Dr. Karen Ann Finkelstein, MD

I am very grateful for Dr Karen Finklestein and her crew for the excellent service and treatment that I recieved while I was a patient there. I had surgery there and 3 yrs of followup then completed 2 yrs away, I just passed 5 years and was told that I am concidered healed. Thank you for everything!!

My fit, healthy 78 y/o spouse , S. was diagnosed (per D&C hysteroscopy) with FIGO 1a endometrial carcinoma. She was seen by Dr F. who performed a total hysterectomy with node dissection (Davinci) with mini laparotomy. The procedure was considered curative. Six months later a nodule (which had grown at the laparotomy incision site) was biopsied and positive for endometrial cancer. A CT scan then disclosed metastasis to S’s lungs, liver, spine and a lymph node. We were shocked, then devastated. Dr F. said this was a rare occurrence. The cancer did not respond well to treatment and S. died of the disease ten months later. In my search for answers to what happened, I learned that there was no report nor requirement nor process for reporting such rare surgical outcomes. So the unavoidable question is....is this “rare” or simply under reported? At the very least, these occurrences should inform practice.

Dr Finkelstein was overly aggressive with chemo for my mother. She treats studies, not patients. I had read a review online stating this prior to the initial appointment and also was warned by the general surgeon of her overly aggressive treatment but, regretfully, we were impressed by her intellect and assumed that wouldn’t happen to our family, who has extensive experience in the medical field. Sadly, my mother died of kidney failure due to chemo toxicity when no measurable cancer was in her body. Dr Finkelstein’s subsequent “sympathetic” behavior appeared to be an attempt to avoid being sued for malpractice. Then she didn’t put the appropriate cause of death on the death certificate, she put cancer. Dr Finkelstein said she was “in remission”. If oncologists don’t put organ failure due to chemo toxicity, then some “studies” and certainly statistics aren’t accurate. There are other oncologists who successfully treat cancer patients with chemo by focusing on lab results and… symptoms, rather than primarily focusing on studies. Even when we voiced our concerns about the poor kidney function lab results, her response, that still haunts me, was, “but studies show....”

I had you for my ovarian cancer: you were the best then and i still recommend you now to everyone i meet who needs you kind of help. Thanks agian!