I was very dissatisfied with my recent appointment with Dr. Harvat at the Lawrence location. He is not my regular doctor, I use to see him years ago when I started using Eye Doctors and I switched because I was dissatisfied. I had forgotten how dissatisfied I was and saw him as I had an emergency and my doctor was on vacation.

I met him after waiting for 25 mins at my appointed time. I expressed my concerns and he suggested possible reasons including that “sometimes patients make up things in their mind. And the more they think about it, the bigger it gets” and hinted very strongly at it. I am 31 years old and have been wearing contacts /glasses for the 12 years. I asked for an emergency appointment. As a reasonable adult, I think that reasoning is pretty offensive and unprofessional. He then told me to be sure he needs to dilate my eyes that would take 20 mins. I agreed, and said I need to make a quick call to let my next appointment know I will be late as he was typing notes into his computer. He then looked at his watch and told he has limited time and if my call is necessary I should make it later. Again, I am an adult with a life & other appointments and I am late because he saw me 25 mins after my appointment time. After the exam he gave me 3 potential scenarios that may explain my concern. This included having a retinal tear that impairs my vision permanently. As I tried to understand these scenarios and repeat them to ensure I understand the symptoms/ watch outs correctly, he curtly said “that’s what I just said”. He then followed up with seeing “So does this answer all your questions” When I asked him other clarifying questions, he seemed very curt, unhelpful and short. I don’t know if he was offended about the fact that I switched from him to another doctor years ago, but he kept asking me details of last few visits and what I had got done versus look at records on the computer. He also asked me to address all my other questions with the other doctor and “she is my usual doctor”. The worst part of this experience is that I feel more worried after seeing him than I was before and have no clarity. I have no idea what to do, and now will be scheduling another appointment with ANOTHER DOCTOR for exactly the same concerns. Also my appointment ended with him walking out of the room with “so this answers all your questions. Have a great weekend” before I could reply or ask about if it’s safe to drive with my dilated eyes.

I have been using The Eye Doctors for 5+ years now and this definitely seems to be anomaly in my experience with them. I do not want to see him again, and definitely do not recommend him to anybody else.

Submitted Nov. 10, 2014