Patient
Dr. Tartaglia monitored my mother's mitral valve regurgitation issue for several years starting when she was in her late eighties. He originally thought she might live 2 years and advised that we bring her to Columbia Heart Valve Center in NYC. They advised that she was in generally good health and could live with this for many years. They did explain that she should be monitored bi-annually in case surgery was necessary. Hence, Dr. Tartaglia filled that role. My mother was legally deaf so I relied on updates after each visit to Dr. Tartaglia. This is where the problems started. Rather than make himself available at the end of each visit to discuss things privately, I had to ask his staff to find him to which he would come out to the reception area and generally limit his evaluation to a verbal snippet such as "no change". This went on for years, but we accepted that as favorable to her longevity. Also, during each visit, my mother was becoming increasingly bothered by the excessive wait time particularly when late arrivals were being seen before her. To a patient with a heart condition, now in her 90s, this was both aggravating and insulting to the point where she had to question the staff. Things became more acrimonious. But the tipping point was when my sister and I both called the office because our mother stopped eating, wouldn't get out of bed and we recognized this was becoming serious. We were both informed that Dr. Tartaglia was busy despite the urgency of our concerns. Both the receptionist and the medical technician answered and were dispensing cardiological advice for which they have no training. When two long term staff members do that type of thing, they do it because they feel empowered to do so which typically echoes the physician's sentiment about a deteriorating relationship with a patient. Although Dr. Tartaglia did call "hours" later, he claimed it wasn't cardiological. I suggested bringing her to the ER as a complete loss of appetite was critically serious. He didn't think that was necessary and recommended a Geriatrician. Oddly, that was one of his specialties so we opted to get her to the ER immediately because it appeared he was not concerned about our mother's worsening condition. We brought my mom to the ER that day where we were told she had serious heart issues and that had we not done so, she would have died by the next morning. She died a month later. Worse, the attending physician told us that her condition had deteriorated during the time she was monitored by Dr. Tartaglia and that it should have been abundantly evident to him. But in Dr. Tartaglia's words, "no change". He's risky and lacks objectivity.