Dr. Joseph Michael Cocozzella, MD

It's hard to give a completely accurate assessment of Dr. Cocozzella because he was the attending doctor there and I primarily saw residents that he supervised. However, he does oversee what they prescribe and meets with you at the end of your visit and I thought as far as psychiatrists go, he's pretty good. He's probably the most warm, personable and down to earth psychiatrist that I've ever met. He genuinely conveys interest in patients and has always spent a decent amount of time with me. As for how he prescribes, I get the sense that he's very sharp and knows what he's doing . Did I always agree with what he prescribed or go along with the plan? No, however this would have been the case with anyone.

Prescribed me 2 medications that shouldn't be used together, causing a heart condition

My daughter was able to secure an emergency appointment due to her desperate need for relief from the excruciating pain of depression. I had witnessed her rolling in her bed in a fetal position screaming from the pain inside. For anyone who doesn't understand the pain of depression, she describes it as having your insides jackhammered, or having had open heart surgery and being awake afterward on the operating table, realizing they forgot to sew you closed. She begged to be put back on the antidepressant that was effective before another doctor changed it. He refused and told her to just go to therapy. She told him he doesn't understand the pain she had endured up until the appointment and that he was essentially sending her home to die. She begged. My daughter then indicated she would have to seek another provider immediately because she could no longer deal with the pain. He dismissed her nonchalantly and walked her to the door. He proceeded to the elevator for his lunch break,… however after seeing her there, he took the stairs. My doctor called me screaming and crying hysterically, broken that someone could be so depraved, cruel and callous. I stayed on the phone with her. She returned home in a panicked state to take the old antidepressants from which she had just gone through a painful withdrawal. When she opened the drawer, she said "Mama, these knives look so beautiful right now. All of the pain would just go away." I reasoned with her, while running to my car. She seemed to have calmed down a bit. I immediately ran to my car and drove 90 miles to her home, and found her laying in the bathtub with a knife resting on her stomach. My daughter told me word for word "I didn't want to make a mess mom." I almost lost my daughter that day, and a complaint to the Massachusetts Board of Medicine is to follow. All she needed was a dose of Effexor and he dismissed her. She has seen another doctor since on an emergency basis who agrees that what this man did was deplorable.