Dr. Michael Makaretz, MD

My mother was seen by Dr. Makaretz recently. She was in great pain and seeking professional help. He was extremely rude; treating her as if she was disrupting his day, touched her face in several places, cut her short when she attempted to provide him with information which might aid in the diagnosis, ultimately telling her she needed to take NSAID's and get rest. She questioned his 'diagnosis', requesting a CT scan or some further investigation into the origin of her pain. He denied and left abruptly. Over a month passed, the pain only increasing; to the point where she needed to go to the ER. This doctor reviewed her file, listened to her, showed empathy, asked a list of questions, examined her thoroughly and immediately ordered a CT scan. He expedited this process - the process was complete in less than an hour. The imagery showed a large mass in her sinus; the cause of her pain all this time. It was later found that the last note in the system from Dr. Makaretz stated… clearly that he recommended a CT scan, when in fact he denied her further diagnosis. This type of behavior is highly unprofessional and should not be tolerated. Avoid him at all costs.

After waiting over 1 month for this appointment, my husband took the day off of work to bring me in the middle of our first ice storm of the season. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the appointment. After being shown into the room the doctor came in asked me what the problem was, looked in my ear and said he didn't have the proper paper work to continue with the appointment. He stated to schedule an appointment another month and a half down the road. I tried to ask him a question which he responded my symptom was not normal, turned around and walked out the door. I paid a 25 co pay for a visit that was 1 minute long and a doctor who I thought showed he really didn't care what I was going through. I cried all the way out the door and scheduled an appointment with a different doctor. I phoned the office to tell them my concerns and they were down right rude. I would run the other way and chose a different doctor, one that cares!

Doesn't want to listen to the patient or any of loved ones with the patient he thinks that he is right does not explain anything to love or patience and all he wants to say is it's a science that is his only explanation and it seems like it bothered him to explain that much.

I have had tonsil stones for years and was assigned to him at ME General ENT for a visit. Despite the rank breath, irritating and painful stones, he strangely flat out refused treatment of any kind. Every question I asked was responded with a "Just live with it". He stated that no ENT would do a tonsillectomy or any other treatment merely for tonsil stones. He refused to offer up any other type of solution. He wouldn't even dig out the stones that are currently in my tonsils. Poor excuse for a doctor. He is just punching the clock until retirement. He used to work in Portland and the reviews for him there are just as bad. The office staff was wonderful.

He corrected what another ENT specialist did...and did it right...that was five years ago...I am far better off now

Dr. Makaretz put tubes in my daughter's ears and removed her adenoids. We were scheduled in a timely fashion. We waited a bit once checked in. The office staff seemed very busy and understaffed for the amount of people in the waiting room. We saw the doctor, he explained the procedure in detail and the surgery was booked quickly. He was very good about answering our quetions and while not overly warm, he had a good way with my daughter and she was very interactive with him. The surgery went well and we were happy with the service we received.

As someone who does not go to the doctor frequently, I don't have a lot to compare to. I had a sudden hearing loss and was fit in to his schedule. The hearing did not improve and he followed up with an audiogram and eventually did minor surgery in the office. He was very professional and treated my problem timely. Seems I could not ask for more than that. Would recommend him to family and friends.

I went to see Makaretz about a neck mass that I had. My doctor sent me over to the Mercy ENT office where I waited for a significant amount of time. When I was finally roomed, Dr. Makaretz came in, looked at me without introducing himself, and walked out. When he came back in, he looked at me and said "I am basically the best in the state and my recommendation is that we book you for surgery right away." No introduction, no explanation, no common courtesy. Three strikes, he was out. I looked back at him, introduced myself with my hand stretched out. He shook it and I responded, "While I appreciate your confidence in yourself, I think I am going to go find a provider else where." I ended up going to the Maine Medical Center practice, they were kind, the providers (both of them) introduced themselves and saw me together. My experience was completely different. I'll never go back to Mercy or Makaretz!

I will keep this short, everything that is reported in a negative manner is true. this Dr. only cares about making money off of older Medicare patients and doesn't have the patients best interests in mind at all. Do not use this Doctor.

Long story short: MRI and CAT scan were both coded wrong by him or his assistant, so now my insurance will not cover and I'm out +$3,000. His assistant was HORRIBLE to us and the office manager, Diana, accused me of "asking him to do something illegal" by making the codes right. It was a new condition, but the way he coded them made them fall under the "pre-existing condition" clause in my insurance, which we had discussed with his assistant to make sure that they would make NO MISTAKE and code it for my new condition-or I wasn't going! Well, I got the copies from Mercy MRI/CAT-both are coded as my old condition, and it took them +180 to help me with an appeal. Diana said to my husband, "I frankly forgot about it." I wonder if it was coming out of their pocket, if they would have forgotten about writing the appeal-for their mistake. By the way, my hearing issues were never resolved. He "thought" he saw something on the CAT scan, but couldn't tell and was going to call and ask… them at Mercy-and never let me know either way. No results, huge bill. Horrible, horrible office-WORSE since Mercy took over, hands down.