Dr. Geetha Palaniappan, MD

I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for this amazing doctor. There are no words to describe what an awesome healer she is....

My 87 year old dad was referred to "Dr. Geetha" by his internist to treat his lung cancer, which, according to all information we had, was very aggressive, growing quickly. It's probably best to simply list the problems we have with her. 1. She acted too slowly, failing to expedite life-saving tests and a consult from the surgeon. One of her first comments as our oncologist was that my dad could be a surgical candidate. Yet, the scan that would tell us this was not for 3 more weeks. And the surgical consult was not for 4 weeks! Needless to say, by the time he could see the surgeon, to see if he was a candidate for surgery, any possibility for slowing this cancer down was gone. Thanks a lot. 2. She is a very poor communicator. She talks too much, repeating herself as if we didn't hear her the first time. I can't say that she doesn't spend enough time, but the time she spends repeating herself, especially while delivering bad news, makes you feel increasingly angry and annoyed. Better… yet, when she has to deliver bad news, she counters the inevitable long silences and sadness with chirpy justifications for the treatment plan she devised, and stories about her early days as an eager young medical student who thought she could save even the patients with a very poor prognosis. (Now she is well-aware that 87 year olds with lung cancer can't be helped, so be grateful he lived this long). Somehow, even the most grave conversations she has had with us were oddly sprinkled with perky self-affirmations of how smartly she has acted, in spite of the circumstances. Someone should tell her that defending her actions without provocation only makes people question the wisdom of those actions. As well, her hugs and arm pats do not make up for her complete lack of insight and sensitivity. Sometimes, a long sympathetic silence is all a family really needs. 3. She acts unprofessionally. After a recent appointment, she finger scolded my 85 year old mother who is losing her husband of 63 years for "not telling her" that my sister and I would be joining their appointment via conference call, thus slowing down the appointment and making her run behind... When my mother pointed out that her staff knew, she muttered "they didn't tell me." Among other burdens my mother is enduring, she remembered to tell us that later, leaving her feeling even less confident in Dr. Geetha's care. It is not easy losing a parent at any age and no one can know what it is like until it happens, but the interactions we have with health care providers along the way can either lift or deepen the anguish of the experience.

I love her, too bad I had to mirror under the circumstances

I went in absolutely terrified knowing I had cancer. I was told by 2 other physicians that I had stage 2 breast cancer. When I saw her, she wanted to run more tests to check on something which might be suspicious. It could have been handled gently by stating there was another routine test which needed to be done. Instead, I got the news that if anything more was found which would mean I had stage 4 cancer, so, the mastectomy would be cancelled because I would die anyway. She then shook my hand and said to have a nice afternoon. Needless to say, she is no longer my Oncologist and I would never advise anyone to retain her as their oncologist.