Dr. Katherine Laura Widnell, MD

Being 66 yrs. old always comes with a few unexpected issues and surprises. As a cancer survivor and 30 years of controlled diabetes I have seen too many doctors to count. I was surprised in the best of ways with my appointment with Dr. Widnell. Excellent bedside manor and extremely knowledgeable and to the point. I haven't seen many doctors for the first time who have taken the time to understand your past health records in detail and to make informed decisions that other doctors may have missed. I highly recommend Dr. Wednell!

If you are on Medicaid and need the care a neurologist provides, this is the only neurologist IHC will allow you to see. With all the fine neurologists employed by IHC, why can't disabled people on Medicaid see one of them? If you are disabled and got roped into the IHC "Community Care" plan this is who you'll see. I found her aloof at best. Maybe it's a money issue. IHC wants fully insured people not disabled people on Medicaid. I'd give her zero stars if I could. IHC: shame on you.

If you're on medicaid look elsewhere.

Dr. Katherine Laura Widnell evaluated me 18 years ago. I came to her with changes in my movements, muscles, and skills in driving, cooking and handwriting, along with some mild memory loss. She did the typical tests neurologists do, and asked me very few questions. She stated to me that 15% of her patients have a true movement disorder, and 85% have a psychological disorder. I refuted this because I had no symptoms of depression or other psychological issues, yet she refused to listen. She advised I receive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Physical Therapy to address my ailments and haphazardly slapped me with a diagnosis of psychogenic disorder. This damaged my ability to access medical care for years. My medical providers thought my symptoms were “all in my head.” I was finally correctly and properly diagnosed in 2016 by a neurologist. A PET scan along with multiple tests revealed I have a rare neurological disorder that causes visual-perceptual problems. In essence, my ailing… perception of my visual environment was the underlying cause of minor changes in my movements, affecting my muscles and activities. I was baffled, angry and shocked when Dr. Widnell came to such a quick conclusive, horrible diagnosis 18 years ago, and felt so grateful when doctors in 2016 took their time, did their homework, got to know me, and ordered appropriate testing to determine an accurate diagnosis. Oddly, I have a sense of relief in my diagnosis, because it is confirmed…I am not crazy; I was experiencing neurological decline all along. Dr. Widnell appears to be good at treatment of Parkinson’s but based her online reviews, I’d say she lacks significantly when it comes to other, more rare neurological diseases. I hope in the future that she takes more time with her evaluations to understand her patients, and be less arrogant, by accepting when she doesn’t know the answer, and that she is open to follow-up, further testing, and simply listening to the patient, learning about the course of the development of symptoms. I realize she may not have had enough information to diagnose me properly 18 years ago, but she could have given me a different diagnosis, one less damaging, that would allow her, and other specialists to come to proper diagnosis over time. It appears from reviews as recent as 2016, she has continued her approach to patients like myself, that don’t fit the textbook examples. I hope she will improve upon this so no other patient will suffer what I did in my medical quest for an answer.

She contradicted her self more than once. She was the most arrogant Doctor I've ever encountered. She told me the reason I responded to Dopamine drugs was because it was a placebo effect. Despite me telling her the other drugs I had been on to which I did not respond. She told Cognitive behavioral therapy, and physical therapy were the only options for me. I told her I had allready done that, and she didn't listen. She said medications wouldn't help me EVEN THOUGH SOME ALREADY HAVE. She then said it could be chemical, well if that's the case WOULDN"T MEDICATIONS HELP? She said she was so sure by the way my tremors looked no further testing was required even though she went and looked at my MRI's in another room. She definetly seemed like a Charlatan to me. She billed me as a level 5 visit even though she did NOTHING to help me.

My sister passed with Parkinson's. During the two years with Dr. Widnell attending to my sisters care she was always treated with the deepest respect. The knowledge of the disease and treatment was explained completely in a way that encouraged us to battle the illness in the best way we knew how. With Dr. Widnells support we never gave up. Any questions were always answered immediately and this learned and experienced MD, PhD was always there for us.