Poor Scheduling Experience with Dr. Umar's clinic

[jayc]

Just wanted to write you guys about my experience with Dr. Umar's clinic. I never got hair transplants there. This should not be seen as a comment on his technique, just as a concerned patient regarding my experience prior to arriving at the clinic.

 

Over the last 2 years I have read some positive comments about Dr. Umar's body hair transplant results. I was impressed with what I saw on you tube, Dr. Umar's website, some comments by a patient on here. The commercials seemed very contrived with the choreographed music in the background but anyway ...

 

I had many emails with Dr. Umar which seemed to have gone well. He was responsive and informative. After considering the costs, time, and the need to shave my head, I decided to move forward with my hair transplant procedure. Having had prior hair transplants, I was long awaiting this procedure to try to correct problems from a prior hair transplant and to better my look.

 

Things seemed to have been going well until the communication lead to scheduling.

Dr. Umar had agreed to a date by email and asked me to contact his office to schedule an appointment. I tried several times by phone and email without response. Finally after many attempts connecting with the administrator my dates were re-scheduled.

This was disruptive with my work schedule; however, it felt like I had no choice, and I accepted the change. They told me that I could not schedule without 10% deposit.

After I sent the 10% and about 10-15 pages of paperwork with a great amount of legal jargon, my dates were scheduled - this was about 2 to 3 months before the scheduled date.

 

About a month and a half prior to the procedure,an office person contacted me stating the contract stated that I must pay for the procedure (> $25,000) one month prior to the procedure. This was very different from my prior procedures where I did not pay until the day of the procedure or directly after, but I accepted this as well & was arranging for a loan payment.

 

Three weeks before the procedure, I was informed by an office person that Dr. Umar would be leaving for a conference for a period of about three hours during the day of my procedure. He would return later in the afternoon to complete the work that day. In addition, one week before the procedure, I was informed that Dr. Umar had an emergency and would not be available one entire morning of my scheduled 3 day visit with him. The office asked me to stay an extra day and leave the following afternoon. They said they would offer me one night hotel stay and a fee for flight change.

 

I was extremely concerned that Dr. Umar was not commited to his time with me. I had three days scheduled with him, and he had a conference in the middle of the day on one day. The next day he had an "emergency" for the entire morning. I was worried that he would not have his full attention on his work with me. When, I expressed this concern with his office staff, the office staff asked for me not to be concerned. I had also expressed the concern of having to stay an extra day. I asked that Dr. Umar consider compensating me for my additional time with hotel stay for the 4 days and my flight to LA. I received a call from the office staff about 5 days before my scheduled trip to LA stating that they refused to take care of me.

 

For all of us who are hair transplant patients, awaiting a procedure date is an exciting and anxious time. I was extremely disappointed in Dr. Umar's actions. It hurt that he had all the power to change my schedule, put things in the middle of the day when I was under local anesthesia with holes in my head, and have a scheduled "emergency" during my procedure time. It also hurt that just because I raised concerns, they cancelled my visit.

 

I am a physician. I have never treated a patient this way. My last email to Dr.Umar - "I have not experienced this behavior or disservice in my medical career where a physician schedules a "conference" during the time that he has a surgical procedure scheduled. Has an "emergency" during the time of a scheduled procedure which somehow he already knows about the week before. In addition cancels a procedure a few days before without concern for the patient's welfare, monetary loss, loss in work, and loss of time. You have done me a service by not participating in my care." I have yet to receive a reply from Dr. Umar.

 

I felt like I was not treated like a human being. I'd hate for any of my patients to feel the way I did. I am still hurt from this experience.

 

After all this, I still need repair work and am searching for a qualified hair transplant professional who does body hair and treats his patients as a human being and not just $$ instant cash.

 

Wishing you all well on your journey. Please write me if you can help me.

[Speegs]

red flags galore, especially for that outrageous price. i don't think umar is a hack but he is second tier for certain.

[Sparky]

Sorry to hear about this, sounds like an awful experience, considering you are a repair patient. I would suggest you look into Dr Bisanga at BHR, he does body hair and a lot of repair work and he is very good at it.

[uselessgomez]

That sucks.

 

Are you able to post any pics? It would help readers evaluate where you are at and maybe come up with options. Thanks for sharing.

Edited January 22, 2011 by uselessgomez

[RodG]

Hi,

 

Apart from being disappointed with the scheduling of your hair transplant procedure I presume that you have been refunded the payment that you made to Doctor Umar?

 

I wish you well. Perhaps you should contact DHT clinic Bangkok who performed my transplant. It was smooth sailing as far as I am concerned.

 

Regards

 

Rod

[Sparky]

Rodg, do DHT do bodyhair?

[Sean]

 

wow

[ej]

Sparky is right , get a Dr who knows what he is doing with BEARD hair and has a lot of repair work under his belt .

 

I think this is were advice gets cloudy from time to time repair work is an entirely different game alltogether , its not in any way like a virgin scalp some Drs are getting knock out results time after time but are they performing repair ? are they skilled to the level necessary to extract from the face /neck ?

 

If its any consolation Im in the same boat , my donors shot its got to be beard hair for me Im desperate for repair !! currently considering Bhr got some knock out repair work

 

all the best

 

ej

[AdamAJ]

omg please tell me you got ur 25,000 refunded.....that is too much money for any doctor to charge....why would you pay that much for a hair transplant??? did you do any research? 25 thosuand??!! wow.....it still suprises me hearing those horrific stories of people paying that much

[Dr. Sanusi Umar]

We have nothing to gain from cancelling surgery. I will be posting the full detail of what occured as soon as necessary clearances are obtained.

[Curious]

So the doctor asked you to stay one extra day to finish the surgery, and he agreed to pay for the extra hotel and flight charges. What more do you want! Get real.

[jayc]

Just so there is no misunderstanding Dr. Umar's clinic did not receive any financial compensation from me. My prior deposit was supposed to be refunded in full to my credit card - I have not checked yet, this happened only a few days ago. I did not get the opportunity to pay the remainder of the fees as my procedure was cancelled before that. Also, for full disclosure, Dr. Umar offered a physician discount of .25 per graft. The total still for the procedure was to be $27000. Again I did not pay Dr. Umar. But, I did lose time and money related to lost work/vacation. Also, I had planned for time off after the procedure to recover, which is now not useful.

 

I don't know Dr. Umar and this is not a comment on his character, certification, or skills. Again, this is not a comment about his team's technical skill or patient's outcomes. Every patient wants to be treated like a human being and be heard. Sometimes it feels in the hair transplant industry once a payment is made, the patient is forgotten. Since hair loss is a lifetime experience, having a physician you can talk to and a clinic you can communicate with is important. This was a comment on my experience and how I felt I was treated. Dr. Umar may have not intended to hurt me but resceduling several times, having a conference scheduled during my procedure, and taking a morning off for a scheduled "emergency" is not usual and concerning. The need for additional anesthesia, OR time, and a longer surgery schedule is an inconvenience. Patient's schedules are just as important as their doctor's. It appeared this clinic did not care about how they inconvenienced me..

 

The hair transplant industry brings in a lot of money. My procedure alone would have cost $27000. With all the money involved and its cosmetic nature, comes a lot of advertising. What's lacking is consumer advocacy and outcomes based research. I've seen a lot of patients criticized when making any comments that do not celebrate the "favorite physicians". This discourages a true dialogue and what is left is purely promotional campaigning. Advertisements on youtube with choreographed background music & selected good results are merely that ... advertisements. A few selected patients who appear on forums commending a doctor's skills are just that - a few results. They are not a true representation of the physician's full spectrum of results. Honest science is when the physician himself has the courage to write a journal article about his outcome in peer reviewed journals . This is not to single out Dr. Umar, it is a general problem in the industry as a whole. A hair transplant surgeon who does present his outcomes data in full should be highly commended by this community.

 

S. Umar - As long as you do not infringe on privacy, and you feel my comments about your scheduling procedures, rescheduling, asking for down payment, filling out 10 to 15 pages filled with legal jargon, asking for full payment ($27000) one month before, scheduling a conference in the middle of the day during one of my scheduled days with you, and an emergency (which you knew about the week before) for one entire morning the next day, asking me to stay an extra day, and than cancelling my appointment and refunding my payment one week before the scheduled date when I questioned all this and asked for reduction in charges is inaccurate you are welcome to rebutt. You are not welcome to reveal my identity as I have a right to my privacy. I find it stunning that you are ready to email this audience, but you were unwilling to call or email me (the patient) to discuss this with me directly. This is concerning for advertising vs whole hearted patient care.

[FrankyKnuckles]

damn.....$27k? how many grafts were you getting??????????

[ej]

Its difficult being a repair patient and trying to make an informed decision on which Dr to put your trust in !

 

I think its irresponsible of any Dr to make you feel like you are not there number one priority when you have organised your ` life ` around this procedure . How can anybody class as `an emergency` with a weeks prior notice of it ??

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your expierence , good luck with your research

 

Ej

[Dr. Sanusi Umar]

Jayt contacted our clinic about 2 years ago regarding hair transplant surgery. He has had surgery in the past with other surgeons. He was happy with earlier work but mostly wanted density added using head and non-head hair. I advised roughly 3,600 grafts that could be transplanted over multiple sessions. He stated that he could only afford 1,500 grafts. However over the course of 5 days he changed his mind and decided on 2,100-2,500, and then to 4,000 grafts. He was going to look into financing. In my clinic, 4,000 grafts requires about 2.5 days to accomplish. This meant that we booked 3 days in surgery for Jayt because we only perform 1 transplant surgery per day.

 

Prior to any surgery, we send the prospective patient our consent form and other paper work, which is detailed. The forms have a section which allows patients to ask any question and express any concerns regarding the transplantation process, consents, payment terms, booking process etc. We require the patient to read and sign the consent forms before we will accept a deposit.

 

It is our policy that payment for the full cost of surgery be made 4 weeks in advance of the first surgical date. Why? Because patients have shown up on the day of surgery unable to pay (e.g. rejected credit card charges). It is more efficient and productive to have the payment for surgery completed in advance of the surgery date.

 

As to Jayt, we fully disclosed this payment term to him before he decided to schedule a surgery, which was months in advance of the selected surgical dates. If he didn’t find it acceptable, he was free to go to another clinic. He did not state any reservations in the questions and concerns forms provided him.

 

Scheduling a surgery date with Jayt was difficult. At the same time Jayt was in communication with the clinic staff regarding a surgery date, he was attempting to secure a loan to cover the cost of surgery. His loan request was approved for about half of the total cost. For whatever reason, Jayt rejected that and let the loan period lapse, saying he would pay for the surgery himself. He still had the option of rescheduling his surgery dates but never did. It was only after repeated efforts by the clinic staff that Jayt finally committed to surgery dates and allowed us to charge a deposit to his credit card, the dates of January 19th, 20th and 21st. As this process was occurring, this prospective patient requested and was granted a discount on the price for his transplants.

 

When the time to pay for surgery was due, Jayt indicated that he was going to contact the loan company to obtain the same loan he had rejected earlier, and that he planned to charge the balance to his credit cards. As the dates for surgery grew ever closer, Jayt indicated that he was still seeking a loan to pay for his surgeries. He began voicing displeasure with our payment policy, and said that he wanted to pay for his surgeries after they were finished. We continued to indicate that the surgeries had to be paid for in advance, but we were flexible in allowing him extra time (as of January 12th) to secure a loan.

 

As to the changes in schedule which Jayt complains about, a local hospital where I have privileges required me to appear on January 19th to renew my i.d. card and take care of other administrative items so that my status would be renewed. We notified Jayt that the normal 1 hour lunch break would be extended to 2 - 2.5 hours and that this would not affect his transplant. After this was explained to him, he indicated that it was acceptable.

 

I volunteer the third Thursdayof every month in the morning at a dermatology residency program and clinic, running clinics and teaching dermatology residents in training. My secretary was supposed to go into the computer and block out the third Thursday of every month for the entire year on my schedule. Regrettably, this was not done for the new calendar year of 2011. If this information had been entered into the computer, January 20, 2011 would have been blocked out on my schedule.

 

When I realized the scheduling conflict, we informed Jayt of it. We told Jayt that we would start the surgery of January 20th in the afternoon and would open the clinic on Saturday, January 22nd to finish his surgeries if his transplant was not completed by the close of business on January 21st. Note that 4,000 grafts does require 2.5 days to accomplish. Thus it was still possible his surgery would be completed on schedule after starting January 20th in the afternoon. However, we decided that in the event we had not reached our graft total by the time we finished on Friday, we would open on Saturday, we would not rush our work. In connection with this, we also offered to pay for any additional hotel and airfare expenses that Jayt would incur. It then emerged at this point (one week before the first scheduled surgery date), Jayt had not purchased an airplane ticket nor had he booked a hotel room.

 

Nevertheless, Jayt wanted the clinic to pay for his hotel for the entire stay and to provide free grafts. Further complicating matters was Jayt’s new demand that he wanted to complete payment for his surgeries after they were done and after he determined he was satisfied with his results. What is more, a member of my staff revealed to me that the phone conversation with Jayt was fraught with negative comments directed at her. He stated that being a medical doctor himself, he should not be talking to her but instead to me (a fellow physician). I perform the surgeries, however, my staff are an integral part of the clinic and I rely upon them to schedule patients, no matter what the patient’s occupation or station in life may be. They are courteous and respectful to all that we have the privilege of serving. After all of this, I decided that it would be best for Jayt to have his transplants with another clinic. I wish him the best, but I think I have been reasonable under the circumstances described herein.

 

Incidentally, Jayt’s deposit was refunded to his credit card the same day we cancelled his surgeries.

[Sparky]

So are you saying that he's not telling the truth?

[Mac1]

For what its worth, I had a consultation with Dr. Umar and I thought he was great/helpful.

 

But these situations are kind of muddled. I find the truth is usually somewhere between the two stories.

[ej]

Being a fellow repair patient I can understand a certain amount of ....... " should I , shouldnt I "... when it comes to booking a procedure , the very slightest concern manifests into huge insecurity about if you are doing the right thing or not ,combined with the expense involved this is a massive decision for anyone let alone a repair patient .

 

If Jayt required extra attention to make him feel ok about commiting to surgery then why not provide it ? I fully understand the role staff play however why not go the extra mile and speak to him personally ? just a thought . Not all patients are the same , to some a transplant is a walk in the park to others its a huge event .

 

I would like to see payments made in part right across the industry , deposit then 3 or 4 payments, the last payment payable several months after the surgery !! Imagine that !!

 

Ej

Edited January 27, 2011 by ej
grammar

[jayc]

The problem with S Umar is he refuses to apologize for mistakes he and his clinic made.

Blaming the patient is unfortunate.

 

1) I find it troubling that Umar does not find it poor practice to schedule things during the time he has scheduled surgeries. If you can't make it on a particular day, why schedule a patient on that day? I was flying from 2000 miles away to pay him $27000 for a procedure.

I still don't understand why did he schedule to get an ID card in the middle of the day I had an appt. One week before my appt, I was told Umar had an emergency. Now he says he is voluntary faculty at a medical school. Is being voluntary faculty an emergency or is a patient who is paid customer of higher priority? Why is your clinic so disorganized that it did not block the days off? Why not apologize whole heartedly for making this mistake. Changing the patient's schedule seems to be at no consequence to this clinic.

 

3) I never demanded to pay after the surgery not did I demand free grafts. I had loans being arranged and that company called "Sugery loans" was near completion of a transaction to complete the loan process which was communicated to his administrator. I wanted to be compensated for the changes he made - placing something in the middle of the day on my appt and having "emergency voluntary faculty rounds". I felt that compensating me for travel and housing was reasonable.

 

4) It was not that I am a fellow physician that I requested a call back. It was that I was his patient. I was having trouble having confidence in this clinic's commitment to patient care.

Communication is something I hold close in a medical practice. I thought it was appropriate for a physician to call back his patient considering this circumstance to provide reassurance. Umar does not think so obviously.

[jayc]

Wow. I read it again, and Umar keeps stating that I demanded to pay after the procedure. That's just not true. I find this unfortunate.

 

Umar's clinic did not respond to several requests by email and phone for a scheduled date. After many attempts, I got an email from his administrator. As soon as I found out about the procedure, I contacted the loan officer at Surgery Loans and the loan was approved. The procedure was three months away so after a few weeks the Loan company discontinued the loan. as soon as I found out that Umar required a payent one month in advance, I recontacted the loan company. They had to restart the loan process & it was my intention to pay the amount in full. The loan process did take long then expected. But I fully intended to pay in full and made that clear to his administrator and I belive to him as well by email. In fact just before Umar decided to cancel the procedure due to what I was told was an "emergency" and now he states are "voluntary faculty rounds", I told his administrator my intention to pay.

 

It bothers me that they told me it was an emergency. Why not just tell me the truth that they scheduled wrong. Why wait till the week before. Why the ask patient ot pay for your disorganization?

[HighTopFade]

Oh, my...

 

Well, JayC, what I would like to know is... was $25k/$27 the amount you were really going to pay?

 

That seems excessive - was there anything extra that was to be done?

 

 

It's unfortunate to read about a disagreement/miscommunication. I can appreciate both sides of the story.

[jbbreese]

i had dr. umar procedure and he was great, follow up and everything...

[RodG]

Hi,

 

This is totally one persons version of events compared with a completely different version from Doctor Umar.

 

I had loans being arranged and that company called "Sugery loans" was near completion of a transaction to complete the loan process which was communicated to his administrator.

I don't want to be mean but it isn't the clinics problem regarding issues surrounding financing your HT. If it is their procedure to pay prior to the surgery there is nothing that can be done about it. If you don't like there practice of requiring pre payment chose another clinic for your HT surgery. I paid for my surgery 1 month prior to having it completed and I experienced no problems.

 

Don't mean to be inflamatory but I am just stating my opinion.

 

Regards

 

Rod

Edited January 28, 2011 by RodG

[Dr. Sanusi Umar]

Jayc would have you believe that he was not condescending to my staff and he was just a distressed repair patient. The fact is Jayc made the process as difficult as possible and perhaps because he perceives that being a physician gives him special status he refused to follow the clinic’s protocols. He states that he found out about our payment policy much later and attributes his prevarication with the loans to this fact. This is untrue. Jayc was aware of our payment policy before he even commenced the booking process. Here are excerpts of my last email correspondence (of 2 years) with him before he was referred to my staff for booking:

 

 

Sent: Sat, October 9, 2010 9:11:39 PM

Subject: RE: further questions

 

 

 

Jayc: Thanks again. Maybe plan on doing around 2100 to 2500 grafts. I'd like the concentration to be prioritized as follows: 1) scar line 2) left crown whirl pattern 3) right crown coverage 4) mid scalp 5) frontal hairline. The primary reason for that order is my scar line and crown are more difficult to cover up. My goal is one day to have a full looking head of hair.

 

Dr. Umar: We'll start in order of the above stated priorities. And stop wherever the number of grafts booked takes us.

 

Jayc: Regarding dates: I'm available Nov 29- Dec 10. Anytime after Dec 22........

 

Dr. Umar: We have no openings in 2010. The closest is in January. once you are ready to start booking, the available date are given to you by my staff and you decide which you want.

 

Here is our booking procedure:

1. You decide the exact number of grafts (not a range) you are having. From this, the total cost and the number of days needed to perform the surgery is determined.

 

2. This next step is preferably done by phone. You call the clinic or the clinic calls you to arrive on surgery dates that would work for you and the clinic...............

 

 

7. The remaining fee (total cost MINUS the deposit paid) is due 4 weeks before the date of surgery.

 

What is more, Jayc would not even properly complete his consent forms. He refused to hand write his signature or initials. Rather these were typed in and technically invalid, and in the course of his discussing the schedule change with my staff he threatened to go to the blogs if his demands were not met. There was a change in our schedule that was regrettable and we apologised to him for it and made efforts to make it up to him as indicated in my first post. However, we were faced with an individual who from the outset did not want go by the rules we have established for our clinic, and who made a mountain out of a molehill when there was a small change in the surgical schedule. Our clinic cancelled this patient and lost the $27,000 in fees that he might have paid but, in my opinion, would have cost us much more in grief and aggravation in the long run.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Dr Umar

[SteelWorker]

Dr. Umar,

Jay said he wanted to talk to you the doctor prior to the procedure. He is your patient and is going to pay an astronomical amount for the surgery ($28,000!?!!). Is there anything wrong with a patient wanting to speak with the doctor before the procedure?

 

Although you may have high regard for your office staff and the duties they are delegated, they are NOT doctors or medical staff in any way, shape, or form. There is nothing wrong with a patient who is preparing a surgical procedure to want to talk to the doctor beforehand regarding all the potential risks and benefits of the surgery.

 

You bring up the consent, but a very important part of a consent for any medical procedure is explaining the potential risks and benefits of the procedure and for the patient to have the opportunity to ask the doctor any questions prior to the surgery. Dr. Umar, you appeared to be denying the patient this right.

 

Why do you feel you are above talking to your patients prior to the surgeries for any questions they may have? You are trying to paint Jay as an arrogant doctor but who is really the arrogant one?

 

Also, your office makes a scheduling mistake and to cover it up tell the patient that you had an "emergency"? This is flat out dishonest and well, lying. Why not come clean and tell the patient the truth? Do you have that much disrespect for your patients that you encourage your office to lie to them to cover up a mistake that your office made?