Dr. Samuel Grillot Alpert, MD

Today's office visit was like an assembly line visit, something we should have expected considering the wall-to-wall waiting room filled to capacity with mostly Medicaid and Medicare patients. "Dr." Samuel Alpert's level of contempt for patient health, questions, and concerns is appalling. That he is arrogant while still in-rank as an Associate MD makes it even worse. "Dr." Alpert did not deliver what we came for. My 96-year old mother was there for a definitive diagnosis of whether a skin infection had spread to her eye. Instead, we got a 'can't really tell because we can't get a good look at the back of the eye' from the respectful and otherwise capable resident, who then asked if we wanted to reschedule a two-week follow-up. "Dr." Alpert had popped in to offer nothing at that point. When I stated to the resident that we would not return for another visit, since this visit did not offer a definitive diagnosis. "Dr." Alpert then grabbed a scope and a light, without saying a word,… then proceeded to peer for all of 30-seconds into my mother's eye. With this, he dismissively and disdainfully declared: "I agree with him." He walked out of the room, visibly angry and stated something like: "Have a nice day." It was nasty enough that other patients waiting nearby still had their eyebrows raised as my mother and I left the room. Residents do the heavy lifting, more than in most teaching institutions. This "doctor" was in the office all of maybe two minutes and left us with the worst sense of care there. Residents also build the clientele by steering referrals from the ER, the VA, and elsewhere to this clinic. Hence, the assembly-line like care. I've asked to speak with the department chair, in hopes that "Dr." Alpert's minimalist / assembly line /nasty attitude approach to care can be addressed. To be honest, I don't know that a nasty attitude and utter indifference to patient care and concerns are fixable.

Arrogant and dismissive, perfectly happy to send a teenaged girl suffering from sudden blindness home with no diagnosis and no plan. If the diagnosis is not obvious, he won't spend a second of his precious time trying to figure it out. He owes me for the time I wasted on this office visit. I hope he doesn't have the gall to send me a bill!