Marshal R. Parsons How Not to Run a Medical Office

October 1, 2009

Marshal R. Parsons, M.D., FACS
Carolina Surgical Clinic of Charlotte, P.A.
2104 Randolph Rd
Charlotte, NC 28207

Dr. Parsons,

Thank you again for your time and attention during your recent telephone call. As I explained to you during our conversation, Nancy has been incredibly rude and condescending. Not once, but on two separate occasions more than two weeks apart.

From your web site:

“Our friendly staff is dedicated to patient satisfaction and personal attention. You will always be greeted with a smile at Carolina Surgical Clinic. Our clinical and administrative staff are knowledgeable and will help make your experience with us smooth and pleasant.

……… and we treat our patients, employees, and colleagues with honesty, respect, and friendship”.

You and the two Matthews staff members I have met personally lived up to your own self-promotion. Perhaps that is why I’m so deeply offended by the manner in which your employee Nancy conducts herself.

Nancy has the attitude that stupidly is a virtue, that her time is more valuable than mine, and that I should just roll over and do what I’m told. That to question or disagree is wrong and that I should be grateful that she even has time to call me.

Perhaps this applies to most of your patients. Perhaps their age or medical condition makes it necessary to endure such abusive conduct. Perhaps this is a trend toward more socialized medicine. A take it or leave it approach.

When she informed me that I had been scheduled for a Tuesday morning operation in Charlotte, she was incensed that I objected, and told me it would be at least four days before she could get back to me if I couldn’t keep the already made appointment.

When I was in your office I explained to your nurse that I had a small window of time which I could have the elective surgery. One week when I could count on family members, my own staff and employees for the period of time that I would need to endure this surgery and recover.

I didn’t ask for a Friday or any day in particular, I did ask that the surgery take place in Matthews. When I was told that I would need to see you again should a period of 30 days pass before the surgery, I did not object. But it was as if I had, as she continued to carry on about the hospital policy. In fact you did the same thing. It’s too bad that such a policy has made you both somewhat defensive in this regard.

In an effort to diffuse the situation I suggested to Nancy that maybe there was some miscommunication between your staff members, a suggestion that Nancy stated was impossible. When I tried to end the conversation she continued to berate me, implying that I was being impractical.

Perhaps she is under some sort of personal duress, if so maybe I should have been more sympathetic, but I’m the one having the elective surgery.

Apparently, asking me if a date and time is good for me, or if someone is able to drive me to and from the hospital, or just a simple kind explanation of the time line, is not in her job description. But I doubt that mastering the art of rude and surly barking of orders is a prerequisite to scheduling elective surgery.

In a world where most patients are rarely granted more than 5 mins of their physician’s time, every member of your staff reflects not only on the practice as a whole but also the perceived medical care that you are personally providing your patients.

Accordingly, I would no more submit myself to the care of a surgeon who without question takes up for such an employee than you would consider doing business with a bank that hires hubris and discourteous tellers, or dining at a restaurant where the waitress slams your food on the table. Regardless of the bank president’s business degree from Wharton or that the chef had attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I’d look elsewhere and you would too.

I’m sure you understand.

Sincerely,