Dr. Widdifield was my 86-year-old father's doctor for about 5 years. My father admittedly was in compromised health due to emphysema which required home oxygen. Nevertheless, for months my father had been feeling worse than he had, was sleeping a great deal, and had blood pressure irregularities so we repeatedly took him to see Dr. Widdifield who frankly acted annoyed and dismissive. We finally took him to another doctor and he was admitted to the hospital. He died of metastasized cancer 10 days later. Although my father wouldn't have wanted to treat the cancer had he known about it, he unnecessarily suffered when he could have/should have been receiving hospice care.

Submitted Aug. 12, 2009