This article has been updated to reflect a statement released by Dr. Peter Gallogly on Wednesday.
A video of a Gainesville doctor yelling at a patient at Gainesville After Hours Clinic on Monday has gone viral, with over 186,000 views and 80 comments as of press time.
Jessica Stipe, 38, posted the interaction she had with Dr. Peter Gallogly from a recording her daughter took in the waiting room. Stipe made a 6:30 p.m. appointment at the clinic after experiencing a day of severe pain and vomiting, which she believed were symptoms of pneumonia, she said.
At 7:45 p.m., after not being seen other than to take a urine sample, Stipe returned to the waiting room to collect her $80 copay and go home, she said.
Stipe was told the refund would have to be granted by the doctor. In the video, Gallogly came to the waiting room and was visibly angered by Stipe’s displeasure with her wait time. Raising his voice, Gallogly told Stipe she would have to wait longer in other places like CareSpot or the emergency room.
“Get your money and get the hell out,” Gallogly said in the video. “Get the f--- out of my office, now.”
After Gallogly learned he was being recorded, he took the phone from Stipe’s daughter.
“(My daughter) reached out for her phone, and he shoved her,” Stipe said.
Gallogly ended the recording and threw the phone down the hallway as Stipe called police, she said.
Gainesville Police came to the clinic, and Stipe showed them the video. GPD opened a criminal investigation into the incident Monday night, and it is active and ongoing, wrote GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias in an email.
Gainesville After Hours Clinic could not be reached for comment.
Stipe took to Facebook and shared the video of the incident on her personal page. Since then, family, friends and strangers have reacted in shock, disbelief and defense.
Jennifer Hines, a friend of Jessica Stipe, watched the video over and over, she said.
“It’s never OK to treat a client, or a patient, (or) anybody like that,” Hines said. “It’s just completely unethical.”
Hines, who works as a housing management information system lead for Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, felt the doctor’s behavior was in direct violation of the oath he takes as a medical professional to care for his patients.
“I know that everybody has bad days,” she said, “but in the field that he’s in and in the capacity that he works, there’s never a day or anything you could be going through that could allow or make that acceptable behavior, ever.”
Dr. Peter Gallogly released a statement Wednesday about the incident. He said he regrets losing his temper and acting in a manner that was “not befitting a medical doctor,” but that the video doesn’t show everything that transpired. Gallogly said Jessica Stipe was “belligerent and abusive to the office staff.”
Gallogly said he only went out to the waiting room when Stipe refused to leave after receiving her refund. He said the woman and her daughter cursed and threatened him, leading the front desk to call the police.
“But please appreciate that the videotape is but the last minute or two of a very abusive tirade against my office staff by the two women,” Gallogly wrote in the statement.
Gallogly said that his reaction, although unprofessional, was an attempt to defend his staff.
“Again, while not an excuse for my behavior, a basic reason for my reaction is that I simply regard my staff as family, and I over-reacted in order to defend them,” he wrote.
Stipe could not be reached for further comment.
@jessica_giles_
jgiles@alligator.org
