Complaint Review: Dr. Paul Kozak MD - Phoenix AZ

On August 27th 2018 at around 21:00, my father went to The Mayo Clinic Emergency Department at 5777 East Mayo Boulevard in Phoenix, Arizona for an irregular heartbeat, accompanied by my other and myself. Earlier in the day, my father was traumatized by his poor performance on psychoanalytical test given by a neuropsychiatrist and was deeply distraught. My father suffers from memory problems, cognitive dysfunction and short-term memory loss as part of his dementia diagnosis. I believe that his test performance was so poor that it manifested into a physical diagnosis. Following the exam, my father told my mother and I "why did have to get sick at this point in my life?” He additionally stated: "I feel like I am going to die very soon and I am not ready to die…I don’t want to die!” My father is a very fragile hypertensive and needs to take his blood pressure at least three times throughout the day, every day. When my mother was unable to get any reading on multiple home blood pressure monitors, she was unable to determine whether or not my father should receive next dose of his self-tapered blood pressure medication, she asked me to intervene. I made the decision to bring him to Mayo’s Emergency Department, which was the closest to her home.

We worked our way through triage and Were seen by Dr. Paul Kozak MD. Mr. Kozak briefly interviewed my father about his symptoms, and after viewing an ECG monitor, determined that my father had an irregularly irregular heartbeat -- something that we suspected and he confirmed. Mr. Kozak went on to state to my father "Well, you seem to be suffering from what we call 'T.M.B.’ which means 'too many birthdays’” while laughing. Mr Kozak went on to say "hey, you made it 'up to’ 84 years; that’s not bad.” Mr. Kozak then stated "…you know what, it could be worse; you could be in a nursing home.” Unfortunately, what Mr. Kozak didn’t know while he was making his thoughtless attempt at humor, is that my father has a diagnosis of dementia and should expect that he will have an abbreviated quality lifespan, and may very well, and in the near future be looking at a nursing home and or permeant nursing home care. My father was doubly confused that he was in a hospital, being told by a scrub-wearing physician that he had "too many birthdays.”My father understood and repeated back Mr Kozak’s comment to mean that "I have been alive for too long,” and that "it was time for me to die.” We immediately requested to be discharged, but my father’s confusion continued on for some time. My mother and I were witness to these comments and were both appalled. I waited a few moments then went outside to request to speak to Mr. Kozak’s supervisor. I was given a charge nurse who listed to my complaint, but then told me that he had no authority over physicians. I then asked to speak to Mr. Kozak directly. I asked Mr. Kozak to join me in a private room and told Mr. Kozak that I did not appreciate him making light of my father’s medical condition and told Mr. Kozak that my father had addressed his deep concerns about his own mortality, and re-shared his direct quotes. I repeated Mr Kozak’s quotes back to him. Mr Kozak told me that "I always speak to my patients that way” repeatedly stating "I didn’t do anything wrong.” I told him I was surprised that he was making excuses instead of apologizing to my father, and if he didn’t apologize immediately, that I would be filing a complaint in writing. Mr. Kozak then proceeded to remove his name badge from his shirt and raise it up my eye level and said "you go right head and file a complaint…he is my nametag!” I told him that I asked him if he was aware that the medical board might be interested in, his imprudent bedside manner, and he told me "I don’t care, you can go right ahead.” All of the above was done in witness of the nursing shift supervisor.

If you agree that this type of behavior does not Meet Mayo’s ethical standards, I request you accept this document as 100% factual and that it be placed as a formal complaint to Mr Kozak’s personnel file(s). I do not believe that this was an offhanded comment or something which accidently slipped out. I believe that Mr. Kozak believes that it is appropriate bedside manner to tell a patient that they have been alive for too long, as he has coined his own acronym for this sickening phrase.