and then there is a confusion on why I… still have medication and did not run out, because they forgot I had two prescriptions and did not use the second until the first ran out, so it gives the idea that I am not taking my medication in a timely fashion. That lack of seeing the overlapping costs me as a patient with an assumption I may not need my meds then. In some incidences I have been sent to other doctors for various reasons and even complying with his requests I have found it difficult to have them see that I am complying, I am not using my medication other than prescribed. I have also noticed as my Insurances have changed that he has a tendency to be either more attentive or less according to them. One type of insurance rates me more attention and what appears to be a friendly interaction, another less and almost a feeling that he has little or no time for me as a patient. Being on SSI now has changed his attitude toward me, where once he spoke to me with more respect, he now is curt and treats me differently. But here this is typical in the medical community, those on lower incomes suffer the the personal opinions of their doctors and suffer a lower quality of health treatment. He is not a doctor I would suggest to someone who was seeking a doctor in his field. I stay because the choice of acquiring another doctor in the same field would be too costly to have to go through the process again.