Dr. Ronald Francis Yatteau, MD

I have nothing good to say about the man. My experience with him dates back to 2008 when he performed an angiogram on me due to the results of a stress test that indicated that I might have arterial blockage. He was rude during my initial visit, incredibly insensitive during the procedure, and , in my eyes, proved himself to be incompetent as even a basic physician after the procedure. During the procedure, I told him I was having pain from the procedure, which is not supposed to happen as an anesthetic is administered to prevent this. The anesthetic used during the procedure is the type that is supposed to alleviate any discomfort during the procedure but leave the patient semi-conscious in case the doctor needs to communicate with the patient. At some point during the procedure he stated that I had a choice of open heart surgery or stents. This was very disconcerting, especially in my semi-conscious state, as he gave no other information. He left me with the impression, not having… options explained to me prior to the procedure, that I was in an emergency situation. Naturally I chose what I perceived to be the least invasive path and chose the stents, which he inserted. He wanted to keep me in a room for observation after the procedure before releasing me, which i thought was a good thing. After some time in the room, I had a bowel movement, and I noticed that the stool was black. I had never experienced that before so I did not realize the implications. I informed him of this, and he said that my hematocrit was probably low, and that we needed to observe it for a while. After an hour or so, my hematocrit was 39 which he deemed sufficient enough to release me. I had another bowel movement the next morning and the stool was still pitch black. I called my primary care physician at the VA who told me to get a sample of the stool and come to his office immediately, which I did. After testing the stool, he told me I had a stomach bleed, and 10 minutes later I was in an ambulance on the way to the emergency room, where a gastroenterologist performed an endoscopy. I t was discovered that I had "severe erosive gastritis , effectively ulcers, on several places on my stomach and duodenum. He immediately took me off Plavix and prescribed Prilosec to aid in healing the gastritis. Three days later, I began having chest pain and other common symptoms of a heart attack. the nitroglycerin that Yatteau gave me to take in this event did no good. I called 911 and was given an electrocardiogram in the emergency room which showed a partial blockage. The cardiologist in attendance recommended another angiogram to find out what was going on. Of course I said fine. When I told him about the pain I experienced during the one performed by Yatteau, his expression told me that shouldn't have been the case and told me that I would definitely not experience any pain this time. During the procedure a blockage was discovered that one of the stents was blocked and an angioplasty was performed to open it back up. The cardiologist prescribed Ticlid, which is a precursor to Plavix, as a blood thinner and apparently not as severe a drug as Plavix and does not cause bleeding. This worked fine for me and I had no further bleeding. A six week follow up at the Gastroenterologist showed that the gastritis was effectively under control. Even though I found Yatteau's behavior prior to and during the procedure offensive and unprofessional, it was the events after the procedure that in my opinion, make him dangerous as a physician. His failure to recognize that I might have a stomach bleed put me in a life threatening situation and displayed his lack of skill as even a basic physician. I would caution those who are considering him as their cardiologist to reconsider.