Tardif & Ettinger MD PC

If you are looking for a family practice that cares about its patients this is NOT the doctors office for you. I am 26 years old born and raised in Manchester, CT. When I turned 18 my pediatric doctors office referred me to Dr. Jeffery Ettinger. Being a healthy young adult in the last 8 years I have only visited the office 4 times when I’ve felt under the weather. A few months back I was out of state when I felt ill and needed to see a doctor right away. I went to a walk in clinic in NYC where I had several tests done. I am uninsured and it cost me a pretty penny, but when you are sick what can you do? The clinic in NY emailed me all my blood work results with no answer as to why I still had symptoms 2 weeks later; I had a painful rash on my arms. I called my pathetic excuse for a «family» doctor thinking a small practice would take proper care of its patients and maybe the doctor could review the blood work/​allergy testing results with me and answer a few questions I had about a couple low counts.
So the office visit… First when I made the appointment I made them aware I did not have insurance and I was told the max out of pocket expense for the visit would be $ 160, ok well if it gives me clarity I would be fine with that so I make the appointment. I show to the appointment 10minutes early and was taken right away. I explain to the doctor why I was there (expressed my symptoms and hoping he could review the results with me and offer his opinion as to what was going on with me) He flipped through the paper work in less then a minutes skimming each page. States the blood work looks fine and if I’m having trouble sleeping he could write me a prescription for Paxel… Anxiety meds?!! I can’t sleep cause my arms itch doctor!!! I don’t want your psych drugs. The doctor does ZERO work of his own, says he’ll have my results (the ones I brought in from the other doctors office) recorded in my file and says to come back in two weeks if I still have symptoms. I’m almost in tears because he has done nothing for me. I reiterate my symptoms and ask for any professional advice he could give. I ask about the few low counts and he says «Well that could be anything.» He suggest I go buy over the counter Nix (for children’s head lice) and rub that on my arms since no allergy medicine is working ‘maybe’ it’s a parasite… The doctor put a stethoscope to my back and spent less than a minute reviewing my blood work, I was out of the office by the time my appointment was suppose to begin 10minutes later. A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. I go downstairs to check out and the aid at the counter said she wasn’t sure if there would be a charge today and she would give me a call if anything. I was so upset when I left I got in my car and cried, I still had this painful rash and I felt completely dismissed by Dr. Ettinger. He sounded like a complete nut job to me, offering me Paxel and Head Lice medicine with no testing for a parasite or a psych evaluation. I solely made the appointment for the comfort of a family practice and hoping for some answers. I was neither comforted or offered any helpful advice, if anything I left more worried when he mentioned it could be a parasite, mind you he didn’t offer to test for anything of that nature, or anything at all. At this point the only saving grace was I wasn’t charged for 8 useless minutes of his time… But not only is he a useless pill pusher, turns out he’s a crook to! He has the nurse call me later that day to tell me my bill for the visit is $ 199. When I question the lack of work he did and explain all testing was done and paid to another office already, AND that I was told it wouldn’t be more than $ 160 when I made the appointment the lady said she would get back to me., which she did. She told me I was being considered an out patient because I hadn’t been in 3 years. THIS IS A SICK JOKE RIGHT??? I made the appointment with Dr Ettinger because he is my primary care physician!!! and he DID NOTHING AT ALL. I could have paid any person on the street $ 200 to flip through blood results and have them re-​typed into a computer. He didn’t do a useful thing and he is a complete crook if he believes he deserves $ 199 for that visit. I took the charge up with his physician group. Over the last 5 months I have been going back and for with the group and they keep telling em they can not get a statement from the doctors office as to why I am being charged as an out patient. I am not refusing to pay for the visit, but I am angry and disappointed with the office so I’m not shelling out $ 200 with out a fight. Like I’ve said to the Prohealth group representative I want to pay a fair amount for what was actually done. The max payment the office could charge me does not reflect the work put out by Dr. Ettinger what so ever.
So that is my experience. If you are looking for a doctor who cares about people he is not the Doc for you!