Complaint Review: Radnor Veterinary Hospital - Wayne Pennsylvania

Dr. Donato:

We will presume you do not have recall of the actual events, as you are a busy doctor.  However, after pondering you rebuttal briefly, we felt it was only best served to advise other owners and caregivers of the factual course of events so they can make an informed decision concerning your practice.  It is our sincere hope this aids in enlightening potential patients’ families and maybe even you respective to our dealings of this past July.

With regard to our first visit, you were the actual examining physician.  It was not Dr. DeLozier (I hope I spelled that right).  Your cursory examination of the medical records indicated Tiki’s white cell count (WBC) had decreased, thereby perhaps signifying necessity of the procedure was not as emergent.  However, you overlooked or misinterpreted the WBC, as it had risen instead of declined, indicating her condition was worsening.  We are extremely grateful for anyone who aided in some form of care and would never be dismissive of those actions.  Although Tiki benefitted from it on occasion, it was our never-ending, tireless ongoing and constant care for her that has also kept Tiki alive.  She is, and never will be, exactly the same but then again, I suppose not many creatures large or small would be able to come out of this illness precisely the same as before it.

In any case, you obviously forgot it was a holiday week and weekend.  We reside down south near the local beaches.  If you have any form of transportation that allows you to travel back and forth in one hour and forty-five minutes, I challenge anyone to do it safely.  It sounds more as if you must have a small airplane.  If you are more familiar with the area around suburban and city-proper Philadelphia and navigating alternate routes, particularly when there are significant delays and/or accidents, kudos to you.

Moreover, your reply or rebuttal has only served to support our initial claims.  Why is any doctor perusing the internet over three and one-half months after our initial interaction?  Furthermore, our relationship had ended, as we were clearly advised by Dr. DeLozier that you did not intend to treat Tiki and we would be better served going elsewhere.  We assumed she was speaking on your behalf, which is how it was conveyed to us.  How that aided the situation or Tiki at that time has defied explanation.  In addition, our allegations of defamatory and derogatory statements regarding us proved to be accurate and true.  More than one other practitioner was advised were "difficult" I think I recall you wrote.  Please allow us to elaborate.  The judgment was not that way initially.  It was only after interaction with you, your staff or some representative of your practice or office, which is when other veterinarians changed their attitude.

We have no idea why you have drawn such conclusions relative to tardiness or lateness to any appointments or what caused you to make them.  For the initial appointment, the visit was delayed as Tiki had been seen at Penn Hospital.  Much time was spent on the road traveling in extreme weather conditions.  When the air conditioner broke in our only operational vehicle, we cancelled the appointment upon the notice we had received.  As such, when we turned on the air conditioner to cool the vehicle before subjecting our fid (or child as we perceive her to be) to excessive heat, I guess you feel we should have just put the carrier in the hot truck anyway.  The lengthy, time-consuming travel was very difficult for all involved, especially Tiki.

Whatever interactions we may have had, or not had, with any other veterinarian is irrelevant to treating Tiki.  Do you expect physicians to talk about your child and/or you as a parent along with said behaviors and communications when they are obtaining medical records?  We can hardly understand how or why the interactions, as they occurred, would have transpired.  We stand by our belief that a discerning, compassionate practitioner would have responded differently given the overall circumstances.

As it relates to a comment you think you overheard pertaining to the loss of a vet, that is not factual either.  It was a separate conversation with a vet, whom after speaking with your practice, garnered such a reprehensible opinion of us they did not wish to be bothered to undertake our case.  This only undermined a bad situation for Tiki surrounding her medical condition and the amount of time between treatments.  Hence, no, she is not the same and neither are we for that matter.  We choose to consider it a life lesson.  Others may wish to forego such a harsh lesson and we would not blame them for doing so.  If you wish to speak of mannerisms for us, Tiki or your staff and associates to improve relations for others or for edification and educational purposes, we actually encourage the dialog.  Otherwise, if it serves no other purpose but to point a finger of blame or allege who is responsible for successes or failures while disparaging certain parties to the benefit of you or your practice, we will take a pass or rain check if you do not mind us doing so.

We are confident that should you decide to reach out to us, our contact information is contained within your files.  Thank you.

I will refrain from using your name, but I hope Tiki is well. I have not personally met you or examined your bird. Dr. DeLozier kindly saw you when you were eight hours late for your appointment with me. We understand that accidents happen, but you were routinely many hours late for your appointments without letting us know. I drive somewhat routinely to your area and it takes me 1 hour and 45 minutes with heavy traffic.

We did everything to accomodate you. It seems this was a pattern with other veterinarians you saw. When they called for our records after you visited them, it is one of the first things they have mentioned to my staff. Also those other veterinarians had commented on how challenging it was to work with you. One time when you were on the phone with my office a woman was heard in the background on your end saying, "Did we lose another veterinarian?" It sounds like others have refused to see you and there is a pattern.

With regards to the procedure that was emergent, it actually was not based on what I saw in the records and from the comment of the referring veterinarian. With that being said, we set it up on a Friday for you even though we don't typically do those procedures then. You were late once again. We had to call you to find out if you were a few minutes away. You were not. You informed us you would be there in a few hours.

There is a lot more to this situation that I will not mention here. We have done everything we could for you and Tiki, including referral options. I hope Tiki is improving. I'd be happy to have a productive conversation with you regarding your concerns.

Kind regards,

Len Donato, VMD, DABVP (avian practice)

Mr. Tim:

I do not normally respond to a rebuttal, but I believe it is in the best interest of this site, as well as other users, along with potential patients to make informed decisions.  Your comments serve no purpose.  In fact, it undermines the credibility of the original writer, which is basically you being uninformed and making this personal.

If you wish to "Google" or search for archived accidents on the Blue Route for that day, please feel free to do so.  I have the facts on my side.  If you wish to take more time, I suppose you and I can open dialog outside of this forum and can provide you with recordation of the four calls that were logged as, "O called 4 times and left no message."  However, why should I bother?

When we could not get to the practice by 9 am on Monday, the doctor, Len Donato, left for the day.  Once we did arrive, the doctor would not do so much as return to the office, per the office staff, to examine the patient for stress and debilitating effects of the trip.  Nonetheless, we were punished for being late and not being able to make an appointment on Wednesday, two days later, due to a decline in the patient’s health because of extensive stress and yet another long trip.  Please remember, we had already been there once for the doctor to establish or gain our trust and set up the procedure.

Radnor was sought out due to having a board-certified doctor on staff, Len Donato.  The events are as they are stated.  The doctor was performing "surgery," his words not mine, on Friday when our initial appointment was scheduled.  We were led to believe compassion, assistance and empathy would be provided as demonstrated when we made the appointment and part of obtaining future business during our initial encounter.  Therefore, when a 180-degree attitude shift was exhibited by everyone involved, except one other doctor, we were shocked and dismayed.  Moreover, it was the patient who suffered the most, which is unacceptable in my book.

Here is the issue, which I hope elucidates my point.  This is an extensively long trip, which was not only exhaustive for everyone involved but proved utterly useless and wasted everyone’s time.  Blood could not be drawn on Monday; thus, lab work could not be performed.  The patient could not be cared for long term with oxygen therapy, and so forth, due to a lack of proper equipment and staff, which we were not advised of such until Monday.  As such, we were no further ahead while time advanced or marched onward.  You can never get back lost time, particularly if one's health continues to decline.

In addition, perhaps you may wish to ask Jim Higgins of Radnor Township how retaliatory this practice can become.  Once again, why are you taking sides?  Why should you care about this unless something similar happened to you?  This site, “Ripoff Report,” is dedicated to provide constructive, useful or other general information whereby you believe you are a victim of some vindictive, irresponsible or unconscionable action, inaction or service.  Hence, you feel ripped off.

As I said, I have requested neither you seek out this practice or not visit it nor have I advised you that services could be substandard as a customary routine.  In fact, I stated that it is your own decision and to do whatever you wished or chose to do in your own best interest.  I merely hope the information provided is helpful in case you begin to feel uncomfortable or question certain actions.  That is all there is to it.  I have detailed the events that transpired directly related to my family and me.  This is not illegal nor an effort to influence or change anyone's opinions.

Do what you like, but please do not call my character into question or impugn events that happened to me, which is what you have done with your commentary.  You diminish yourself, my family and this site by doing so.  By the way, this is not a personal attack against you either.  These are truthful accounts based upon occurrences and my position of events that I have to live with, which already cause me duress every single day to this very day.  So again, please keep personal opinion out of this type of forum and perhaps utilize it on "Yelp," "Wikipedia," etc.

I think there may be another side to the story.  I'd like to hear from the Vet Clinic.