Foothill Family Clinic — Attraction in Draper

This is the first negative review I've ever written in my life. I typically think negative reviews are vindictive and not very productive. But I feel like I need to warn people, especially my friends in Draper, about my experience with Foothill Family Clinic in Draper.

I called and identified myself as a new patient without a primary care physician and told them I needed a physical exam.

In particular with my labs, I told them I needed my GGT levels tested. I had recently had applied for life insurance and the tests were all in normal range, except for the GGT level was randomly high. Apparently a higher GGT level is an indicator of alcohol use. I don't drink alcohol and wanted to get retested and get a 2nd opinion.

The woman at the front desk confirmed that they could definitely do that for me and scheduled an appointment for me about 10 days later with Dr. Azarcon. I was told to come in a few days beforehand to get the labs done and to make sure to fast beforehand.

Perfect.

That brings us to today. I showed up to get my lab work done and when I asked them to verify that they were going to test my GGT levels, they looked at the paperwork and said no, it wasn't in the orders. I explained to them exactly what I stated above. She said she was sorry but there was nothing they could do, they could only do the tests that had been ordered by Dr. Azarcon. This despite the fact that I had called and made the request for a GGT test in particular and they told me they could definitely do it.

I'm an easy going guy and I understand that mistakes are made and I'm OK with that, but what happened next was completely unacceptable and is the entire purpose of my review.

I made the suggestion that perhaps they could text or call Dr. Azarcon and ask him to add it to the order. A reasonable request given it was their mistake I was asking them to rectify and it was the whole point of me making the appointment. When I made this suggestion, the woman who was working at the front desk of the lab rolled her eyes and laughed in my face. She literally laughed in my face and said that Dr. Azarcon couldn't be bothered on his day off. SHE DIDN'T SAY" I'm really sorry, I'd like to do that but we've been told not to text or call staff on their days off". I would have been OK with that type of response but this woman had the audacity to condescendingly laugh in a paying customer's face. Yes. That really happened today on December 5th, 2019 at approximately 4PM. Unreal.

I wasn't asking to have dinner with the man or asking him to come in on his day off. I was asking for her to send him a quick text so that I could get the particular test done that I had requested and been told they could provide 10 days earlier.

I then asked if it would be possible to have another Dr. who was on premise make the order and I'd cancel with Dr. Azarcon and see that individual instead later when they had an open appt. The particular Dr. didn't matter to me, I just wanted to get the labs done and then analyzed by a professional. As stated above, I was a new patient and had no allegiance or preference to any of their physicians.

They denied that request and said that it was against policy and that despite the fact that I'd never met Dr. Azarcon in my life, he would have to be the one to change the orders. What? Why?

At this point it doesn't matter, I'll obviously be seeking medical advice and treatment elsewhere.

I'm a resident of the great city of Draper and I'm proud to live in this city and I'm proud of the pro-business climate we have here. I always try to support local businesses. That being said, if this is how Foothill Family Clinic treats their customers, it'd be better if they'd close up shop and get out of town.

Bottom line: With so many clinics and physicians in Salt Lake & Utah Counties, I'd think long and hard before giving any money to...

Patient Last! Endangered my health by refusing refill of necessary med.

I had an appt. but was running out of a med that I'd taken for over 9 YEARS. Was told my doc would be going on vacation. The staff never offered me an appt, as DR. Wilkinson later told me they were supposed to. Instead, I called repeatedly only to be told I had to wait until she returned and it was my fault for not planning ahead...although I had an appt. and couldn't know about her vacation plans.

Several days into taking half of my med, Dr. Atkins agreed to see me. The first thing he did was to question me taking the med, knowing I was already struggling due to taking a half dose. He was aggressive and treated me like junky, and when I reacted said that's why I need to stop taking the med. Talk about kicking a patient when they're already down!!

He then sent me for a urine test. He did NOT verify when I last took the med(which leaves your system super quickly) and I'd been taking less. He called me to say it's not in my system so he wouldn't proscribe it. Dr. Atkins knew exactly what he was doing and I believe it was 100% retaliatory b/c I called him out on his poor treatment of me during the appt and that he had no place trying to treat me for mental health with no knowledge of my case. Next they sent my urine for a more comprehensive test and said that there was no med in my system for the last week which is impossible. They either lied or tampered with my test.

When I called to make a complaint about Dr. Atkin's irresponsible and dangerous behavior, the office manager merely defended him repeatedly. Not a single staff member, Dr. or office management cared that I was left cold turkey from a med that every other doctor will tell you is extremely dangerous to stop, much less cut does in half. I hung up.

By the time I got to see Dr. Wilkinson, I was in bad shape. Rather than being really concerned, she had a folder of complaints against me including from the office manager (that I hung up on her) and all lies from Dr. Atkins even accusing me of saying "bad things" about Dr. Wilkinson. She was visibly upset even though I had done no such think. She deigned to give me a refill and then gave me a talk about the importance mutual respect between patient and staff...as in I need to behave better... a woman who was just put through a completely unnecessary and dangerous experience, who did get stressed and upset (all completely normal symptoms of imbalance when taken off your med) was at fault.

My faith in the medical establishment is completely shaken. Foothill has 0% accountability for staff and doctors who have all the unquestioned power to the extent of retaliation. Their last act was to send me a letter saying the doctors have agreed they won't see me any more. Not like I planned to go back, but obvious that Foothill has no intention of improving or caring for...

I want to start my review by saying this one star is directed at the office staff and how this location is ran in general. We currently visit Dr. Azarcon at this location and he is AMAZING. We can only hope that he practices elsewhere so we can continue with his care without having to deal with the office staff at this location.

We brought our daughter in to get her up to date on her immunizations. The office needed to request her records from our previous doctor in California and would then contact us with an update on what she needed. (We later found out they received the records that same day.) A week goes by, no call. After a week and a half my wife calls twice a week for the next 3 weeks requesting the information always getting a "we'll call you right back to setup the appointment after we review her record."

A month later... never a call back.

Finally we call one last time and they tell us to just walk in and they can give the shots.

We walk in, the place is dead at 12:30 on a Wednesday but we still wait 40mins. When the nurse brings us back, she is rude, disinterested and has zero interaction with our toddler who she's about to stick with 5 needles... in the room, she can't answer our questions about certain vaccinations she's administering, what they do or what they actually cover.

Against our better judgement we proceed and she asks me to hold my daughters arms and legs, she's almost 2, and then proceeds to rapid fire 5 needles into her legs, once again, with zero interaction with the child. Needless to say it was a frightening/possibly traumatic experience for a child that young. After the last shot, and some rough bandaid work, the nurses say "ok!" And leave the room... no followup care instructions... no "this reaction is normal, if you see these signs, call us." Just... "ok!" And they leave.

We sit there stunned... with a hysterical toddler... and we walk out.

Luckily, my wife stormed back in, bypassed reception, found Dr. Azarcon's personal office and was able to have a good conversation with him about what we had just experienced and we were able to find that these weren't his staff but the office staff who are oversaw by the office manager.

Overall, we will not be returning to this office anytime soon nor will be recommending it ever. Zero follow through, terrible non-existent communication and zero regard/respect for patients and their values.

Once again, we love Dr. Azarcon and cannot recommend him highly enough. Hopefully we can visit him at a different location with higher standards for their...