Retina Associates

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
Dear ** ***,
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me on the phone this afternoon and for guiding me through this process. Here is the follow up that we discussed.
It is apparent that DrW*** did not read the complaint that he received from you on my behalfWhether it is in ignorance or with mal-intent, this "response" is anything but an attempt to resolve an issue. He stated that attempts have been made to contact me regarding my complaint of a violation of my privacyHe has notTo make it easier for him to understand the problem, as well as more difficult for him to ignore the content of the complaint, I have outlined the issue below
On May 14, I was seen at retina AssociatesWhen my appointment was finished, I was asked to fill out a surveyI did this
The survey ended by telling me that my name would not be used, though I was still required to fill in the field in order to go to the next screenI checked with the front desk employee who guaranteed that it would be anonymousI filled in the initials O.O(obviously not my real initials as I did not believe her guarantee of anonymity)
The next entry was for my email addressAgain, the receptionist (?) insisted that I could not and would not be identifiedI did not believe that filling in these two pieces of information would be "required fields" if they were not going to be used in some wayAgain, I filled in completely bogus informationI (literally) used [email protected] as my email addressIt was accepted and the survey was complete
I explained to the receptionist that, as a professional, I am often asked to write recommendations for peopleBecause of the decades of experience that I have with this, I know that there is no way that objectivity can be guaranteed if, when writing these, I do not feel fully confident that my identity would remain anonymous to the person I am writing about She claimed to understand this, agreed with me, and repeated that I would not be identified
I did everything possible to be certain that my comments in the survey (both positive and negative) would remain anonymously posted
Within a matter of a couple of hours, I was left a voice message telling me that it was very important for me to return this call to discuss the content of my answers to the survey
I tried for days, leaving messages, and finally spoke with the man who left me the message
I asked him why, in his opinion, someone would fill out the name and email address fields the way that I had, if that person would be agreeable to receiving a call from himHe said that he had to do a lot of "research" to find out who I wasAgain, why would I have filled in a bogus name and address if I was willing to be identified and contacted? His "research" would be better described as an invasion of my privacy and in direct violation of the anonymity that I had been promisedHe actually colluded with the receptionist (whose understanding of my intent was undeniably clear) in order to find information that he was not welcome toIf the rule is that the content of the survey could not be accepted without a discussion with the author of the comments, then throw out the surveyMy comments in it were nothing extraordinary
I hope that DrW*** is able to see the difference between my comments in the SURVEY and the content of my COMPLAINTThis has nothing to do with my office visit or anything that happened with the physicianIt is entirely about the VIOLATION to my PRIVACY that occurredThis violation HAS NOT been addressed in any way or at any time in the two months since I made the complaint with the Revdex.com
Regards, *** ***

July 3, 2014Dear *** ***:Thank you for your letter of June 23, which we received on July 1, concerning complaint ID ***. Retina Associates attempts to follow up on all patient complaints and resolve any outstanding issues. Regretfully, our attempts to do so
were not well received by our customer.Sincerely,David R MD

Review: I was asked to fill out a satisfaction survey after an appt with an ophthalmologist. I commented on the friendliness of the office staff as well as noting that the physician didn't welcome questions from me during the exam. At the end of the (electronic)form, there was a place to enter a name and email address. I left those blank. When I pressed the submit button, I was informed that I had left out the required fields of "name" and "email address." It said that I could use just my first name and last initial and clearly stated that my email address would never be seen. I then had a (quite lengthy) conversation with the receptionist, explaining to her why I would not put any identifying information on the form. I told her that no matter how objective a person feels they are being, if he knows that he could be identified as the writer, there is no way that this does not influence what is being reported. As a professional who writes a lot of reviews and recommendations, I have seen this biased reporting happen many times. The receptionist said that she understood and did not seem surprised when I told her that I would not being using my real name or email address. She was made aware that I wanted complete anonymity and confirmed that I would have it. I used the initials "OO" as my "name" and "[email protected]" as my email address.Two hours later, I received a call (message) from the practice administrator wanting to discuss my concerns. He said to call him. I left 3 messages over the next 3 days. When we spoke, he explained (sounding quite proud of himself) that he had done some research to find me. He called the office, asked the receptionist for the name of the person who had done the survey, etc. until he figured out who I was. This was clearly a breech of trust, and there was certainly no medical imperative that might mitigate that breech. Though this might not have been illegal, it was certainly a violation of my intentions and impugns the integrity of the office as a whole.Desired Settlement: In that this was such an egregious example of the type of self-serving behavior that I abhor, I would really like to see these people have to defend their actions in some public way. I am doing everything possible to rid the world of these behaviors that, in the guise of "customer service" are, in reality, no more than selfish individuals trying to make themselves look good to increase the bottom line. If publication of a grievance is restricted to those desiring a monetary settlement, I do.

Business

Response:

July 3, 2014Dear [redacted]:Thank you for your letter of June 23, which we received on July 1, concerning complaint ID [redacted]. Retina Associates attempts to follow up on all patient complaints and resolve any outstanding issues. Regretfully, our attempts to do so were not well received by our customer.Sincerely,David R MD

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Review: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:

Dear [redacted],