Ventre Medical

"When you come to a doctor, especially psychiatrist, you must trust one totally. For a few years, my experience with the facility was satisfactory I trusted them. Until, Dr. Shekar, a resident, proved me wrong. Entrapment of a patient for an appointment, by indicating things that already been decided against must be contrary to medical ethics and common decency. Anyone who engages in those behaviors will surely be unable to rise to the level of trust expected from a psychiatrist. Ironically, look up what 'sheker' means in Hebrew. For the sake of fairness, I will write a follow up, let's see whether they made a good medical decision."

"Worst service. Dr was good but when I had problems with my prescription they were no help. I called multiple times and never got a phone call back."

"I’ve had several interactions with psychiatrists, but none better than Dr. Katerina. She’s diligent, intelligent, intentional, and really cares about my well being. She’s as sweet as can be and is remarkably easy to work with. 10/10."

"My APRN is wonderful, 5 star rating for him. The billing department is another story. You can not even get through to anyone, always goes right into voice mail. I was billed $45 on two different occasions for a co-pay, which I have no co- pay for telev visits. I have spoken to the office manager(?) and sent several emails trying to get my money refunded. This has been going on since March 2023. I see by reading other reviews that I am not the only person they have done this to. What will it take to get my refund? Very bad business practice!"

"A provider at this practice ruined my life. Maybe not permanently, but still, I don’t know how long this will last. I started off seeing a different provider - who was a doctor - who left the practice. When they left, I was randomly placed with a different provider - Ilona Moroz. She is a nurse practitioner and highly unqualified to deal with severe co-occurring mental health diagnoses. Before seeing her, I wasn’t 100% mentally well by any means, but I was stable. Even after going through highly stressful, traumatic experiences for several months prior. At the time of seeing her, I was on an antidepressant. She immediately decided to take me off the antidepressant - citing the possibility of a future manic episode due to the notes of a previous provider (not the one mentioned above) saying I have bipolar disorder. I have never had a manic episode in my life. I have, however, struggled with depression for over a decade. Why would she think it fit to take me off a medication I needed to function to prevent the risk of something I’ve never even come close to experiencing? Of course, taking me off the antidepressants, as someone with major depression, was a horrible idea. I began declining rapidly. So she decided to try Vraylar - a non-generic name brand $700/month drug (thankfully my insurance covered it). I wonder why she’d be so excited to push a $700 prescription on me when I have taken it’s cousin - abilify (generic version) - unsuccessfully in the past? Anyway, this medication caused SEVERE nausea. To the point where I couldn’t - and still can’t - function. Nauseous all day every day with no remedy. She prescribed me yet another medication to counteract the horrible side effects and hide the mistakes she caused in the first place. When that didn’t work, she took me off the vraylar. By that point, I was on only 125 mg of Lamotrigine. A very low dose, especially by itself. Mind you, at the time, I was diagnosed (according to my records with this practice) with 9 different various psychiatric disorders - ranging from bipolar disorder to BPD to anxiety to MDD. It was simply not enough, and my mental health declined more. She decided to try Caplyta, yet another $700/month medication, again, wonder why - this time my insurance didn’t cover it, so I had to wait another week to see her again to be treated. In the meantime, I was still dealing with nausea, suicidal thoughts, severe depression, anger, irritability, mood swings, etc. only being treated with a very low dose of a mood stabilizer. Finally, we landed on Lithium. We started with a low dose which did nothing. Then we moved to 1200 mg a day which is an enormous jump, in my opinion, which has left my body and mind a wreck. I feel sick all the time, I have tons of side effects - I won’t get into details, but they’re very unpleasant - and my mental health is at an all time low. I made the decision to seek out my previous provider who left this horrible, godforsaken practice, and hopefully with their help I can fix the mess Ilona and Ventre medical made of my mind and body. It will take time. She spent 3 months treating me like a guinea pig. Hopefully it’ll get better soon. I can’t warn anyone reading this enough. This practice is horrible. They push unnecessary and outrageously expensive treatments on their patients for the sole purpose of profit. I’m nearly broke, in debt, sick all the time mentally and physically, because I can’t work, because I’m so sick, because of the irresponsible actions of this unqualified woman who would rather collect a paycheck from the drug companies than actually treat her suffering, sick patients. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope it helps shed light on the quality of this practice. Please, take your insurance and money somewhere else where they’re actually going to help you."