Dr. Mitchell Mark Levy, MD

My 86 year old mother was recently admitted to RI Hospital after being brought to the emergency room from the nursing home she was in. In 2014 my mother was diagnosed with an abdominal cancer and had received chemotherapy and radiation. She was on a maintenance cycle of chemo every three weeks until a recent fall when it was discovered the cancer had spread to her brain. After a grueling 10 days of brain radiation she soon entered the hospital due to weakness, an infection (not sure where since we were never told, just that she had "an infection"), dehydration, and a blocked liver stent. During her stay, which was about a week, give or take a few days, the nurses and CNAs were excellent and she improved. We would watch jeopardy every evening and she would call out answers. She would do crossword puzzles and would inquire about friends and family. Upon her discharge she went to a nursing home where, again, all the nurses were excellent and the therapists worked with her everyday. She… started to decline (trouble swallowing, could not support her weight or stand, was very weak, etc) even though we, and they, were doing all we could. A couple weeks into the stay her blood pressure dropped significantly and she was rushed back to the hospital. The one other time this had happened she was given an IV drip to hydrate her, antibiotics, and two units of blood to increase her hemoglobin. This time around things went differently. We could tell she was weaker and it was soon discovered she had pneumonia. She was given IV, antibiotics, and plenty of oxygen to increase her level. She was admitted to the MICU Unit at the hospital, still on oxygen and now medicine to artificially increase her blood pressure since it had not risen. Dr. Levy may be a knowledgeable doctor but he lacks any compassion from my perspective. He came into her room in the morning and called us (her family - children and husband of over 45 years) into a meeting. What he said was brief. He suggested stopping all medicine. The one line I will never forget him saying was "if I was in the ER when she came in last night I wouldn't have done all this for her". To her family, already distraught from watching her battle cancer and now this. From a medical standpoint it may have been the most obvious decision. However, for a doctor that just met the patient to tell her loving family that he would not have helped her and it was best to stop all medicine since she only has "a few hours" left is beyond any comprehension. I was so shocked by his callous demeanor and nonchalant delivery of his words that I froze in the chair. Every cell in my body wanted to stand up and slap him in the face. To think he is teaching other doctors at the Brown University School of Medicine! Never in my life had I been so full of rage and disgust. I truly hope the students he teaches sees his God Complex and do NOT follow in his footsteps when addressing an already grieving family. However, my hope is most likely wasted since the assisting doctor sitting next to him bluntly told us "I mentioned to you last night that she didn't have a lot of time left". Poor sheep following the "master" - if one wants to call him that, certainly not me. I hope his supervisor sees this review and takes it to heart. I am the type of person to give anyone the benefit of the doubt and be more than understanding. In fact, I doubt if I have ever left a negative review anywhere, aside from this current one. We stopped all treatment on my mother on Saturday and she passed away peacefully Tuesday morning, under the care of nurses who view patients as people and not just a body. So, he was definitely wrong with his estimate of a few hours. It would be nice if he used Sunday and Monday to learn proper delivery of sad news to grieving families, but I highly doubt he can be bothered. It seems beneath him.