Dr. Michael Charles Mitschke, MD

Excellent doctor, I was in good hands!

RUN DON'T WALK My son ended up in the hosp.

I checked in to Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center on August 23rd and Dr. Randall Wolf did the Mini Maze surgery on August 24th. Dr. Wolf planned to release me on the 26th. However, issue occurred on the 26th. I have IBS-C with occasional diarrhea. I started having severe diarrhea on the 26th and I remined in the hospitable because of that issue. Then Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. I was in the hospital from 8/23/2017 to September 1. At home the next evening, Saturday 9/1/17 my legs started swelling. By Sunday night, August 3, my entire body was swollen so badly that I called the hospital and asked to talk to the doctor on call. The doctor who took my call was Dr. Mitschke. I knew who he was because he had stopped by my room a couple of times the previous week. I was relieved to be able to discuss my current situation with someone familiar with my case. However, when I told Dr. Mitschke my symptoms he said, “Why did you call me?” I explained that I did not… call HIM. I called and asked to speak to the doctor on call and he answered the phone when the operator transferred me to the doctor on call. He said, “Didn’t you just go home on Friday?” I said yes. He did not ask me anything else about my symptoms nor did he comment on what I had told him. He just said, “There is nothing I can do to help you”. Then he started questioning me regarding Dr. Wolf and the Mini Maze procedure. He wanted to know where I heard about Dr. Wolf; why did I decided to have the procedure done, etc. He then informed me that “he would not have recommended that procedure, Dr. Jacobson (my cardiologist) would not have recommended that procedure and no doctor at Memorial Cardiology Associates would have recommended I have that procedure”. I couldn’t understand why he was telling me all that when my phone call had nothing to do with the Mini Maze procedure. I was looking for an answer as to why my whole body was swollen up like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I wanted to know if this could be considered a serious problem and what I should do next if it was. When he had finished lecturing me on the Mini Maze Procedure, he repeated, “There is nothing I can do to help you”. And added “I guess you could go to the ER if you wanted to.” My husband was standing beside me and heard my side of the conversation with that Dr. Mitschke. After I hung I told my husband that, “Dr. Mitschke didn’t seem to think I should be alarmed at the swelling. He did not even comment on it”. In fact he did not comment on it or ask me any other questions that might help him try to determine what I should do. I said “Let’s go to bed and see what it looks like in the morning. I got up at 5 a.m. and told my husband that something was not right and he took me to the Memorial Hermann E.R. The triage doctor admitted me to the hospital immediately and they sent me to a room on 9/4/27. I could easily have died. I had lost 2/3 of my blood and my sodium had dropped to a dangerous level. It turned out that I had four bleeding ulcers. I have researched the “body swelling” on the internet and it seems that Dr. Mitschke is the only doctor on the planet that doesn’t know that swelling is not to be taken lightly. This all started around August 16 when Dr. Wolf called my cardiologist, Dr. Jacobson, to tell him that I was going to have the Mini Maze procedure done. Dr. Jacobson issued the orders for me to have a stress test and an echocardiogram. After I passed those two tests Dr. Wolf set a date of August 24th for the procedure. Dr. Jacobson’s attitude when he stopped by bed after the surgery told me that he was not happy that I had it done. However, I wondered why he didn’t call me and discuss my decision with me when Dr. Wolf told him I had elected to have it done. If he was so strongly opposed to the Mini Maze procedure why didn’t he say so BEFORE the surgery? The day before I was dismissed from the hospital I was sitting in a chair when Dr. Mitschke came into my room. As he approached my bed he said, “You are pretty”. He looked at me as walked to the other side of my bed; then he stopped and said, “You are really pretty. You must have been a model when you were younger”. His comments were rude, patronizing and offensive. Male chauvinism went out of style in the 1970’s but Dr. Mitschke didn’t seem to get the message. He thought he could use flattery to placate me after almost letting me die. He positively almost cost me my life when he did not try to help me on the night of October 4th when I called the hospital for advice. And then he did tell me that if he had realized how sick I was when I called on Sunday night he would have told me to go to the ER! He had no idea how “sick” I was because he ignored what I told him and did not ask even one follow up question as to my condition. He just wanted to know why I had the Mini Maze procedure done and to let me know that he nor any other doctor in Memorial Cardiology would have recommended the procedure. I saw Dr. Jacobson on September 13 so I went to his office that day. At the end of the visit he was getting up to leave the room and I told him I had something I wanted to tell him. He sat back down and I told him what Dr. Mitschke had done. His response was that I was too weak to have that conversation right now but if I still wanted to have it later he would explain their philosophy to me. And added that if I decided I didn’t want to have that conversation, we didn’t have t

Very nice and personable. Very long waiting room but short doctor visit. Hopefully shorter waiting and longer doctor visit next appointment.

Very skilled doctor with excellent communications skills. Brilliant in academic intelligence as well as surgical skills and experience. Would highly recommend

I was a new patient of Dr. Mitschke. First, my visit was interrupted and I was OK with that as another hospital was calling regarding a patient. Secondly, the young lady who did my initial EKG did it wrong so he sent her back in to do another...but OK, things happen! After my visit was done, I was told that I may need to wear a monitor in order for my concerns to be better addressed and that someone from the office would call me to let me know if the insurance would cover the monitor. I never got a call from anyone but the monitor showed up on my door step days later. I didn't know how to use it or what the next steps were so I called the office and left a message. Call # 1 wasn't returned. I went ahead and used the monitor based on the instructions that came with it and made another call the next day. I called back later that day and left ANOTHER message. My call again was never returned. I called back a couple of days later and instead of selecting the nurse line, I selected the appt… line. I advised to the lady who answered the phone how I had been calling for a couple of days and no one had called me back. She abruptly said I needed to speak with the nurse and transferred my call to the nurse line. I AGAIN, got the VM. I left another message advising that I needed assistance, how no one had returned my call and at that point I would turn in the monitor and deciding if I needed to find another cardiologist. After I left that message I called back to the office, selected the appt line and spoke with the same lady who abruptly transferred me to the nurses line. I then asked her if they had an office manager and if so, could I speak with her as I needed to advise of what I was experiencing. I explained to her again what I needed help with, she then placed me on hold and never came back to the line. To have experienced this level of treatment is not only stressful but unethical. I went to Dr. Mitschke because of all the great ratings I reviewed and instead I received the complete opposite. Needless to say I went ahead and sent the monitor back after wearing it for three days and to date NO ONE from this office has reached out to me.

Dr. Mitschke always has time to talk and make you feel better. He is an excellant doctor, very kind and soft spoken and makes you feel at ease. I wouldn't have any other Cardiologist for my doctor. He makes good recommendations and follows up.

The doctor was very professional in his review of my history and needs. He took a proactive approach in my diagnosis and care. Insurance fillings went smooth. The staff was helpful and courteous. I could not have asked for a better visit. I will recommend this doctor to others.