Cleveland Clinic Weston Physician Lacks Common Courtesy and Respect for Patients - Priority Access to Physicians Given to Pharmaceutical Reps While Patients Expected to Wait

A patient had a long-standing appointment to see Dr. Camilo A. Leslie of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Department of Endocrinology in Weston, Florida on March 17, 2004 at 10:45 a.m. At 11:15 a.m., thirty (30) minutes after the scheduled appointment time, the patient was still waiting in the reception area with no word from his physician. The patient then, once again, stood in the long line at the registration desk, asked for his co-payment to be returned to him, and left, because the patient believes common courtesy and respect would have dictated that the physician see his patient at the scheduled appointment time or send word to the patient, instead of expecting the patient to wait longer than thirty (30) minutes beyond the scheduled appointment time, with not even one word of explanation, let alone an apology, from the physician or his staff.

This incident was not the first or second time this had happened to the patient at Cleveland Clinic Weston. When the patient wrote to Dr. Leslie asking for an apology, requesting a referral to a more caring physician, and requesting a copy of his medical records, Dr. Leslie ignored the patient’s requests. The patient believes his experience and this type of conduct by physicians is widespread, not atypical, and should no longer be tolerated by patients of physicians and other health care professionals. The public should no longer stand for the utter lack of respect for their valuable time and patronage demonstrated by the repeated conduct of Dr. Leslie.

At the same time the patient was being neglected by Dr. Leslie, the patient observed the staff of Cleveland Clinic welcoming and accommodating numerous pharmaceutical salespeople, some of whom showed up without appointments and were granted immediate access to the physicians and staff, while patients, who are theoretically the ones the physicians and staff are there to serve, were unapologetically and uncompassionately left waiting.