My husband was scheduled to have cataract surgery today, July 27. He completed all of the required pre-op testing, started his prescribed eye drops two days before surgery, took the day off work, and I rearranged my work schedule so I could drive him to and from the procedure. The problem is that no one ever called him with his arrival time. When he called the office to find out when he needed to be there, he was simply told that his surgery had been canceled. No one had contacted him beforehand, no explanation was provided, and there wasn't even an apology for the inconvenience. After all of the preparation, time off work, and schedule changes, we were told the next available surgery date was weeks later. We understand that unexpected situations can happen, but failing to notify a patient that their surgery has been canceled—and showing no concern for the time, effort, and inconvenience caused—is completely unacceptable. This experience was incredibly frustrating and unprofessional. We expected much better communication and consideration for patients. EDITED TO ADD UPDATE: Three business days after my husband's scheduled surgery date, the surgical coordinator finally called to apologize and asked him what had happened. His response was simple: "I was hoping you could tell me what happened, because I did everything I was instructed to do." He then explained the entire situation. She apologized several more times and attributed the issue to office turnover and training problems. She also claimed their records showed he had originally been scheduled for July 20, canceled because he was sick, and was then rescheduled for July 27. That is simply not true. My husband has the paperwork showing his surgery was scheduled for July 27 all along. We both cleared our work schedules for that date. He completed all of his required testing, started his prescribed eye drops, and followed every instruction he was given. She offered him a surgery date for that Friday, but he explained that both of our jobs require advance planning and that we couldn't just rearrange everything again on a few days' notice. He also told her he no longer trusted the office after this experience and had already made an appointment with another clinic. To her credit, she said she understood and even remarked that she would probably make the same decision if it had happened to her. When she asked if there was anything she could do, he requested that his records be faxed to the new placw so his care wouldn't be delayed. She agreed. Then, before ending the call, she asked him to have me remove my review. That request didn't sit well with me. While I appreciate that she finally called and apologized, the call came three business days after his canceled surgery. It left me with the impression that the review was a bigger priority than the patient experience. As I told her, I will update my review to include her apology and our conversation, but I will not remove it. The events described in my original review are accurate, and prospective patients deserve to know what happened.
