COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Five local pain clinics closed abruptly, and patients are angry and anxious.
Georgia Pain Physicians, PC closed clinics in Ringgold, Calhoun, Gainesville, Forest Park and Marietta.
Patients that Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt spoke to said the shutdown happened earlier this week without any warning or explanation.
When Andrea Marks couldn’t contact her doctor by phone, nor online, she went to the main office near Windy Hill Hospital and saw that it was suddenly closed.
“The website was down and all that mess, so I figured I’d just drive down here,” she said.
She found a note on the door that offered no answers, only a fax number to request medical records.
Channel 2 Action News learned that the clinic’s founder, Dr. Robert Windsor, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of illegal billing. Months later, the state suspended his medical license.
Patients are now concerned about their treatments and medication since they have been unable to contact anyone from the offices.
They do not know when they will get their records in order to continue treatments elsewhere.
“This new clinic won’t be able to see me. I’ll be out of medication. I have a torn rotator cuff that needs to be operated on. I have degenerative joint disease. I had neck fusion in September, but it’s still going to hurt,” Marks said.
The state’s website says that the clinic’s license is good until next year.
Windsor is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He could get 10 years in prison.