Dr. Latoya Freeman-Beman

I cannot recommend Dr. Ian J. Cohen. Although the appointment was made two months earlier, he came unprepared. He recommended additional medical tests despite the fact that he had not read any of the past results. Upon being asked about the necessity, he was unable to point to any specific evidence to support these recommendations. The most definitive reason he came up with was to rule out alcoholism, which he could have ruled out simply by asking about drinking habits. I had to volunteer that I rarely drink. However, even if this was the case, no studies show that the "root cause" of the condition would change the treatment or course of action. The only way of correcting the problem is to abstain for drinking, make dietary changes, and exercise. More disgruntling, he billed the visit as a 30 minute appointment (over $400) even though the reserved appointment was only for 15 minutes. He was not present on the telehealth page for the entire 15 minutes either. While more time could have been spent asking him more questions, it would not have been constructive considering Dr. Cohen’s lack of preparedness. He unequivocally expressed that he was more interested in making broad recommendations that reviewing the specifics of the case. The discouragement elicited by this experience was eventually relayed to Dr. Cohen. Its disappointing that Dr. Cohen decided to defend himself against minute and/or irrelevant details related to the central concerns instead of taking the time to directly talk to a patient who clearly feels that questions were not adequately addressed. Moreover, he dismissed the concerns as complaints about medical jargon. The actual phrase Dr. Cohen used was “patient disagreed with some of the templated phrases.” At least, this suggests an admittance to having failed to review the past test results and, by suggestive extension, basing his medical opinions on templates that maintain little semblance to the issue at hand. But this also indicates a more disturbing problem in which Dr. Cohen (a) copies and pastes terms to talk to patients and (b) doesn’t believe patients are capable of understanding their own medical files. Moreover, he seems to assume that the very patients who trust him to provide care do not deserve his own analysis of their medical problems and only deserve predetermined formulas. To be clear, all members of this household are highly educated and have multiple relatives or friends in the medical profession who reviewed what he dismissed as a complaint about language instead of substance. The consensus is that the problem was not a lack of understanding for medical jargon. Ultimately, it is my hope that Dr. Cohen and his staff will review this message and use it as an opportunity to grow and improve. Yes, medical doctors might feel busy, rushed, overwhelmed, overworked, and crunched for money in the wake of student loans. But they are not alone. Many others have spent just as much time in school and may harbor similar sentiments too. Its simply not an excuse for a lack of care and an inability to answer specific questions that no other profession would likely tolerate. Thank you to Mount Sinai for addressing and correcting this issue. It is nice to know that Mount Sinai takes feedback seriously and is willing to address disgruntled patients and medical bills for services that were not given. Considering other positive experiences with physicians at Mount Sinai, their professional handling of this situation encourages us to see other physicians in their network.