Changing my hematologist

When I told my primary care physician that my boyfriend and I wanted to get pregnant, she referred me to several OBGYNs and hematologists. All the hematologists she referred were part of the same practice; when I called to make an appointment, I was told to have my medical records sent over and that after the doctors had reviewed them, the office would call me to make an appointment. I got in a short time later with the one doctor at the practice who wasn’t on my doctor’s referral list but I didn’t think too much of it at the time. I inherently trust doctors and I was just happy to be on my way. When it came to the actual appointment, I did not like when he got a bit judge-y on me and my unease with his comment has grown the more I have thought about it. Still, I was willing to stick with him.

Yesterday, I called my primary doctor to find out if she still wanted me to come in for monitoring (before I was put on Lovenox, my Coumadin dosage had been off and I was set to come in for a blood test to recheck in two weeks at a lower dosage). When she called me back, the following conversation happened:

Doctor: So you saw a hematologist and they put you on Lovenox? Who did you see?
Me: Dr. XXX.
Doctor: Oooooooh.. *pause* What did you think of him?
Me: He was alright. He made a comment about him thinking I should get married out of fairness to the child which I thought was weird.
Doctor: Yes, he has a … personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That’s probably why you got into that office so quickly. Don’t tell him that I told you but he’s had some citations.

She then asked me what dosage of Lovenox he put me on and was surprised to hear that he only put me on 40mg a day. Apparently, that is just a therapeutic dose and for someone like me, who has suffered from pulmonary embolisms, the dose is typically higher (40mg shot twice a day). She didn’t come right out and say that she thought I should switch doctors but I got the feeling that she wouldn’t blame me at all if I did.

At that point, I was already leaning toward calling the practice and asking to be switched to a different guy; I got curious about his citations and decided to investigate a little bit. I discovered that he had his medical license in North Carolina revoked but I couldn’t find out the reason behind it. I also found out that in 2004, he was cited for this:

Dr. XXX, Sherman Oaks: Engaged in sexual misconduct with a patient and prescribed controlled substances without performing a good faith examination. Revocation of license stayed, one year’s probation. Effective Nov. 6.

AW HELL NO. HELLLLL NO.

Sexual misconduct! Yeah. Switching. Pronto.