Mark Friedman, MD

Stay away from Dr. Mark Friedman of Cambridge, who is listed as being on the staff of Mount Auburn Hospital. I saw him in the fall of 2009 because of a painful knee injury. At the time, I asked him to help me obtain a handicapped parking permit from the Mass. RMV, and he agreed to do that. At home I downloaded the required form from the web site of the registry, and my wife brought it over that day to his office together with an envelope addressed to the RMV. I thought that all was well.
About a month later the RMV wrote to me. They could not give me an HP permit because Friedman had failed to complete the form. He had left blank the portion where he is asked whether or not I am competent to safely drive. When I phoned him and asked about this he told me «I have a policy of never saying whether or not a patient can drive. If you were to have an accident for any reason at all I could be held legally responsible.» He had not told me of this policy when he agreed to send in the form, nor had he asked me about my driving record (one moving violation in 40 years).
The damage had been done. About 2 months later I received a letter from the RMV telling me that because my doctor had refused to say if I could safely drive they were pulling my license. I had about 2 weeks to appeal this decision. This involved my spending 2 mornings at the registry, pleading my case before a hearing examiner. Worse, in the space of 2 weeks, I had to find a new doctor who would not only affirm that I could drive safely but who also would have to explain why Friedman had refused to make such a statement.. Accomplishing all this in such a short period was a very unnerving business.
Don’t go near him.