Dr. Esther Jacobowitz Israel, MD

We had seen Dr. Esther Islrael, MD at MGH around six months ago. We were really desperate to seek professional help with our sons chronic constipation. That was our second opinion visit.Our two year old boy had been taking laxatives for a year at the time we had seen Dr. Israel. His pediatrician put him on mineral oil; we had been giving that garbage to our baby for few months. He could poop while he was on it, but once we stopped the problem with the bowel movement was coming back again and we had no other choice but to relieve him with Pedia-lax (Liquid Glycerin Suppositories) . Since the mineral oil seemed been taken care of the symptoms (constipation) but did not help on the permanent basis, we went to see a specialist in gastroenterology to find what had been a REASON. That was a nice doctor (also affiliated with MGH); he had very good bedside manners, and he took his time. He ordered a blood work to be done, which revealed neither significant deviations from normal nor… chrons disease. To our question about what is causing constipations, his answer was: your son is holding up, we have to make him comfortable and he prescribed well known Miralax. We checked online and that what we found:Polyethylene glycol-electrolyte solution (PEG-ES) is used to cleanse the bowel before a gastrointestinal examination or surgery. It works by causing diarrhea. Under directions there was written: do not use LONGER than for two weeks! BTW The same warning was printed on the mineral oil bottle. After giving this another poison to our son for two weeks, we contacted that specialist and asked him about further instructions. His answer was: keep giving it, he will overgrow his fears. After few months of this therapy we saw zero effect and were really concerned, because our boy stopped gaining weight and developed rash on his skin. If we stopped laxatives he would had developed severe constipation , would not had stool for three days and we had no other choice but to relieve him with Pedia-lax (Liquid Glycerin Suppositories) . At that point we were really frustrated and my wife did search online and found our new hope five star rated Dr. Israel.What a bitter disappointment it was!I guess, It was OK that we had to wait for only ninety (90) minutes to see herI think it was understandable that she was in a rush, (so many patients are desperate to see her)Also it was probably acceptable that she did not try to establish any contact with our son and he was crying through the entire visit. But it was like a thunder in the clear sky to hear the same differential diagnosis list: the fear to poop, Chrons disease (previous doctors did not find any supporting evidence of this).She prescribed our bellowed Miralax and suggested to give so much, to cause diarrhea, so our son would get rid of his fears once and for all.Since we had taken that path already, we suggested to Dr. Israel to try to add some other content for her differential diagnosis. OMG, bad mistake it was! How could we not to trust her more than 20 years of expertise?! She suggested, though, it could be something wrong with the nerves regulating bowel movement and said something about quite complicated diagnostic procedure to find out if that was the case. Firstly it is done under general anesthesia and secondly it is quite lengthy. At that time my mind had reached a boiling point and I asked her: How about to begin with a regular stool analysis? Can we have ultrasound done on his organs etc?She dismissed ultrasound but after thinking for few seconds (probably about a possible lawsuit case) decided to give a green light to a stool test. But she mentioned that her experience tells it will be waste of time. (BTW all other doctors NEVER ordered a simple stool test!)Guess what, few days later we received a call from Dr. Israel! She did not sound so overconfident though.To her surprise the stool test revealed presence of.. OK I think I can stop here. Enough is enough. Just few good words left to say about the rest of MGH crew.The phlebotomist tortured my son for a good minute while fishing with the needle for his vein. I felt dizzy myself after that! Those poor kids, who had been there before start crying right after they cross the line between waiting area and the clinical one.The front desks simply were ignorant and bluntly rude! Customer service below zero level! To finish the story, besides parasites in his stool our son had a severe disboisis (disbacteriosis) which is not official diagnosis in the US. After he was free of parasites constipation persisted and we had no other choice but to take him to Russia. In Moscow we found a really good doctor who immediately stopped all laxatives and after proper diagnosis and treatment within only ONE WEEK our son was back to normal life.The doctor in Moscow told us that we were not the only her case from the US. Good luck!