Dr John A. Paro, MD

While I’d like to be able to review Dr. Paro’s work, I am unable to do so because the heavyset nurse (I don’t have her name, so I have no choice but to provide an accurate description as there appears to be more than one nurse in the office) that attended my mother at her pre-op appointment arbitrarily and cowardly decided to phone my mother hours after her pre-op appointment to cancel her surgery. My mother has white coat syndrome, a condition in which a patient’s blood pressure readings are higher when taken at the doctor’s office compared to other BP readings. This is stated in her medical record and she also explained this to Heavyset Nurse and Dr. Paro. While I can appreciate Dr. Paro being cautious, I find the comportment of Heavyset Nurse to be subpar! First, if Heavyset Nurse had read my mother’s chart, she would’ve had better sense in taking my mother’s BP more thoughtfully but instead, she brought in a trainee to observe and rather than waiting for the reading to finish to… ask my mother questions, she started asking her questions while the cuff was on and taking the reading. Heavyset Nurse also failed to appropriately instruct my mother to uncross her feet. She only decided to do so AFTER I had looked down at my mother’s feet to make sure they weren’t crossed. When Dr. Paro came into the exam room to see my mother, he of course addressed his concerns about her BP and instructed her to contact her physician about lowering it. He also explained that if it remained high on the day of her surgery, the surgery would be canceled. This is the second time this office has canceled my mother’s surgery. As far as I know, the first time, they didn’t have their affairs in order, surgical center availability, or something. Back to the BP: Per usual, they wanted to take my mother’s BP again at the end of the appointment to see if it had improved which it did not. I left the exam room and turned the lights off with the hope that her BP reading would be better but no luck there. At no point did Dr. Paro or Heavyset Nurse cancel the surgery while we were still in the office, so we continued preparing for surgery in two days. I cleared my work schedule (rescheduling meetings, etc.) and then hours after we left the office, Heavyset Nurse calls my mom to cancel. Rather than setting another appointment for her surgery, Heavyset Nurse very rudely stated “call us back when you get your BP under control.” Secondly, my mother’s pre-op appointment was on Monday and her surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. At her pre-op appointment, just barely 48 hours in advance of the surgery, Heavyset Nurse provided my mother with some arnica tablets which she instructed her to consume 72 hours in advance which was impossible to do since they were only provided 48 hours in advance. Had Heavyset Nurse done her job appropriately, she would’ve called my mother more than 72 hours prior to the surgery to instruct her about purchasing and consuming the arnica but Heavyset Nurse failed to do this as well. When I questioned this at the pre-op appointment, she just completely ignored my question, shrugged her shoulders, and kept on blabbing. I get that customer service overall is pretty much nonexistent, but I do expect slightly more from the medical community, not let’s just herd patients in and out as quickly as possible with little regard for patient care. Incredibly unprofessional, irresponsible, and inconsiderate! While the arnica is not super essential, it could go a long way in easing some discomfort and bruising from the surgery. Lastly, while this is a plastic surgery procedure, in my mother’s case, it is not for cosmetic reasons. The primary reason for the surgery is so that my mom can see better. I traveled to the Bay Area from Los Angeles for this surgery, only to have Heavyset Nurse cowardly cancel the surgery and fail to schedule for another date.

Dr. Pero knows his field and allows you to be part of the decision and treatment process. He is the kind of physician that I truly appreciate.