Anesthesiologist - Duluth, GA

"Over the past 2 years, I have received consistently dismissive—at times medically unethical—treatment from several providers within Wellstar--Dr. Kurokawa being one of them. For this reason, I have decided to end my relationship with Wellstar as soon as I am able to find competent, responsive, and trustworthy providers via a different hospital/clinic. Not only have I directly expressed concern, frustration, and feeling unheard and misunderstood to providers, but I had verbally escalated this issue to a clinic supervisor last year all without follow-up. As a young, autistic woman with a complex medical profile, I have relentlessly advocated for myself and my healthcare needs within the WS Health system to the point of feeling defeated, overlooked, not taken seriously, and ultimately depressed and untrusting of WS’s ability to address my care needs. The final incident that contributed to this feeling of despair was my interaction (or lack thereof) with the Spine and Pain Center in Alpharetta. At my initial appointment, I shared that my constant pain had driven me to deep depression and asked for a specific pain solution while I awaited a spinal injection 4 weeks from that appointment. I explained to doctor Suley Beth (who was taking direction that day from Dr. Kirokawa) that certain pain meds had offered me immediate relief and was constantly shutdown. I left that appointment knowing that the pain would continue, but still used the meds prescribed to me with no relief. Eventually, after having contacted the clinic asking for other options to my pain and specifically stating my debilitating pain levels and impact to my lifestyle, I was ignored. Not only did I reach out to Dr. Kurokawa, but also rheumatology and neurology. For three days, I heard nothing and ultimately ended up at Emory’s ER where I was treated with the exact same meds I requested and also received updated information on a progressive issue affecting my spine and nervous system. Putting the nail in the casket, I was only informed on the day of my appointment that there was an additional fee (administrative) for my spinal procedure that my insurance does not cover. I could not afford this with such short notice and asked if Dr. Kurokawa could help me find alternative options for pain management in the interim. I was told by her nurse that she was not available, although we were technically two minutes into my appointment time. Not only did she not speak with me, but she asked her staff in an open area within earshot of other patients "why is she even here?" I would 100% discourage anyone from working with Dr. Kurokawa as she lacks compassion, ethics, and empathy and has no business working in pain management. "