Emergency Medicine Doctors - Martinsville, VA

"My son was seen in the Martinsville ER by Dr. Stowe after he had been sent home from his work with a B/P of 200/ 120. (Extreme hypertension bordering on life threatening.) While he was in the ER he was placed on a Nitro drip to lower his B/P. . During this procedure his B/P continued to get higher and unstable. My son also was sweating profusely and had a bad headache. After about 4 hrs. or when the Nitro drip had completed he was released by this so-called doctor with no meds and only an instruction to go see his primary care physician. This doctor failed to recognize the potential for an M/I or possible stroke due to the grossly high B/P. My son was unable to see his Primary care on the 24th because his doctor was out of town. He did get to see another Dr. at the Carillion Practice in Martinsville on the 25th. He was still hypertensive and the doctor who saw him on the 25th also questioned the treatment of Dr. Stowe while my son was at the ER. While I am not a doctor, I was a Cardiac Tech/EMT in Virginia for over 20+ years and had I seen a patient while serving as an EMT with the symptoms my son presented it would have been a clear indication of a "life threatening" condition'" and would have received immediate and aggressive treatment to eliminate reduce the hypertension and prevent more serious consequences from occurring.. Even while my son was on the nitro drip his B/P continued to escalate up and dow. It got so high at one point in time that the monitor he was on "Alarmed" at his high B/P. and a nurse came into his room in a rush. When my son was discharged by Dr. Stowe his systolic pressure was at 158 and dystolic pressure at 120+. I don't understand why Dr. Stowe did not consider my son's condition as "life threatening" and discharged him with no meds to control his hypertension and only an instruction to go see his primary care physician when he could. I think Dr. Stowe is very fortunate that my son did not suffer a more imminent and debilitating condition before he could see another doctor. Even still I am clearly not satisfied with Dr. Stowe's evaluation and treatment of my son on the 24th. He's either a "cookbook" doctor or he lacks the professional expertise necessary to function as a qualified ER doctor. If , in the future, I happen to come across Dr. Stowe in a professional capacity I would not consent for him to have anything to do with my evaluation and treatment. I've worked with and alongside many doctors at Martinsville ER over the years and this is the only one that I have had an opinion that he should not be an ER doctor and that includes my time in the Flight Surgeon's Office when I served in the AF. I hope this critique reaches Dr. Stowe's supervisor and that corrective action and where indicated that additional training is required of Dr. Stowe. "