Cover_Jan 05 (Page 2) - The Parklander Magazine

Patience Advocate
Young Coral Springs Doctor Practices Medicine The Old-Fashioned Way
By Rick Adelman
At the age of 30, Dr. Jason Goldman is a dinosaur
practicing a brand of medicine that is all but extinct these days.
Patients at his Coral Springs Medical Center office are
usually seen within minutes of their appointment time.
Goldman makes it a point to go into
the waiting room and personally escort
his patients to the examining rooms.
And when blood needs to be drawn,
it's Goldman who normally wields
the syringe and does the testing.
“A lot of my colleagues think I’m
nuts,” Goldman said of his hands-on
approach.
But Goldman insists he doesn’t
know any other way to practice
medicine. And even if his burgeoning
practice, which already boasts around
3,000 patients, continues to grow and
he brings in a physician or two to help
shoulder the workload, he promises
he will never stray from his basic
philosophy.
“It's just the right thing to do,”
he said. “I’ve just always believed
that being a doctor is important and it
means something more than just going
through the motions and ordering tests.
There’s a human aspect to it that the
insurance companies, government
and managed care are trying to force
us out of.”
Dr. Jason Goldman
has returned to
the Coral Springs
Medical Center,
where he volunteered
as a high school
student.
Fulfilling a life-long dream
Goldman, who opened his office in 2002, has come
full circle since his days at Taravella High School when he
volunteered at Coral Springs Medical Center (CSMC), helping
nurses with various tasks. Later on in high school he
got involved in a reading project with pediatric patients.
“I believe in the philosophy that if you
take care of your patients, do a good job and
do things ethically and in the right way,
everything else will fall into place.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, even when I was
younger,” Goldman said. “So everything I did in school was
focused on becoming a doctor.”
Goldman was accepted into a six-year program at
the University of Miami, skipping two years of college and
graduating with his medical degree in 1998. He served his
residency in internal medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital
in Miami and after a couple of stops returned to CSMC t
o open his own practice.
“Not only is he approachable, but he’s a nice person,
a good person,” said Parkland’s Jerry Tresser, who began
seeing Goldman around a year ago. “When I first began
dealing with him I got a sense of compassion.
“I trust the man. He follows up with phone calls and if
there’s some adversity in your life he makes it his business
to call you. My mother passed away recently and he called
to offer his condolences. She wasn’t even his patient. None of
the doctors who treated my mother
called. The nursing home were she
lived didn't even send a card.”
Tresser, 60, a retired New York
City policeman, questions whether
Goldman’s idealistic approach will
be realistic in a few years.
“I remember when I started
my job I was a gung-ho type of
cop,” he said. “I wanted things to
be done right. But after five years
things began to change and reality
sets in a little. Jason is in the same
situation. Right now he's a caring
guy. I hope he never loses that.”
Long day, busy schedule
Goldman said his residency
training toughened him and
taught him how to function
despite sleep deprivation. He once
worked 40 consecutive hours.
Although that's not likely to recur,
his days are still long and busy.
He normally awakens at
5 a.m., makes rounds at several
hospitals, then sees patients in his
office from around 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When one of his patients goes to the emergency room,
Goldman heads for the hospital.
“I do not wait until the next day,” said Goldman, whose
wife, Joy, is expecting their first child in May. “I examine
them myself, write my own orders and follow them every
day in the hospital.”
Goldman acknowledges that he’s a rarity in the medical
profession. He’s not certain how the roots of his belief system
were planted, just that he feels compelled to stick to his
principles.
“One of the things I’ve always believed in is that you
have to fight for what is right,” he said. “The patients need
an advocate, someone to take care of them. Half my day is
spent fighting with insurance companies about the standard
of care. A patients needs an X-ray or CAT scan or whatever
and the companies are saying no because it will save them
money. Meanwhile, I have this sick patient that needs help.
“I've fought with medical directors and heads of
companies and told them, ‘You’re wrong. You need to
provide services for the patient.’
“I believe in the philosophy that if you take care of your
patients, do a good job and do things ethically and in the
right way, everything else will fall into place.” ●P
Rick Adelman is managing editor of the Parklander. E-mail him
at editor@theparklander.com
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