I had the worst medical experience in a long time today.

I write this in the simple hope that I might save someone else from the dehumanizing and somewhat humiliating experience of seeing a doctor who seems to believe he is too good for his patients.

My primary care doctor, who I love, referred me to an ear specialist to get this lingering problem checked out. She gave me two cards and told me that one was better but they were both great. I picked the wrong one.

First, I had to reschedule my appointment. Then, two days later, I got a call from an automated system to remind me of the appointment I had canceled. The robot gave me no option to talk to a person, no way to tell it that I had already canceled.

OK, simple mistake, this sort of thing happens, especially when you over-automate your office.

However, when I called the office I was given a nasty attitude, it seemed that I had only canceled my appointment, not the hearing test they decided I needed. One would think that when canceling, that they would have rescheduled both -- especially since I was never made aware that there was a second part when I made my appointment.

When I finally got to see the doctor, he was an arrogant jerk who seems to think he's so much better than his patients that he does not even need to listen to them explain their problem. Just push them through the process and refer them to unnecessary and expensive tests. I told him twice that I had accidentally put a q-tip in my ear that was covered in tiger balm, which contains menthol and camphor (two ingredients that are really bad to put in your ear). After telling me that it was totally impossible that this was the cause of my problems he sent me off to get a hearing test.

When I returned he once again told me in this condescending tone that my problem had to have existed for a long time but I never noticed it until recently, then he looked at me and said "by the way, what is tiger balm?" The nurse looked at him with a "my god you are a jerk" look and said "it's for muscles, it's like vicks vapor rub only stronger." I reminded him of the dangerous-to-the-ear ingredients and he just put my file down, gave the nurse instructions for what medication I should take an walked away.

The nurse then informed me that he wanted me to take a medication for a week, I asked the nurse for the prescription and she rudely told me that they would call it in "we don't give prescriptions, we call them in, that's how it's done here" she said and then walked away. I then asked the woman who took my payment about it and she treated me as if I was some whiny child.

Well, I got a call a few hours later from someone at the doctor's office. She wanted to know why I left without my prescription. Finally they called it in to my pharmacy.

I then went looking on yelp to see if anyone had put in a review. The only one showing looks like it was written by the doctor's PR agency.

Then I noticed the "show filtered reviews" link. After filling out a form to prove I was not a robot, yelp showed me the real reviews. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Dr Godin is a jack ass.

For your reading pleasure, and for the google searchers out there, here are the reviews that yelp did not disclose to the casual reader:

R D. Manhattan, NY
1.0 star rating
3/27/2011

I had really bad experience with Dr. Godin. I have seen him once, and that's all I can take. As a doctor, I don't think he really cares about his patient. He is arrogant, loud (discussing my medical issues loudly with the door wide open) and often times impatiently stopped me while I was trying to explain my ailment. Anyway, I am very disappointed and don't believe I will see him again.
---
Lynn B. Manhattan, NY
1.0 star rating
3/12/2011

There are many good, honest, caring and compassionate ENT doctors in NYC. I implore you to find another doctor. I had a horrible experience with Dr. Godin and ENT & Allergy Associates.

Dr. Godin and ENT & Allergy Associates are an excellent example of the failure of the health care system in this country.

----