Wilmington VA Medical Center — Local services in Wilmington

I am speaking on behalf of a veteran who silently suffers because of the "I don't believe you" culture that is heavily embedded within the VA medical system.

Overall, my experiences have been pleasant with Wilmington, VA, until today when I received a phone call from pain management.

My experience with pain management under Dr. Hersh Patel has been deeply disappointing. During our interaction, he was very judgmental. He suggested that my reasoning for the appointment was solely about obtaining a disability rating, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with that. This was ironic, as I never mentioned a disability rating; I only responded to his questions about the pain issues I am experiencing and when it all began.

He questioned why my primary doctor referred me to him "so quickly," which felt highly inappropriate. He called me one and a half hours before my scheduled appointment to ask, "Is this a good time?" Which was also unusual. I guess the rules don't apply to him, and he does things however he wants.

When my wife attempted to address his rude tone and unprofessional behavior, he deflected and began to speak on veterans and their disability ratings. Again, this is confusing because I still hadn't mentioned a VA disability rating. When I asked him to provide contact information for a supervisor, he gave a name but refused to give a phone number or email address.

To make matters worse, he later called back to check if things had "calmed down", repeatedly implying that we had "misinterpreted" his comments instead of offering a sincere apology for his assumptions and accusations. He even claimed he was the only pain management provider at the facility.

However, an hour later, he called again to ask if I wanted to be seen by a pain specialist nurse after discussing the matter with his chief of staff. I suspect his side of the story was the only one shared, and no one else reached out to me, so I no longer trust this office to treat me objectively.

I sincerely hope he has never caused harm to another veteran by being judgemental and dismissive. Passing judgment, speaking in such a degrading manner, and addressing anything other than managing my pain is unacceptable.

Veterans deserve much better treatment, and I deserve a...

The medical facility and staff have been absolutely amazing. Emergency room staff are also very quick, and very thorough. My review for this portion is a 5 star, but a 1 star for the psychiatrists they hire and my review for that is below. I had to update it since they’ve made improvements to their facilities since my last review. New parking garage is a huge help. Finding parking used to be a pain in the rear. Now it’s simple, minus some drivers speeding down the garage making it a bit dangerous. So just be mindful when walking through.

Every psychiatrist I see always trying to force pills on me. This is the 2nd psychiatrist who was uninformative and a complete A hole. The rest of the facility gets 5 stars. The psychiatrists on the other hand. I won't be coming back to see them. Very unprofessional and very insensitive towards me and my own mental illness. Smfh huge zero stars for mental health department. Rant all you want about this review. He admitted getting paid to push medications on me as all doctors do. Being a doctor is about helping patients not causing more harm than good. I told yous the medications were making me sick and yous upped my doses and added more meds. Every visit. I walked out of this appointment. Wait until I get your name. I'll be glad to speak to your supervisor. He had no business working in that building with veteran's who...

A sane man in an insane society appears insane. Denied patient use of treadmill for stress test and instead injected ,johndoes, with a heart attack. That wasn't very nice. Less nice was when dude asked - "so what have you done since you got out"? Hmmm. As the heart attack was occurring jdoes said, "started a roofing company and went to law school." Tech's face, neck, hands and arms turned beet red. jdoes, nuff said. The group intro hassled, johndoes, referencing excess exercise as if its unforgiving to be healthy. I allowed that, as shuck and jive. Black nurse lady was totally cool. Something changed after that chemical attack inside my body. Toxic Battery. Adding that to other tortures and abused from healthcare discounts.

7/25/23 treadmill still in the cardio room, nostalgia perhaps a trip down memory lane. Had stomach and headache issues so i necessarily cancelled cardioversion treatment the day before. Feeling much better now that bug is gone. I'll need to reschedule and get my ticket stamped. Reset. vs control alt delete.

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