Tri-State Rheumatology

Caitlin Ruse

I transferred to Afzal’s care when I switched insurance and unfortunately he was the only rheumatologist regionally, otherwise it was Spokane. The first red flag was his office staff. I sent my medical records via fax, received the signed acceptance of these, yet they denied receiving them for months. After arguing with them, I received a call saying they had left the records out on the counter and had forgotten about them. That was concerning, especially given HIPAA laws. When I was finally able to see the doctor, he apparently decided my condition wasn’t inflammatory despite the diagnosis from my prior rheumatologists (prior insurance) and the lab testing done which clearly indicated inflammation. My prior rheumatologist told me methotrexate was the next step but he refused to prescribe this. He first said let’s try something else (that I had already tried), then said not yet perhaps in a few months, and then said not during a pandemic. I gave up on his care because I felt that he either isn’t competent or he simply refuses to work with others seeing as he disregarded the diagnosis and treatment plan of my prior rheumatologist that I wanted to continue and simply add this one medication and he completely ignored my wishes and dismissed me. He wanted to repeat an MRI despite me having one just a few months earlier to “see if anything changed” when I requested methotrexate. Then when I declined this because I felt it was inappropriate, he decided he wouldn’t consider the medication until I was seen by an orthopedic surgeon because there was ACL involvement, which I and this doctor said was inappropriate as it was so minor and brought on by continued inflammation. I finally transferred care to another doctor out of state and was placed on methotrexate immediately. It’s ridiculous that this man delayed treatment for so long and kept making excuses instead of providing competent care. I’m doing much better on the new treatment. Medical professionals are supposed to advocate for patients and this doctor delayed appropriate, effective treatment. I say the staff is incompetent because of constant mistakes (like leaving my records out for anyone to see) and waiting months to bill me, while consistently messing up and not billing insurance. The staff that I interacted with were rude and appeared incompetent. I would strongly urge anyone needing care to seek it elsewhere.

Bret Carpenter

Dr. Afzal is great. He has taken great care of us. He makes us feel welcome and no questions goe un answered. He always takes the time to make sure we understand everything and welcomes our input on any new situation we run into. Thank you for being so good at your job!