Jefferson Healthcare | Watership Primary Care

S Edwards

Don't come to this clinic if you value your health!!! This has been our clinic for 22 years and care here now is awful. My daughter has well documented long standing progressive bone & joint problems at this clinic and even went to children's hospital years ago. Recently she was bedridden in extreme pain for two weeks and I left home to stay with & care for her & help around the house. Then for weeks afterward she could barely walk or use the stairs or shower, and could not even bend enough to sit let alone put on socks or shoes, pick up anything off the floor, & definitely unable to safely drive.(Read - no cleaning, no bathing, no laundry, no cooking, no grocery shopping, no driving, no working, etc) We waited two weeks to be seen by Dr Manik who not only refused to give her a referral to a back specialist, but also refused an MRI because "The treatment would be the same regardless of what the MRI showed" then deliberately misdiagnosed her as having "non-radiating back pain" after she told him several times the pain radiated down her legs and she has tingling in the top of her foot!! Even the physical therapist was dismayed and told me to contact the hospital patient advocate (because this clinic is part of the hospital now & told me the Dr was using 2 months of physical therapy as an "ultimatum" to receive an mri.). Fun Fact - Herniated disks cause radiating pain and can cause permanent nerve damage in less than one week & this Dr intends to make my daughter wait at least FIVE MONTHS for an MRI. He is deliberately risking my daughters health because he has an erroneous personal opinion that MRIs are irrelevant because (according to him) the treatment is always the same. Dr Manik's physical exam consisted of touching her back through layers of clothing for under a minute. My daughter had to ask him to touch her back a second time so she could show him where it hurt (because he never asked!). Seriously - if you are going to block someone from seeing a specialist and attempt to treat them yourself, at least give them a thorough exam!! He didn't do the most basic range of motion tests of bending to touch her toes, or moving her legs to test her back & didn't even ask her to rate her pain (9btw. & my daughter has a high pain tolerance!) As a result my daughter left feeling unheard, invalidated, minimized and near tears, since according to Dr Manik she has to live her life bedridden in extreme pain every few weeks because he flippantly told her that "Back pain is the nature of living" so she should just get used to it. Btw, I disagree 100% - back aches maybe - but NOT back PAIN. Anyone with chronic back PAIN understands the difference. Dr Manik went on to tell her she should PERMANENTLY stop planting flowers, doing laundry, and cleaning house because that kind of heavy labor would only make her back get worse. And she is only in her 20's. So, Dear Reader - YOU have value & deserve knowledgeable compassionate care! Don't waste your time or risk your health coming here! They don't care enough to even put in any effort. Sub standard for sure. & If by chance anyone reading this knows of a decent doctor (even if I have to take her to seattle) I would appreciate your suggestions below! My daughter needs a doctor who will listen and not abusively minimize her pain and experiences & will make the necessary effort to find out what is causing her pain. Following up - almost every one of my daughters symptoms coincide with severe stage 4 endometriosis! Here is a link for anyone interested in learning more. It is written by a physical therapist stating how important it is they to learn to tell the difference between endo &nonspecific back pain because basically doctors routinely don't even CONSIDER endometriosis even though it affects 12% of all women &coincides with SEVERE sacral/lumbar pain! It's important because physical therapy will be ineffective &endometriosis can cause permanent nerve damage &bladder &bowel problems. Surgery is the most effective treatment. So Dr Manik, NOT ALL TREATMENTS for back pain are the SAME!