Anne Westgard, MSN

This provider showed no interest in my subjective experience as a patient referred to rheumatlogy by my PCP. She kept interrupting me with, 'I see this every week!' and wouldn’t let me explain how multiple symptoms started at the same time. When I mentioned cold extremities, she scolded me for how I was dressed. I explained I work from home, wear layers and a hat daily, and only wore regular clothes for my appointments that day. I felt that she then mocked me ('What, you never go out?!') I said I mostly don't, due to pain, which she didn't want to hear ('No time for that!')She focused on meds I wasn't even taking when symptoms began. She first insisted that allergy meds were the cause (I don’t take even them), then searched my med list for side effects that fit. When she found one, she declared it the cause. I explained that the timing did not match but she was done. Primary care will work around Anne, but this was one of the worst VA interactions I've ever had in 30 years.