Doctor lied to me to get me to go through with procedure
Location: Florida
I went to a doctor who had on his website that he specialized in STD’s, especially with general wart removal and I had genital warts that I needed removed. I went to his office, and was shocked to see it was listed as an internal medicine clinic in a very sketchy medical care building.
I had gotten some removed 5 months prior at a dermatologist via liquid nitrogen and they were gone within a week or two like they had never been there. Well I told this to the doctor and he said he said he only uses electrocautery. He did an examination and marked me with 34 warts which was shocking to me because the most I ever had was 6. I was very hesitant because from what research I had already done from my initial diagnoses, electrocautery almost always leaves scarring and much longer recovery times. He told me this was a myth and the recovery time will actually be shorter and it definitely won’t scar me because they are so small. He charged me $1900 for the removal, which is about 8x as expensive as I would pay for cryogenic removal. I saw so many red flags but I was desperate and I agreed.
Well now it’s been almost two months and all 34 spots he burned are still painful and extremely discolored. Not only did he lie about the recovery time but he lied about the scarring. I went to a dermatologist to get a second opinion and he said that the doctor was extremely aggressive with the cautery and that should never have happened. He said it should have healed within a week or two but the fact I was over a month in with it looking like that was really bad. Also the initial doctor had said not to put any ointments on it after and the dermatologist said that was not good advice because that would significantly delay healing compared to using ointment on it. The dermatologist also said that there was no way i had 34 warts since the last time i saw him and that the other doctor likely burned hair follicles. Also, even if it had been 34 warts, they never would have used cautery on that many locations because of how damaging it would.
Well now I’m not sure what to do. I feel I was lied to by that doctor to agree to treatment and if he had been honest i wouldnt have done it. On top of that, he severely overcharged me and now I have a ton of permanent scaring/discoloration. I know there is no way the payout would be enough to do a medical malpractice case but i would like recoupment for the damage