Chapman James B MD

Dr. Chapman strikes again. I started seeing Dr. Chapman several years ago after my physician retired (great guy). So, I went in for my physical a week ago which went okay. To preface, I’m very healthy and anal about my health. Additionally, I have a high risk job, so I asked for some additional lab work to be done. I told Dr. Chapman on 3 separate occasions I wanted the tests done. Sure enough, a day later, I get my lab work back and the tests weren’t done. I called back and had to leave a message to find out why the additional work wasn’t done. It took over a day to get a call back and was told the lab work would be added. I didn’t hear anything back from them after that. Considering they only hold onto your blood for a week after the initial test it was quite irritating to have to constantly call to find out what was going on. Not to mention, it was irritating that I had to call A WEEK LATER to find out the results myself. Something so simple turned out to be quite annoying. Very disappointed!

Doctor Chapman was one of many doctors who failed my dad. For over 30 years, annual lab work revealed the elevated levels of iron in his blood but doctors did nothing. A week before his passing, my dad was looking through old reports from doctor visits. He wanted to understand how hemochromatosis was not diagnosed sooner since it takes years to develop. One report from 2008, inflammation and edema was mentioned but nothing was done. A search on WebMD explains that hemochromatosis can be diagnosed with a blood test which makes this so frustrating.
When my dad began to notice severe swelling in his ankles in early 2010, he again visited Doctor Chapman who said the edema could be caused from my dad’s part time job which required that he sit in a car for many hours during the day. Someone in my family mentioned that if the edema was caused by sitting in a vehicle, wouldn’t there be thousands of truck drivers with edema? My dad trusted this doctor was doing his best and didn’t question him.
It was not until my dad was jaundiced with severe edema throughout his legs that a diagnosis of end stage cirrhosis was made. A referral to a hepatologist came too late, a visit in December and he passed away on January 1^st. I was looking into my dad’s eyes, after the team of nurses removed the ventilator, wondering how all of this happened. My dad passed away because there was too much iron in his blood and due to an incorrect diagnosis Dr. Chapman who missed the signs, failed to investigate further or refer to a specialist, and prescribed medicine that in the end, helped very little if at all.