Lavallee Mark MD

I can only describe my experience with this physician as an unexpected nightmare. Never in my life had I felt belittled or traumatized in a doctor’s office. I suppose there is a first for everything, and this definitely was a learning experience for me. I drove over 2 hours to this doctor after being told by my rheumatologist to find a doctor who has a knowledge base of connective tissue disorders.
The doctor walked into the exam and sat down across from me without shaking my hand. At this point, I introduced myself and I attempted to provide the doctor with my medical history by handing him a medical outline and verbally describing my symptoms.
The doctor then read many questions off of a checklist without making eye contact with me. At pauses between questions, I again attempted to tell the doctor the reason I was there, the problems I was experiencing, my symptoms, and my quite complex medical history. The doctor did not seem to hear me, or if he did, did not respond to me or any information I tried to give him.
Thereafter, I was not given a physical exam, which I found was very strange. After no physical exam, the doctor proceeded to demonstrate several of his own health issues in the exam room, including stretching his neck skin, pulling up his pants and describing his scars in a very loud voice, and dislocating his joints in front of me. He then loudly asked me questions such as «Can you do this? Can you do this» in conjunction with his demonstrations. He then shared all of his current medications and their uses. I felt very uncomfortable and had no idea how to respond.
Unfortunately, I ended up not getting correct diagnoses from this doctor.
I will have to say, that I am very lucky, because after being incredibly shocked by this doctor’s visit, I found a few of the United State’s best physicians, in Chicago and across the country. These other physicians correctly diagnosed me with several overlapping and debilitating conditions including a heart defect.