St Francis Medical Group

In March, I was bleeding from a UTI and called Dr. Wang, my Anthem Medi-Blue Select PCP to see him immediately. The officious receptionist at the office told me I am not Dr. Wang's patient and he is not accepting new patients: go to emergency if you want immediate care. I telephoned the Asian American Medical Group (AAMG) to complain that St. Francis Medical Group's Dr. Wang is "apparently" not my PCP even though my insurance card from Anthem says he is my PCP. The AAMG rep talked with Dr. Wang by telephone, confirming with her and for me that he was indeed my PCP. The rep from AAMG said St. Francis Medical Group made a mistake in refusing me permission to see my primary care doctor.

I did not need to contact Dr. Wang again until recently when I learned my surgery required I get some pre-op lab work done beforehand. I telephoned Dr. Wang at his office and again the receptionist told me that no registration exists for me as a patient, telling me as well that it was impossible for me to see an alternative doctor at this private clinic since my current medical insurance card does not have on it the name of the alternative doctor. I again telephoned AAMG and again AAMG insisted Dr. Wang was indeed my doctor. However, AAMG mentioned that Dr. Wang had no available appointments till late September and my scheduled surgery date precluded him from seeing me. AAMG thus arranged for me to see a P.A. by the name of Emily Fung for the following day.

Hours before my appointment, and on the same day of my appointment, I tried to reach Emily Fung, P.A. by telephone to find out if I "had to" wear a mask and whether she honored any religious exemptions or medical exemptions from mask wearing. I telephoned at 10:30 a.m. and again at 2:10 p.m., forty minutes before my appointment. On each call, an answering service merely answered and after leaving my message that I wanted a callback before my appointment, I never once received a callback.

When I arrived at 2:45 p.m. for my appointment, an office manager, wearing one of those toxic blue masks so popular these days in SF, opened the door and told me she needed to take my temperature. I let her take my temperature but then she told me I "had to" wear a mask. I showed her my religious exemption badge, which states, "Refusal of service may place you at risk for being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There is no evidence that I am a direct threat to the health and safety of others," etc. The office manager said, "Sue me! You're rude and I want you out of this office." When I agreed, under duress, to wear a mask, she said, "You must leave. You will not be seeing Dr. Fung." I insisted I was not leaving until I had a chance to see Dr. Fung. It was my medical right to receive service.

The office manager left the empty waiting room in which I sat reading a book of poetry meanwhile and she spoke with Emily Fung, P.A. down the hallway. could hear their conversation. Ms. Fung agreed with the manager to refuse me medical service, and the two of them telephoned private security guards to take me out of the otherwise empty waiting room. I was not a threat or danger to anyone. If masks works and if Dr. Fung believed masks protect you, then I was certainly no danger to her or to the manager, both of whom were wearing identical masks.

I placed a formal grievance with my Anthem Medi-Blue Select against Emily Fong, P.A. The customer service at Anthem tried to seek redress with St. Francis Medical Group and/or Emily Fung, P.A., and she did so twice by telephone. On each attempt, whoever answered the phone hung up immediately after picking up, allowing no attempt at communication to resolve the conflict at all.

The behavior by the answering service, by St. Francis Medical Group, by the absenteeism and hypocrisy of Dr. Wang, and by the cowardly, egregiously indifferent behavior of Emily Fong, P.A., and the rude and indifferent office manager, collectively, makes this one private medical clinic and group of practitioners that prospective patients interested in good quality of care and in ethical behavior want to avoid.

To add insult to injury, Emily Wong, P.A. is under the aegis of Brown & Tolland, not Asian American Medical Group, so she knew before I ever entered the office that she wasn't going to see me because her contract is to see patients who are members of the Brown & Tolland Medical Group, not the Asian American Medical Group that I belonged to. In other words, St. Francisco Medical Group openly and deliberately deceived me, giving me reason to believe I was going to finally receive the pre-op lab necessary for me to have my surgery when Ms. Fong knew she could and would not deliver any medical service to me -- regardless of my non-compliance regarding masking, regardless of any medical or religious exemptions.