Dr. William Arthur Scheftner, MD

I inherited Dr. Scheftner after my previous long-time Doctor retired. I found him to be interesting but not so interested in listening to me. I only had that one appointment initially because every other time I called to schedule a regular follow-up appointment, there was an administrative hold on his calendar and the receptionist would tell me to call back “in a few weeks.” My previous doctor had given me an almost year-long prescription, and Dr. Scheftner had told me I actually didn’t need to come to the office if I just needed prescription refills. I figured since I had the prescription and the several times I had called, there was an administrative hold on his calendar and the receptionist would suggest I called back in a few weeks, there was no need to insist on an appointment. Then, one of my prescriptions was about to run out, so I called his office and asked if they could let him know I needed authorization from my pharmacy for a refill. The receptionist said she’d pass… along the message. A few days later, my prescription ran out and my pharmacy called Dr. Scheftner’s office and faxed a refill authorization form. No response. For the next eight days -eight days- I would call his office, only to be told by the receptionist (I believe there are two) that Dr. Scheftner had been given the message and I would have to wait until I heard back. Nothing. My pharmacy resent the refill authorization form to his office. No response. I would call every day, checking to see if Dr. Scheftner had received (acknowledged?) the refill authorization form. I was stunned by how cavalier the receptionists were when I called. I take a combination of two meds, so while I could feel the depression creeping back, I wasn’t completely falling apart. By the seventh day, and my seventh call, I tried to calmly explain to the receptionist that I had been without my medication for a week and, frankly, I wasn’t sure what else to do. I was told that Dr. Scheftner had been given my messages and that there were two refill authorization forms sent by my pharmacy sitting in his mailbox. By day 8, I called, nearly in tears, and the one receptionist put me on hold while she got the other receptionist, who picked up the phone and said, “Look. Dr. Scheftner is not in the office today, so you’ll need to wait until he’s in the office tomorrow for us to give him another message.” I happened to be with my sister, who overheard the call and after I hung up, she called back, got voicemail and left a message asking someone to call me back by 5pm and to reach out directly to Dr. Scheftner to let him know that one of his patients had been off of medication for eight days while trying unsuccessfully to receive a prescription refill authorization from him. She said that if I didn’t receive a response, I would contact the Department Chair Mark Pollack to file a formal complaint. Though I received no call back from Dr. Scheftner’s office, I received a text message from my pharmacy alerting me to the fact that they had received a refill authorization from Dr. Scheftner’s office. I’m fortunate to have a strong support system but that week was torture and I’ve never felt so diminished. I wonder what someone without that family support would have done. The level of mistreatment I experienced reaches the level of medical abandonment, even malpractice. Protect yourself and choose another doctor.

I believe Dr. Scheftner is suffering from executive functioning disorder, perhaps due to his age (mid to late 70's). He was constantly behind in keeping his charts up to date, to the point where Rush refused to book appointments for existing patients with him until he caught up on his administrative responsibilities. Of course, it was the patient who was disadvantaged by Rush's policy. In addition, Dr. Scheftner was shockingly poor at responding to patient phone calls. I agree with one of the other reviewers who stated that his lack of responsiveness amounted to "medical abandonment." His administrative staff was equally poor. Instead of giving me the true reason for refusing to book an appointment with him (see above), they lied on a regular basis, proffering such preposterous excuses as "you can't book an appointment because the schedule is not out yet" and "Dr. Scheftner is on leave.

Dr S diagnosed our son with Bipolar 1 Illness. After many appointments he had our daughter-in-law attend appointments with our son. He quickly began to dismiss what our son was relaying and began to empathize with our daughter-in-law to the extent of revealing info to our son’s Father-in-law without our son’s knowledge. The DR believed the in-laws! We were paying for these appointments! Does he know about patient confidentiality? On our son’s final appointment we were present. As “wife” spewed her venom, Dr Scheftner shook his head - towards me and said she was being truthful. I was dumbfounded. Speechless. This Dr is a sham . . . All about the almighty $$$$$. Currently he is an OLD MAN. . . Still bringing in the almighty dollar at the expense of patients who think he is working on their behalf. If anyone is reading this, I would advise you to find a qualified psychiatrist as soon as possible. This man is a disgrace to the profession.

My son has received treatment for schizophrenia, and Dr. Scheftner has been wonderful. Dr Scheftner is a kind and compassionate individual who takes the time to understand the patient's needs. Yes, you have to wait because he is so conscious of taking care of whomever he is treating that he may lose track of the time, but so what? My child has needs and Dr. Scheftner help him create a life for himself. Another person I know criticized Dr. Scheftner, but after listening to this individual, who had a sick daughter being treated by Dr. Scheftner, I felt this individual was focusing on the wrong outcome. His daughter ended up being institutionalize because he then went looking for another Dr. I honestly felt this man was trying to control Dr. Scheftner; very poor judgement on his part. Dr. Scheftner has his undergrad in mathematics from MIT, before he went to medical school. Need I say more? He is a brilliant man who luckily for my son's sake, treats the mentally ill, and I thank him… from the bottom of my heart for his chosen profession.

Kind, effective and a great diagnostic MD

Very poor communication; inconsistent in responses during visits and how he follows up with patient, pharmacists and primary physicians following visits. Ignores requests for clarification and leaves patient hanging, bordering on 'abandonment'.

This guy is arrogant, icy, lacks empathy and sympathy and is somewhat of an egomaniac. He pretends to a phony level of precision he does not have.He is stubborn and secretive. He does not learn from his mistakes. He is a cynic as to human nature and a pessimist. He is vulgar in language. You have bad luck if you have to be treated by him.