Fed up with civil surgeons in your area? Tell someone!

[seanyb719 1]

same sort of problem in seattle. i phoned pretty much every single CS listed and they tried to tell me I had to have the full medical. i feel sorry for the ones who were on the phone towards the end lol... eventually found one to do it for $50. still expensive in my book but cheapest I could find by far! they also knew exactly what they were doing!

[ATLR 2]

Before I sent in my AOS, I've read up on a lot of people experiences with the CS in this forum and it really did scared the h-e-l-l out of me. But I guess I am one of the lucky one. Upon my 2nd try, I've found a pretty good CS over here in Miami Beach. They know what they are doing, doesn't demand that you do full body check up. In fact when I show the head nurse my DS-3025, she was so happy. She said it makes everything easier for her and the doc. But I still need to get one shot for TB, but that is understandable as it can be a requirement by USCIS. To me, they were a little expensive because they are a private practice. The head nurse ask why didn't I go to the Miami Beach health center (there are also appointed USCIS CS over there) to get my shots and transcribe which is way cheaper, but it is not an option for me because they can only see me 2 months later!! So I guess the money is well spent with the CS I've found and I count my blessing on having a knowledgeable CS in my area. But that doesn't diminish the fact that there are a lot of unscrupulous CS around and maybe, if more complaints are send in, the USCIS will have to take notice of it sooner or later.

[dlbraun 4]

fed up? yea! We went to clinic and paid $100 each to get vaccinations documented. 9 months later immigrations informed us that one of the physicals from Kyiv were missing. Called the clinic and was told $285 plus $110 more if x-ray was needed. Called Hennepin county, $270 for everything.

[alanb 0]

Our local CS (Billings MT) takes appointments ONE day a month. He was booked 4 months out. Had to drive to another freaking state.

[Pitaya 2,577]

This is an OLD thread. The last posting was over three years ago.

[Morningmist 76]

I'm new to this forum but I have been using it's help for a few months now.

I haven't had a hard time getting appointments but I did have to shop around. Dr. Andrea Andrews in Snellville/Lawrenceville, GA, was OK. It cost me 210 and they wanted me to be uptodate about my vaccines which I wasn't. I did get a full physical. I get physicals every year so I knew it didn't matter. I used my insurance to get the vaccines which was 100% covered and they did the other tests.

[Mark + Melissa 49]

I emailed them photos of the professional atmosphere of the Civil Surgeon we saw as compared to the U.S. Health Department. Many of my Scottish Husband's immunizations were marked as age inappropriate as he is 57 years old, and the immunizations were not available to him as a child. She made is do them all anyway and it ended up costing us over $600, even with his provided medical records and immunization records, and insisted on new flu and tetanus shots as well as try to get him on an unnecessary hepatitis series!

Below is collage of photos showing the office. You might have to click on it to see it larger. The other photos shows the room crammed with a mix of quilt tops, quilting supplies, openly viewable medical records and purchase orders, as well as medical supplies.. There wasn't a free wall or table or desk ANYWHERE. Yeah - this is SO much better than going to the county health department.

[chitowncanuck 0]

Wow...I had a good experience so I should consider myself lucky??? I had to pay for the medical exam but he gave me an itemized list to submit to my insurance company. The only vaccine I had to do was the flu shot because I had my doctor fax in all my vaccinations (all were up to date) so I didn't have to do any of them (phew b/c they were expensive!).

James Herron in Chicago (if you're looking for one in that area)

[memmy 3]

QUOTE (Terri and Seb @ Apr 21 2009, 12:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like many of you, we had horrible, horrible experiences with civil surgeons in our area. Not only were the two in this city unkind and patronizing, they had no idea what procedures they are meant to operate under while performing civil surgeon duties. Instead, they insist we all pay for the full exam, vaccines we don't even need, outrageous paperwork fees all the while not having a clue what current regulations state.

While Dr. Arnold performs a great service at a fair price, it's absolutely ridiculous that we all have to mail our papers to Texas in order to have someone listen to us.

After a civil surgeon in my city screamed, "We do things our own way, 'round here!" and told us to take our business elsewhere when we showed him the current I-693 instructions, we decided to file a formal complaint. I'm not sure if they'll actually do anything about it, but it makes me feel better to know I've tried.

We called the number below and explained, in detail, how the civil surgeon failed to adhere to the guidelines set forth by USCIS. The man on the phone said he did not personally deal with these matters, but he transcribed them and sent them to the appropriate office (wherever that is). He even gave us a case number and told us within a month, we could fill out a "freedom of information" paper and see what had been done about our complaint.

I truly feel that if enough of us start speaking up about this, more attention will be brought to this issue. It's all well and good that we can use Dr. Arnold for now, but with new TB regulations being brought forth- that won't be an option for many people in the future since he refuses to transcribe TB results.

I highly encourage you all to contact them and gripe!

Office of the Inspector General

US Department of Justice

Investigations Division

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Room 4706

Washington, DC 20530

Fax: (202)-616-9898

e-mail: oig.hotline@usdoj.gov

phone: 1-800-869-4499

I had no problems or hassles with this issue when I was undergoing my journey, however I have heard horrible stories about others. How awesome that you took the time to look into this and post this!! I think it's an excellent idea and hope others with these issues will make the time to contact them as well.

I've had a similar experience in Wisnton-Salem, NC, today. They tried to charge me 380,00 ( that is before any vaccine was ever made).