Maine Veterinary Referral Center: Potthoff Alan DVM

"Great place"

"Best experiece when I had to but my cat down. The staff was terrific. I was more than i expected. I had her cremated and had her back in less than a week. Kudos to the staff for your support thru this hard time."

"So friendly and a great selection!"

"I'm a retired veterinarian, and I had taken one of my dogs for an MRI to evaluate chondral lesions and possible tenosynovitis suggested by radiography taken a few weeks prior. I made my appointment specifically for this purpose. To Dr. Rubin's credit, he gave my dog a thorough physical examination and evaluation. However, Dr. Rubin had diagnosed Kiki with a grade two bilateral cardiac murmur, and ascribed it to stress. I thought this odd since the only animals to develop temporary arrhythmias due to stress are cats. Gee, so did my vet. Gee, so does my physiology text from vet school. What a surprise. I auscultated her when I got home, no murmur. Had her checked by another vet, no murmur. This is a very. very serious and hard mistake to make. During the course of the appointment I asked him if he had had the chance to review the radiographs, and he indicated that he had. However, when I asked him specifics about the radiographic findings, he was unable to answer and I suspected he had never reviewed these prior findings. He repeatedly pushed for me to have CT performed, and then went into a rather lengthy and pedantic explanation regarding the medical management of this condition, being somewhat condescending and elaborating on issues that were, at the time, irrelevant in light of any diagnostic evidence, such as MR imaging. Considering my background, I found this odd, because his approach to explaining this condition was as if I was a layman without any background. I asked if he knew if I was a DVM, and he indicated that he did. I thanked him for his detailed explanation but indicated that none of this was necessary, and my goal of the visit was to obtain images which would allow us to visualize the lesions described by the previous radiology report, and that I felt that the best modality to obtain these was MR. He then became somewhat "stiff" and his demeanor changed; he left the room, and the technician came in with an estimate for nearly $2000... to perform a CT scan. I repeated what I had to Dr. Rubin said regarding the best imaging method, and she indicated that she would talk to Dr. Rubin, at which time I stated that he and I had just had this conversation. She left and returned with Dr. Rubin, who now had a somewhat confrontational and aggressive demeanor, and who proceeded to reiterate that we should proceed with CT. I gathered up my dog's leash and stated that this appointment had reached its conclusion. Dr. Rubin then literally blocked by exit and demanded -- not asked -- to know why I was "upset". I told him I wasn't upset, but rather irritated, and when he demanded to know why, I told him that his selection of modality was a question of ego and of being correct and in charge and not what was indicated by the previous radiographic study. I then stated that this was unacceptable. He said nothing but instead followed me out to the waiting room where he yelled, in a shrill voice in front of other clients, "Sir, you have to check out before you can leave!". I told him I was sorry that he was so agitated by our consultation that he felt he had to yell. He responded by storming back into the examination area. While I was checking out I could hear him yelling in the treatment room. Stay away from this facility; stay far away, and travel further to get the services you need if you have to."