I would like to preface my review by stating that I believe Dr. Sharon Foreman is a very caring and competent pediatric dentist who goes above and beyond. Before today, I could not imagine entrusting the dental care of my children to anyone else. Twelve years ago, I began taking my oldest daughter to Dr. Foreman when she was commuting from Asheville and working out of Dr. Scott Murphy's office. She was new to the area and just starting her practice. My daughter was turning 2 at the time and was deathly afraid of needles, shots, and pretty much any place that resembled a medical facility. I had no idea at the time how lucky I was when I blindly choose Dr. Foreman for my daughters first dental appointment and teeth cleaning. To make a long story short, I was amazed by Dr. Foreman's friendly demeanor, caring bedside manner, and patient, motherly touch to which she lovingly provided to the area children and the disabled, without sacrificing her commitment to quality care. Through out the years, Dr. Formans office, staff and practice grew, first going out on her own and and obtaining her first small space in the Grace Hospital office complex and then to her designing and building the the beautiful, rustic, and kid friendly "mountain lodge" we know as Morganton Childrens Dental Center today. During all these years and among all these changes, my family was growing too, I had 3 more children, went through a divorce, moved twice, both times an hour and once an hour an a half away, but one thing remained constant.. I made the commute without a second thought and all of my children remained patients of Dr. Sharon Foreman. It is with great sadness that as of today, I must report my children will never again set foot in Dr. Formans office. That being said, this review is regarding the experience I had with office administrative assistant, Melanie Jo Bivens today, which ultimately has fueled my decision to remove my children from the practice and never return. To make things a little more understandable I first need to explain that with all the growth Dr. Foremans practice had, not all change has been good. Over the past year especially, I have noticed the office has become more disorganized and on at least 4 occasions over the past year, I made the commute to Morganton with my youngest for his appointment only to find out that a. the office was closed with a sign on the door, no one had called to cancel the appointment.(They have my cell phone number and I carry it at all times.) b. my son had dental surgery scheduled at a Morganton dental outpatient center and when we arrived for the surgery we were told the referral and x-rays were never faxed over (I asked for a paper copy and was assured it was taken care of already, that everything was done digitally) Of course, it was Friday and Dr. Foremans office was closed so again, we had to reschedule the surgery.. c. Office staff forgot to call in Anxiety/Pain medication for my son and so after we arrived we were told we had to reschedule the appointment for a later date. Because of this mistake, he could not be seen even though he had a severely abscessed tooth because even if we had picked it up then, he would have to wait an hour for it to take effect. d. The anxiety/pain medication was called in but to to the wrong CVS so we had to drive an hour to go pick it up, even though I explained to office staff on several occasions that we had moved and switched pharmacies. e. my sons last appointment was scheduled for September, and after picking him up early, signing him out from school, we drove to CVS, picked up and administered the medicine, and then drove to Morganton to find the parking lot was empty, the lights were al off and the door was locked. There was no sign on the door. I was confused and a little shocked, then just as I was about to head back to my car, the phone rang and office staff was calling to cancel the appointment, less than 2 minutes before it was scheduled. I was very upset because I had already given my son the medicine and I was told I should not return him to school. I was further advised that they would call me to reschedule his appointment. Sadly, a month went by without any call, things were busy and it slipped my mind until my son started complaining about the pain in his tooth again. At that point, I called and rescheduled the appointment myself. It was this appointment that was scheduled for tomorrow at 830 AM, and that has prompted this review. This afternoon, as I was running around Christmas shopping, it occurred to me that they would want my son to have the pain/anxiety medication again, and so I called the office and left a message, reminding the office staff that if they needed him to have it to be seen tomorrow, that they would need to call it in for him. About an hour later, I rec'd a call, which I assumed was the office staff calling to confirm the appointment and let me know whether he needed the medicine or not. Nothing could have prepared me for the attitude, the sheer unprofessionalism and the downright rudeness that awaited me on the other end of the line. It was Melanie Jo Bivens, although she did not identify herself. She told me that we had a "real problem" that I should have the medicine left over from last time. I explained to her that I did not because I had already given it to him. She told me she had called it in four times this year and that I should have plenty ( I later found out it had been called in three times in the last three years!) All times I had been instructed to do so, I gave him the medication. I do not remember if there was a half of tab left, but if there was, I would have surely thrown it away by now. It would more than likely be expired, and even if not, I was never instructed to save the waste or keep it for the next appointment. I explained all of this to her and she started getting irate with me on the phone. She actually ACCUSED me of taking my sons medicine, I told her that was ridiculous. I am 7 months pregnant with twins and I would not so much as take a Tylenol let alone a Valium. Not to mention, my son is 40 lbs, and I am about four times his size right now, so I am not sure what a half of tab of valium would do for a person my size anyway. That being said, I do not take any kind of drugs, not even over the counter, and I was again , in shock and disbelief. I told her to never mind, we would just come without it and see how he did. She said "NO, Dr. Foreman would not see him without it". So I said, well, what am I supposed to do? I do not have any to give him, so I guess I just have to cancel, but what would be the point of rescheduling because she would just say the same thing the next time around. There was no right answer. Finally, I calmly asked to speak to Dr. Foreman directly and she refused, laughed at me and further went on to state that I "could just go get high the rest of his valium" and hung up on me. I was completely floored. I was shaking and very upset, I could not believe all of this just took place. I tried to call back repeatedly and Melanie Jo Bivens kept picking up the phone and hanging it up on me! Finally, I put my kids in the car and drove over there. I had to have some answers. When we arrived at the office, I walked in and went to the window where Melanie was sitting. She was laughing again. I asked her if she was the one I talked to, she said that yes she was. We rehashed everything again, and I showed her how visibly pregnant I was (with twins) and asked her if she really thought my son coming in for an abscessed tooth was all about me getting a Valium? She said well, yes, I do, someone is taking it! She further went on to say that because I fell asleep in the chair in the waiting room on the kids annual teeth cleaning appointment back in July, while the kids had been taken back by the dental hygenists, that she knew solely because of that I was "on something"! I said WHAT? It was just 2 days after my wedding which I did ALL of the work, cooking, decorating, alterations, favors, set up, tear down, EVERYTHING, myself. I didn't sleep for a week, it was the most exhausting time of my life and come to find out, I did not know it yet but I was 8 weeks pregnant with TWINS! Not to mention, my kids are 14, 11, 9, and 6. Not babies anymore, and I was told not to go back with the younger ones because they cry/act out more. Not sure what or how that could be construed as me being a drug addict.... I dozed off in a chair in the office....Now all of this being said, she then decided to call the police on us because my husband was right behind me recording the entire scene on his cellphone. I never raised my voice, never swore, never said anything threatening or unprofessional. Again, I was just in shock and I wanted answers. The police arrived and told her she could not make him delete the video and that we had done nothing wrong as there was no sign posted that recording or photography was not allowed. Then she called me a "bitch" in front of the police and my children. I have a copy of the video and I will be happy to PM it to anyone who wants to see it. I will also be sending a copy of this to the newspaper in Morganton. I feel this woman should be fired from her job and should not be allowed to have contact with children given the fact that she swore in front of my kids, not to mention called me a drug addict. I would like to tell Dr. Foreman directly of this experience however, I do not know how because Melanie Jo Bivens said she does not want to talk to me. I find this hard to believe but again, I do not know what Melanie Jo Bivens has told her at this point. Please share this and tell everyone you know in hope that word will get back to Dr. Foreman.
by Christina Warlick
xxx.xxx.244.163
December 16, 2015
