Dr. Richard J. Kenney, DO - Four Seasons Endoscopy Center - Valley Gastroenterology Associates Horrible, Rude, Insensitive Treatment, Predujicial against people of size ripoff Beaver Falls Pennsylvania

I was contacted on January 31, 2006 at 8:00 AM in regards to rescheduling my appointment for as soon as possible, and I could not make it.

At 2:45 PM I arrived at the Valley Gastroenterology Associates / Four Seasons Endoscopic Center in order to have an Upper GI study done. My Family Doctor, Dr. George Brett, had ordered me to have this procedure done to find out where my anatomy was, now that I am four-years gastric bypass post-operative. I was curious to have this procedure done to see if there was a problem with my gastric bypass operation I had performed in 2002, in Leeds UK, as I never had a very significant weight loss, and have regained what I lost.

Approximately 20 minutes later I was called back into their outpatient prep hub. The nurse was tall, thin and in her late 50s. She weighed me, and immediately I had a feeling of prejudice when she raised her eyebrows and by the tone of her voice when she saw my weight.

I dressed as I was supposed to, in the gown, and she took a medical history of me, confirmed everything that was in my chart, and she inserted my IV. She acted as if my veins were so deep on my hand that she couldn't find them and stuck a very small vein on my hand, which she had to dig around after inserting the needle to find, causing me pain and bruising. Her tone of voice and attitude when I was discussing the reasons I was having this procedure done was as if she didn't want to be treating me. I confirmed all the medications I was on with her, which were, Effexor XR, Geodon, Vistaril, Temazipan, and Ortho-Cyclen. I also confirmed with her that I do suffer from depression and anxiety disorders.

A short time later a red-headed woman who said she was an anesthesiologist came in. She was very pleasant to me, and chatted nicely with me. All this time, the curtain to my room was closed, only being opened when someone was coming or going.

The Anesthesiologist wheeled me in the bed back to the procedure room. Several nurses came and went, including the girl who was to be the technician, who was a mid to late 30s woman with glasses and curly brown hair pulled back, and we chatted about my weight, my gastric bypass, and my health and life in general. At this time one nurse spoke to me and said, You're healthy, you're happy, you're going for a Ph.D., you're married, who cares what you look like? and I agreed.

Dr. Kenney came in the room. He did not introduce himself as the doctor or otherwise let me know who he was. He asked me how much weight I lost and gained with the gastric bypass, and I told him. His first question was to me, You eating? And I said, Well, not really which is the truth. Many times the food I eat feels like it's crawling back up my stomach after I eat it and I throw up, therefore, I'm not eating protein and vegetables which seem to cause it the most, and which I should be eating for health reasons.

His second question to me is, Are you taking nexium? and I said, No, my insurance won't let me have it. He acted as if this was my fault when he snapped at me, Why not? as if I was stupid for not getting my insurance to allow me to have access to nexium. I told him how that I had to try and fail protonix, and prilosec, which I did, and then my insurance company changed, and I had to try and fail protonix and prilosec again. He rolled his eyes when I said this and his body language and attitude suggested to me that he thought I was stupid for not insisting on this medication.

I was then put under heavy sedation for the procedure. When I awoke, the first thing Dr. Kenney said to me, from across the procedure room, in front of the technician nurse and the anesthesiologist, while he was writing in a chart with his back to me, in a loud booming voice was YOUR LIFE IS GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE!

I do not take anesthesia very well, and what he said to me and his tone of voice made me start to cry and wail and panic. I started asking for my husband who was unable to attend. My grandmother was my driver, and she was not present to observe any of this.

I started apologizing and acting as if I had done something wrong or had eaten through my staples or something of that nature as I did not know what he was talking about, and was still under sedation and crying. The redheaded anesthesiologist told me that I was a nice person and I had done nothing wrong, and there was nothing to worry about.

The anesthesiologist wheeled me back into my room and shut the curtain. Then Dr. Kenney came back in. He left the curtain open. He said, again in a loud booming voice, YOU NEED TO EAT LESS! Everything is normal you just NEED TO EAT LESS! There was a man in the room next to me who I observed as I passed by when I was being wheeled back, and several nurses in the nurses' station which was visible from my bed, and everyone was within earshot of him bellowing at me. He then told me that there was a small amount of stretching in my stomach but everything else looked fine. This is actually normal for gastric bypass patients who are 4-5 years post-op according to my original surgeon, Mr. Stephen Pollard.

He said, You need to take Nexium and Reglan before every meal you eat and it will help you eat less!

He turned around to leave and I said, Excuse me, is there any diet I need to be following? and he said, You can see a dietitian up at the hospital! and walked away.

I felt like he treated me as if I was a big fat stupid waste of space instead of as a human being and as a future psychologist. I was humiliated, still crying from the anesthetic, and he didn't even have the courtesy to pull the curtains before dressing me down in such a rude manner that would have been heard even if the curtains were shut.

The tall thin nurse from before came in to speak with me. She removed my IV, and gave me the instructions. She told me that I must have Gastro-reflux disease as the prescription I was given was for Nexium and Reglan. She also told me he took several biopsies from around the suture site of my old gastric bypass.

She, as well, told me that I need to eat less, to which I said, Yes, I know. I rolled my eyes at this, because she knew that I knew to eat less, as she had been within observational earshot at the nurses' station, of Dr. Kenney when he bellowed at me. She gave me a cereal bar and a small thing of apple juice as I had not eaten since 12:00 AM except for clear liquids like jello and broth.

I got up, got dressed and waited for them to bring in my grandma. Eventually another short, younger nurse came in and went looking for the tall thin nurse to finish discharging me but she was nowhere to be found. That nurse is the one who got my grandma and wheeled me out to the car as I kept asking to go home and was still very emotional, and feeling sedated.

When I got home, I looked up information on Reglan as I had not heard of the drug. The first thing I saw, and I quote from http://www.schwarzusa.com/Product_files/PIs/reglan.pdf which is the manufacturer's product information sheet, Mental Depression Has Occurred in Patients with and without prior history of depression. Symptoms have ranged from mild to severe and have included suicidal ideation and suicide. Metoclopramide should be given to patients with a prior history of depression only if the expected benefits outweigh the potential risk.

Then I found out that Reglan has many class-action lawsuits pending about causing Tardis Dyskenesia in patients. If Dr. Kenney had bothered to look through my medical files he would have seen that I am already under treatment for severe depression and am taking an antipsychotic which can cause tardis dyskenesia as it was, and that Reglan is not suitable for me given my prior health history. I am glad I checked before taking this drug as I do not wish to get sick again.

I am embarrassed, humiliated and I will never see Dr. Kenney again. I feel that he treated me appallingly, and he absolutely violated my rights by bellowing at me with the curtains open and speaking so loudly that other patients and nurses could hear. I feel that he mis-prescribed medication to me which could have caused me long-term damage if I had not found out for myself what the effects were. I now have a bruise on my hand and am suffering a very sore throat from the procedure.

I am not doing this for financial gain, it is the principal of the matter a woman of size should be treated no different than any other woman and instead of treating me with sensitivity and dignity, he stripped me of it and made me feel like a fat piece of dirt. For this reason, Dr. Kenney needs to learn that this is not acceptable to treat patients like this.

R
Ambridge, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.