Intensivists - Titusville, FL

"Dr. Ochoa is already in "retirement mode". Nowadays he mostly delegates to Nurse Practitioners. His medical office is the worst: the front office staff is rude, uncaring and disrespectful towards patients. One is kept waiting while the admin and medical support staff chats for extended periods of time (about personal stuff). Nothing bad to say about the Nurse Practitioners except they are not doctors and are not really supported by the doctor. One of them administered a test incorrectly, diagnosing me with only 50% pulmonary function (irreversibly so - according to her), resulting in rushed hospital tests and unnecessary and DANGEROUS prescriptions that run up nearly $2000 worth in bills (not paid by the insurance). Nobody bothered to contact me to communicate the results of the hospital tests - which I ANXIOUSLY awaited the next day. Getting hold of anyone worth talking to is nearly impossible. You are always put into voice mail and you have the feeling that they just don't want to talk to you. The only way for me to find out what I thought I had was to pick up a prescription at our local pharmacy that contacted me to alert me that my prescriptions were ready. I didn't know what for - so I bought them ($250 worth - not covered by insurance). As I researched the drugs, one of them turned out to be a Black Box drug (classified as such by the FDA as it should only used as a LAST RESORT if any other treatments failed due to dangerous side effects). When I did manage to talk to someone, I was told that my tests were negative (I was healthy) and that this (dangerous) drug was prescribed as a precaution. That is mind-boggling. A friend of mine, who is a retired ER nurse, said that this drug should NEVER be prescribed unless everything else failed. She also wondered by they didn't prescribe a $10 generic drug rather than the $150 brand drug. As it turned out, the initial test that diagnosed me with 50% pulmonary function was repeated by Dr. Ochoa and it was found that the first test had been incorrectly administered. My pulmonary function was fine. I went through all that - horrible existential fears and expensive diagnostic testing and unnecessary treatment (that hadn't even been discussed with me!) for nothing. According to Medical Code of Ethics, the medical provider is supposed to communicate any results with the patient, and DISCUSS treatment options. Before prescribing any dangerous drugs, they are supposed to discuss with the patients any risks. That was never done in my case. To boot, the front desk staff (receptionist Branden and Office Manager) were obnoxious, which then escalated the situation. Like I said: It was a horrible experience that cost me dearly."