Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Horrible Treatment at UW Health Pain Management Clinic!

Yesterday, we left at approximately 8 a.m. for a much-anticipated appointment with the University of Wisconsin Pain Management Clinic.  Unfortunately, we were, shall we say, less than pleased!  

Below is the letter I just sent to the UW Health Patient Relations Department:


RE:          Leslie Liegel, PA, Complaint

Dear Sir or Madam:

On August 20, 2019, my husband and I had my husband’s first appointment with the UW Health Pain Clinic.  Unfortunately, that appointment was with Leslie Liegel, PA.  We live in Athens, Wisconsin, a drive which took us approximately 2-1/2 hours.  We left our home at approximately 8 a.m. for our 11 a.m. appointment.  Unfortunately, traffic was not on our side, and we were 13 minutes late to our appointment.  The receptionist explained that there was a 15 minute window, but that we were within that window, at 13 minutes.  While speaking with the receptionist and completing the last-minute registration information, Mr. Liegel informed the receptionist that he would not see my husband and that we would have to reschedule the appointment.  Needless to say, my husband and I were flabbergasted.  We pleaded with the receptionist, who again asked Mr. Liegel, who again declined to see us, even though we had traveled 173 miles to this appointment and I had taken the day off of work.  As we were pleading again with the receptionist, the office manager happened to come out.  The situation was explained to her and I’m assuming she discussed the matter with Mr. Liegel and came back out to advise that we would be able to see him after all.  We were able to complete the registration information and were escorted to a patient room. 

We spent approximately ten minutes finishing additional information with another woman (possibly a nurse?), and then Mr. Liegel entered the exam room.  Upon his entering the room, he introduced himself to my husband and completely ignored me.  He reviewed my husband’s information on the computer and asked a couple of questions.  He then did a brief examination on my husband and asked him to walk towards the door and walk back and then to attempt to walk on his toes.  After that, Mr. Liegel indicated that my husband may be a candidate for infusions and that our time was up.  I asked him what the infusions were and what was the difference between infusions and a pain pump and why was he not a candidate for the pain pump.  He briefly explained the lidocaine infusions and when I asked for additional information, he rummaged through the desk, but was unable to find any information relating to them.  He then wrote the words “lidocaine infusion” on a business card and told us to “Google it.” 

At that point, I asked Mr. Liegel how my husband’s pain medication would be handled, because he has a doctor with Advanced Pain Management that prescribes his Hydrocodone.  Mr. Liegel informed us that UW Health Pain Management does not write prescriptions for pain medicine and that we would have to continue seeing my husband’s doctor at Advanced Pain Management.  He then stated that we should make an appointment in three weeks to go over the infusions and schedule any tests that may be needed and left the exam room.  We arrived at UW Health at 11:13 a.m. and left the exam room with Mr. Liegel at approximately 11:50.  A total of approximately 37 minutes was spent at the Clinic, after driving more than two and a half hours. 

To say we were disappointed with Mr. Liegel would be quite an understatement.  Mr. Liegel has absolutely no compassion and did not care that we were stuck in traffic or that we had driven 173 miles just to see him. 

My husband is in an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis.  He has a very complicated health history, having had cancer 3 times, a bone marrow transplant, congestive heart failure, a pacemaker defibrillator, bulging disks, a history of shingles and neuropathy in both his hands and feet, among other issues.  We came to UW Health, in part, based on the information on your website.  We expected, after having had to wait approximately one month for an appointment so that all of his records could be gathered, that his records would have been reviewed by your “team” of doctors and that we would be meeting with more than just a physician assistant.  We assumed our appointment would last a couple of  hours and that we would be meeting with these additional specialists on the “team” and a plan of action would be put in place.  We did not expect that we were only allotted 40 minutes with an egotistical PA who appeared to have not even bothered to look at my husband’s records prior to his appointment.  Instead, we were met with a physician assistant who at first refused to see us, and when he did see us, was nothing less than arrogant and condescending.  Additionally, I have since discovered that the doctors at UW Health Pain Clinic do indeed prescribe pain medications, so Mr. Liegel outright lied to us.  

The lack of compassion expressed by Mr. Liegel for someone in constant pain (as stated on his form, my husband’s pain is generally an 8 out of 10) was infuriating, and quite frankly, disgusting.  Instead of even attempting to obtain information relating to the lidocaine infusions, Mr. Liegel told us to look up the information ourselves by “Googling it.”   As the internet is full of inaccurate information, and we specifically wanted information on UW Health’s lidocaine infusion program, advising us to “Google it” was completely unacceptable. 

Neither my husband, nor I, understood the need to come back in three weeks to further “discuss” the lidocaine infusions and to schedule whatever testing may be necessary prior to any potential infusions.  We have no intentions of driving almost 350 miles for yet another less than 30 minute appointment with a physician assistant with a sneering attitude and complete and utter lack of compassion, only to have to schedule more appointments to have tests completed at a future time.  Additionally, I absolutely refuse to see any professional who outright lied to me and my husband.  That one lie has proven Mr. Liegel to be completely untrustworthy, unreliable and absolutely unprofessional.  I do not trust Mr. Liegel to tell us the truth about anything after lying about prescribing pain medication.

We currently have an appointment scheduled for September 9, 2019 with Mr. Liegel.  I will be canceling that appointment, as we will never waste our time with Mr. Liegel again.  I refuse to be treated in such a horrible, condescending manner.  I refuse to be lied to by a medical professional and I refuse to have my husband treated by someone with absolutely no compassion.  Mr. Liegel is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the medical profession and I will be filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services with regard to Mr. Liegel’s unethical behavior. 

Sincerely,

Gregory P. Miklaszewicz
Julie A. Miklaszewicz



GPM:bms