Dr. Jennifer Lou Heydt, MD

This doctor is horrible do not ever go to her she doesn’t listen, can’t ask a question she talks right over you. doesn’t look at your history.. she took out my ear tubes WITHOUT my permission! Then when the nurses can finally track her down she has the balls to YELL at me. My HIPPA has been breached and much more. She should never be allowed to perform a surgery ever again.

I generally don't like to write reviews and especially negative ones. If I get angry or frustrated, I worry I can't be objective and may writing something unfair. But my experience with this doctor was so atrocious and medical care is so critical for patients that I thought I owed others my review. But to be clear, this is my opinion and should be understood as such. Reading through other reviews there seems to be a common trend that shows up in both positive and negative reviews. The positive reviews call this "straightforward" and "honest". I (and seemingly others as well) experienced this as dismissive, rushed, and contemptuousness, which she didn't even provide me the dignity of even attempting to hide. I assume this all stems from the same underlying trait of having her mind made up and she will tell you with little regard to the most effective or "efficacious" way to communicate. I can say that if anything, she made me less likely to seek expert advice on medical care and makes… me less likely to be fully honest with further doctors after this experience. If we were to do a study on health outcomes, as if this care was a black box like a pill, how could this not be seen as some type of iatrogenic harm? I would love to be able to comment on her technical skills, but alas I cannot since she provided none nor made any effort to pretend she did. Maybe she thought she couldn't help me nor was the right person, but that wasn't really clear. She seemingly made no attempt to effectively communicate that. Overall, the communication at least needs improvement. For example, she just left the room and I was confused if the appointment was over or not, so after feeling awkward for a bit, I just walked out. It felt like she just hung up on me. Now for context. I came in asking for expert advice on whether there was something wrong with my neck after an infection after experiencing some weird symptoms, feeling like it was better to be proactive here and after informal recommendations to do so from doctor acquaintances. She was extremely dismissive, would not listen, and did not even pretend to recommend tests other than looking at my neck for mere seconds. She didn't even try to understand what I was saying. An example here was it seemed like she took me saying "my neck was full of fluid" as though I was literally saying I thought my neck was like a water balloon or something instead of reading it like normally understood as "a lot of fluid". I shouldn't have to beg my doctor to try to understand me. I am not an expert, which is why I am there and asking. All I am asking for is a good faith attempt to try to understand and try to translate my layman experience of symptoms. Instead, I was made to feel like I was someone having delusions of parasites under my skin (to be clear, I did not think that but it felt like she viewed me as on par with that.) I hate going to the doctor, I am not some hypochondriac. But it felt like she believed the act of going to the doctor was in itself a sign of clinical anxiety. I really don't know why it is so hard to understand that due diligence and caution are not clinical anxiety. It isn't even a useful statement because what do you even do with that? How can you disprove that? You can't, it's just a way to be dismissive and it is actively harmful for people like me since I second guess myself constantly and usually leads me to do nothing even when I should. There is no test to run to disprove anxiety. There are tests to run that it isn't something physical and tangible. I only see one fruitful way to approach. If I just wanted someone to tell me probability based on presentation and shame while doing so, I would code a program to do that and read it to me in Gilbert Godfrey's voice. Anyway, maybe she has great technical doctor skills, I don't know. But what I do know is that there are doctors who have great technical skills and aren't dismissive and seemingly contemptuous. Ones who don't make you feel worse afterwards. Ones who don't just convince you more that going to the doctor is an expensive and inconvenient waste of time.

In a rush, poor attitude, indifferent to condition. Go elsewhere. Side note, friend said Evergreen ER did not require masks.

I found Dr. Heydt to be the least empathetic, and one of the most arrogant doctors I've ever met. And, having battled with chronic illness for 30 years, I've met more doctors than many meet in a lifetime. I urge you to read this if you plan on seeing her for anything that could be serious, it's honestly kind of scary: I saw an urgent care doctor who told me I had a peritonsillar abscess and referred me to see an ENT. I came in with a throat and neck so swollen I could no longer eat or drink, a 103 degree fever I'd had for 5 days straight, extreme weight loss and violent shaking. She said "you probably just have the flu." Yet, she did not offer a flu test, throat swab...nothing. I was dehydrated, and told her I was worried. She said "I can't do anything about that." She completely brushed off a highly immunocompromised, and very ill person. So I went to the ER and what did they do? They were extremely concerned about my condition and ordered the following: Flu test Full viral… panel Throat swab for bacterial infection Blood test Blood culture CT scan For the record, it was not "just the flu". Glad I didn't stop taking my antibiotics that she said "wouldn't do anything for me, since this is definitely viral". Please consider another doctor. There are plenty of wonderful specialists who will listen to you, without rushing, and with true empathy for your situation.

She and her staff are amazing, I have had surgery and appointments with her and team. I don't every want to do the surgery again, but if I did she is the one I trust.

Dr Heydt helped me understand my health issue (which two previous docs had not!) and came up with a minimal solution that worked great. Thanks!

Dr. Jennifer Heydt was a very unfriendly doctor. On separate occasions she made both my husband and myself feel very uncomfortable the times we met with her. She might be a very good doctor but would not want to deal with her again. That's how uncomfortable she made us both feel. After surgery she didn't come speak to us. Her staff was very nice & friendly. They make up for her.

Dr. Heydt saw me after I'd already seen two other ENT's and a neurologist who could not determine the nature of my illness. I pretty much thought I was going insane. I'd lost a lot of weight, felt dizzy all of the time and my ability to hear would fluctuate. After one office visit during which Dr. Heydt listened to me, took a hearing test, and examined my ears under a microscope, she suspected I had a cholesteatoma. The next day a MRI confirmed her diagnosis. I cannot speak highly enough about how Dr. Heydt changed my life. She has since removed a cholesteatoma from my other ear, saving my earbones during the process. I did not lose any hearing after that operation. She is a phenomenal surgeon and clinician. I recommend her to anyone I know who has an ear problem. Thank you Dr. Heydt!

I've had many doctor visits where it felt a little factory-like, where I spent an hour waiting for a 2 minute visit, only to be told I'd need to schedule another appointment to get further questions answered. Not so with Dr. Heydt. She was on time, answered my questions, and ultimately guided me to sinus surgery which solved my life-long problem. Thanks Dr. Heydt!

If you have a ENT problem, run, don,twalk to Dr Heydt and her staff. I am 74and have had my fair share of Drs. Starting with the receptionist, her assistant, and the staff at Overlake, they are all tops,in charge, and in control. A real great experience.