Dr. Karen Lisa Smith, MD

I researched doctors in our area who specialize in triple negative breast cancer and she came up. She has been my doctor for a year and she has been great. She is professional, knowledgeable and has a great bedside manner. Highly recommend.

Would not recommend this doctor to anyone; and certainly would not chose this oncologist if I had known what seems to be a general disinterest in her patients. She is never on time; usually at least 45 min. late. That might be understandable if the patient had enough time to discuss her treatment choice, test results, path reports, worrisome side effects, worsening conditions, etc. However, one's attempts to bring up any of these matters is given no time. Most appointments, and there aren't many, range from 10-12 minutes. Do not expect with Dr. Smith to experience the benefits of the "team" approach Sibley brags about. Likewise, the Sibley Breast Clinic boasts that its patients have many vital clinical advantages (e.g., new treatments and treatment options) as the result of the Hospital's cutting-edge work and advances in medical/research. I have spoken with some other Dr. Smith patients who are well versed and quite knowledgeable about their breast cancer, and we share the same… opinion: Dr. Smith does not want to even discuss alternative treatments to the one she has chosen for you--chosen w/o discussing pros and cons with you, risks vs. benefits, alternative options to her treatment choice, and what up-to-date research studies have to say about alternatives. For me, the most upsetting aspect of Dr. Smith's medical practice is that neither my stage nor prognosis were ever discussed; negative and more treatment-complicating aspects of my diagnosis were kept from me by this oncologist (and belatedly revealed by another person at Sibley); an opportunity to discuss my thoughts, opinions, and possible preferences re:chemotherapeutic plans that might best fight my body's cancer was never allowed me, although I made several polite and respectful attempts to obtain such an opportunity. With critical information withheld as well as the fact that I was never allowed an open discussion and fair exchange of ideas re: the therapy Dr. Smith prescribed for me, made entirely clear that this patient-physician relationship was not going to be the mutually respectful partnership that modern cancer clinics consider not some unrealistic ideal, but rather is considered a standard practice, one rather a partnership that facilitates and sustains trust, respect, and cooperation. I would have welcomed such a partnership. Instead, I always left the exam room (we never met in her office) feeling an inferior who had been dismissed by an individual who probably got as little out of that 10 or 12 minutes as I did. It amounted to very little time in which very little was gained by either party. Essentially, the visit was superfluous. It was a medical appointment for purposes only of recordation and to ensure payment. Administrative and fiscal purposes aside, these visits appeared to have small value.

After her office called and changed my appointment, She kept me waiting ONE HOUR ( which I understand...sometimes things happen) but she didn't apologize one even acknowledge that she kept me waiting. She is not a warm person.