Joseph C Kappil, MD

I trust my eye health to Dr Kappil, I have been to several appts with this Doctor. He is always, considerate, goes to great lengths to make me feel comfortable. He is always pleasant, and patient with me. I would recommend him. He is an expert in his field.i look forward to my appointments. I know he will take care of my concerns, and will take the time to explain what care I need. I am grateful, in his busy practice, that I am lucky to be one of his patients,

I've always read reviews with a grain of salt. I try to base my opinions on my personal experiences. In the case of Dr. Kappil, I would have to agree with the negative reviews on different websites. I had a cataract evaluation appointment on Feb 22, 2022 at the Algonquin office. What bothered me most during my visit was Dr. Kappil kept interrupting me before I could finish my questions. Yes, he does not explain things and was very dismissive. His response to many of my questions was "the surgery coordinator would contact me and go over all the details." My feeling is I would like to hear about the procedure from the doctor, not the coordinator. The coordinator is not doing my surgery, the doctor is. He made me feel that I was an inconvenience to his office by being there. He was uninformative and I did not feel he listened to my concerns. He basically "told" me what he was going to do without explaining my options or the benefits of his decision. Again, all my questions were answered… with the statement "the coordinator would contact me with all the info." Nice when a doctor brushes you off to somebody else who's not even a doctor? Well it's been 3 weeks later and the coordinator has not contacted me. Since Dr. Kappil's office basically let me leave my appointment in limbo with no timeline on further appointments, I have found another ophthalmologist. My new doctor listened to my concerns, and answered all my questions. The staff was compassionate and kept asking me if I had any further questions. The doctor explained all my options, the benefits of those options and made me feel relaxed. Something that Dr. Kappil's office seemed not to care about. If you want to feel just like a number, Dr. Kappil's office is the place to go. Personally, I need a doctor who's going to make me feel taken care of when it comes to an eye surgery. Also I guess my over all health was not important since nobody from Dr. Kappil's office has reached out to me regarding scheduling my next appointment.

My 10 year old son has seen Dr. Kappil on two occasions due to having crossed eyes. Both times we had to wait over 45 minutes to be seen. The practice charges a $40 fee if the patient needs a new prescription. Upon completion of my son's exam, we were told his eyes remained stable and there was no change from the previous exam. The Dr. was insistent on writing a prescription although my son's prescription had not changed and he had a pair of perfectly fine working glasses. The Dr. stated "it's always good to have a second pair". I stated that should my son lose or break his glasses, I would call to have a script written and pay the $40. He clearly appeared miffed. When we were leaving the office, he was speaking to the receptionist in hushed tones which gave me the impression he was talking about us. Two days later I received a letter stating that he was discontinuing my son as a patient. He gave no rationale for his decision and of course, when I contacted his office about it, I… never received a call back. I can only assume it was because I wouldn't pay the $40 fee for a prescription that was not needed. Ridiculous!!!

I went to him because I was referred by my Dermatologist to be checked for melanoma of the eyes. He did the exam, said I did not have melanoma of the eyes, but said I had minor glaucoma starting and that it was nothing to be concerned about for at least 20 years. Instead of just billing me for what I went there for, he billed my insurance as if this was a regular eye exam. I already went to an optometrist for an eye exam. So because he told me that he saw the start of glaucoma that he would not change the billing so that my insurance would cover it. This is during Covid 19 and while people are out of work and he doesn't want to correct the bill so that my insurance will pay? Because he told me about another issue, that I did not go to him for , nor is it my problem that he told me this. I already had a test done at the optometrist this year that I had to pay out of pocket. He rushed me out of his office , was rude, and it is beyond ridiculous that they won't correct the… billing on their end for my insurance to pay for it. I will NOT ever go back there as the receptionist are rude as well. I would NOT recommend him to anyone who wants to be treated with dignity.

Always a positive and professional visit

I had cataract surgery and everything went well both times. However, since I couldn’t afford the lens upgrade which is apparently for rich people, my near vision sucks. Also, first he tells me to take the eye drops for glaucoma, then he tells me not to take the drops but also says I was not compliant and tells me not to use the drops. As I was leaving he told the receptionist to tell me to take the drops. HE didn’t tell me, he had his staff tell me. Also, because I had questions about the quality of my vision after the cataract surgery, he brushed me off and changed the subject. Also, he wouldn’t tell me the cost of the cataract surgery was. Said he can’t. More like he won’t. After the cataract surgery he said I didn’t need glasses but didn’t tell me what kind of readers I needed and I literally had to chase him down the hall to find out. Turns out I did need glasses for far. He measured me wrong . So I had $300 tickets to Hamilton and I couldn’t see anything. I’m sure he is a good… surgeon but because of everything else I would not recommend him. He booted me from his practice, which is fine. I wouldn’t have gone back anyway.

This is the second eye dr Kappil has done for me with amazing results! Fast paced well organized office; top surgeon, well worth the wait for appointment. Absolutely recommend him for your eye surgery!

It's hard to describe just how horrible and demeaning my experience was. After waiting 1 month for an appointment to treat an irritating eye condition and 40 minutes after my scheduled appointment time, Dr. Kappil, after a brief conversation and some questions, dismissed me saying he would "take a pass" on treating me and referred me to another doctor. He appeared annoyed that I had a lot of questions and was intent on billing me for procedures I did not need. I left his office in pain and in disbelief that a professional would behave this way. Wish I'd read some other reviews citing similar experiences before I'd wasted my time and subjected myself to such unprofessional behavior. I'd look elsewhere for eye care if I were you.

I like the fact that Dr Kappel is pretty much an "all business" kind of Dr. He is very through and professional. I am sorry that I did not go to him for my first cataract - my vision would be even greater than it is now after he did the second eye. If you want a chatty, entertaining Dr it is not Dr Kappel. If you want excellent care and follow-up, he is your man.

I took my mother to Dr. Kappil for an evaluation for cataract surgery. After an almost 2 hour wait and while witnessing him trying to treat 4 patients at the same time, we finally got in to see him. What a waste ! He was rude and very rushed and was agitated whenever we tried to get him to slow down and answer our questions. He diagnosed her with macular degeneration which we found out later was an incorrect diagnosis. He seemed only interested in scheduling cataract surgery as quickly as possible. When he found out that she was on Medicare and Medicaid and would not be able to pay any copay amounts, guess what? We got a dismissal letter telling us to find another surgeon and the bill was turned over to collection. This tells me that this doctor is in it for only one thing. Staff was equally rude and very hard to contact regarding the outstanding balance. Can't believe there are actually doctors out there that act like this.