I filed complaint with Illinois Department of financial professional regulations, unfortunately it was dismissed. Dr. feinmuel would not talk with us for 2 minutes to discuss issues with Solo and what we are trying to accomplish the last weeks of her life.
Many doctors at VSC were treating Solo for years. Instead of coming to the phone she had their client care coordinator dismissed us as patients and told us that they would send our medical records wherever we wanted. So she chose to dismiss us as opposed to having a two minute conversation.
Do not trust her. She is not a Licensed oncologist
It is amazing, but I have had the same experience as a number of other reviewers. Dr. Feinmehl, cancer specialist, and part owner of the business, managed to make our last days with our wonderful cat utterly horrific. She hung up the phone on us after we questioned her treatment plan. She flat out refused to meet with us at every chemo session. We tried to call her back (we were admittedly upset) but she refused to speak with us. She then instructed her client representative, Heather, to fire us as clients.
I reached out over the following weeks to attempt some sort of resolution, though she refused to return any calls. She merely offered to treat our cat for one more week (making it clear that she would not treat him further), and provided a list of alternative vets. My fear was that I would be unable to find a doctor to treat my cat given the time frame she set out. I am happy to report this was not the case.
Despite her lack of empathy, Dr. Feinmehl actually ended up being quite useful. At first, appointments were booked out for a couple of weeks at the major cancer treatment centers. However, after dropping her name, exceptions were made such that we were able to be seen immediately. It turns out that Dr. Feinmehl has developed quite a reputation amongst her peers as being rude to her staff and unwilling to communicate with clients. Twice I was asked which doctor we were seeing at VSC and upon revealing her name was told, "Say no more; we can get you in right away."
For those of us that truly love our pets and include them as members of our families, the prospect of losing them creates moments of painful anxiety. While I admit that we could have been more reserved and cordial during our conversation, I believe that it is Dr. Feinmehl's job as a veterinarian to offer compassion and understanding. Presumably, as a cancer "specialist" (I learned that she is actually not board-certified), she would be used to dealing with emotional clients facing terminal diagnoses of their best friends.
At the end of the day, leaving VSC has been a blessing. Though they were our closest option, we have managed to find both an emergency hospital (Golf Rose) and cancer treatment center (MedVet) that have been accommodating, respectful, and caring. The doctors we have since encountered have no problem taking time to explain their treatment plans and meet with us every time we visit. I am so grateful to have compassionate veterinarians and a board-certified oncologist that managed our cat's care with creativity and solicitude. We certainly will miss Dr. Noonan, but are otherwise much better off detached from Dr. Feinmehl's toxic lack of emotional intelligence.
