Letter to the Editor

Thanks, Doc

Monday, April 15, 2002

I have debated on writing this letter ever since the breaking news was seen on KFVS. However, I cannot sit idly by and watch the reputation and career of a fine and upstanding doctor be destroyed by a couple of people breaking the law.

Dr. Stephen Segal has been my physician for two years. When I chose to start seeing Dr. Segal, I knew nothing about him. No one that I knew had ever heard of him. The physician that I had been seeing in Dexter just up and quit with no warning and I was scrambling to find a new one.

At my first appointment, I was very impressed with his chair side manner and level of intelligence. I have been to many doctors and I can tell you that being a doctor does not automatically mean you are intelligent. I was also impressed with the understanding that he showed me at that time.

Yes, I am one of Dr. Segal's pain patients. I have fibromyalgia. If you know the disease, then you know the amount of pain that can be associated with it. At times before seeing Dr. Segal, I could barely get out of bed to go to work. I had been to many doctors and been told that it was job associated, a common thing for women of my age, a mental condition, etc. Dr. Segal took the time to listen to me and set up a program of pain control that he thought would be appropriate for me. No other doctor had ever set aside enough time or even suggested it. Dr. Segal was very adamant that the decision was up to me. He also told me that it might not work, because it didn't work for everyone. Thank goodness it did.

Dr. Segal has made a big difference in my life. If I had not gone to him, I probably would be on disability now. However, because of him I was able to continue working and have a quality of life that I had almost forgotten. The medication he prescribed for me started at a very low dosage and was monitored very closely.

I do not know of another doctor in this area that would work for me as a patient and not just for the money. People should not be so quick to "convict" when they only see what is on television. My life is better because of Dr. Segal, and my family and I thank him for that.

Goldie Degroot, Bloomfield