Dr. Ann Elizabeth Van Heest, MD

If I could give a lower rating I would. I had been seeing her since age 5 and knew early on that I didn't like her, she didn't listen, and I didn't trust her. I'd be waiting 6 months for an appointment with excruciating pain only to be dismissed and told to come back in 6 mos. She would maybe be in the room 5 min. She wouldn't speak to me, only my parents. Eventually I needed surgery and she was positively gleeful at the prospect of being able to perform the surgery on someone so young (I was over 18) and show it off to her residents. I knew with every fiber of my being it was a mistake to let her do it, but my first choice had no availability for a year and I was truly desperate. Immediately after the surgery it was nothing but abuse. As soon as two weeks after the surgery I started experiencing burning pain that was beyond excruciating. I knew it wasn't normal. I wasn't sleeping, I was screaming in pain and burning myself with microwavable heating pads to try to dull the pain. I was… in her office every week describing this to her and she continued to not look me in the eyes and speak only to my parents. She told THEM it was normal and it was all in my head and I must be depressed. Then she sicced a pain clinic nurse on me and had him call me daily to gaslight me and tell me I'm depressed and anyone with my life would be. After many weeks of this and the pain only increasing she finally agreed that after 3 months she would do another surgery to look and find the problem, even though she wouldn't admit there was one. I somehow made it through 3 months and asked to schedule the surgery, but now she said they would never do another surgery this early. It was clear the earlier lie was to get me to go away. So I went around her and asked the head of neurology for help, since it was clear there was a nerve issue. I knew that she would just lie if she found a problem, since she had been telling me for months it was literally impossible to be in this amount of pain, as pain gets better after surgery, not worse. He agreed to be in the room during the surgery, which she finally agreed to do, once I started speaking to other surgeons about it. Turns out I had experienced nerve death because scar tissue had completely pinched off blood flow to a nerve. To her this was foreseeable and she told me as much as soon as I woke from surgery. She told me she removed part of the nerve and the scar tissue that had formed is a very common thing that happens and it could easily happen again. Obviously she was trying to absolve herself of any responsibility for what happened. But to be clear - scar tissue IS common but you can't have it both ways. You can't have a complication be impossible like she had been telling me for months and common at the same time. I don't blame her for it forming, I blame her for how she treated me and how she didn't listen to me. I blame her for gaslighting me and my parents, who also didn't believe me because of what she was telling them. Thankfully my nerve healed but I have permanent nerve damage, accompanied by pain. I have no grip strength and can not use my hand for much. This was many years ago at this point. I am writing this to say - if you get a bad feeling about someone, RUN. If she actually listens to you you are one of the lucky ones. But don't do something out of convenience that feels wrong; and know that there are better surgeons who are actually the whole package. If you think you can do better, you can.

We saw Ann for our daughter "M". She didn't pay much attention to us but instead focused on "M" to make sure she was comfortable and taken care of. If I could give 100 stars I would. The surgery she performed went better than expected and all appts leading up to and after were so easy for "M" and us. "M" still talks about her Dr. Ann and will forever remember the Dr. that fixed her broken arm!

Amazing doctor! She really knows what she is doing. She was able to give my son two very functional thumbs where others with similar condition have failed. I'm very happy with the care she has given himâ?¡

Waited MONTHS to see the physician, ended up seeing the resident. Physician came in for a total of 5 minutes to explain what the resident thought!! The physician didn't even look and my hand/wrist. So disappointed with the care.