Dr. Richard Lawrence Delaney, MD

DO NOT come to Robert Delaney for your care!!!!!!!! Aggressive, hostile, and likely to do more harm than good, either because he is too angry to focus, or out of spite if you dare to stick up for yourself. Just helped my mom, a new patient, get to Dr. Delaney’s office. The doctor was extremely, extremely rude to us when we came by. We arrived at 12:45 for her 1:00 pm appointment so she would have time to fill out forms as a new patient. Totally normal, right? Well, not according to Dr. Delaney. We buzzed and buzzed at the gate with no response — it would just ring for about 30 seconds and hang up. So I called the office directly to see if I could reach someone to open up the gate. Maybe their bell wasn’t working, or we caught them while they were in the restroom? Especially as it is nearly 100 degrees out and my mom is on a cane with a knee brace and can’t put much weight on it (obviously— it’s why we were there, of course), my priority was to get her inside and sitting down… ASAP. Well, to my surprise, the guy on the line who picked up (who would turn out to be Dr. Delaney himself) was extremely hostile right from the moment he picked up. Usually when I get a doctor who takes his anger and stress management issues out on potential patients from moment one, I don’t even make an appointment, but it was too late for that now. I asked if this was Dr. Delaney’s office, and it was. I said I had my mother out here for a 1:00 appointment, that we had tried buzzing with no success, and would someone be able to let us in? And he said, verbatim: “I’m pretty sure it’s not 1:00 yet and I’m pretty sure we told your mother to come at 1:00, does it look like 1:00 to you? I just stepped out and will be back in a bit. [sic — IN A BIT! really!]” I said she was a new patient so we were coming just ahead of time to be able to fill out forms (again, pretty standard procedure, though I didn’t point this out to him in the moment). His response: “Well, she can fill them out at 1:00.” And he hung up on me. Well, it was still hot and, more critically, there was still nowhere for her to take her weight off her injured knee (again: the knee being the reason we were there obviously). So I called on back and he picked up, “Dr. Delaney’s office.” So I said, “Hi, yes, it seems we were disconnected.” Or, tried to, but he interrupted me with, ”Oh, you, I said I would be back at 1:00, didn’t I?” So before he could hang up again I tried to say: “Well, is there anywhere out here for her to sit if you won’t let her in? She is obviously here because she’s injured.” Before I could finish he had already hung up on me again. As I was explaining this to my mom, he finally appeared to let us in, looking extremely aggrieved and inconvenienced that we had the audacity to show up for my mom’s appointment. My mom said that someone had been quite rude to us on the phone, and he said, “That was me on the phone,” and then: “I am Dr. Delaney.” Big whoop. So impressed. At this point it was about 12:50 — hard to forget, since the next thing he said upon opening was not an apology for the wait, but another admonishment that, “I’m just saying, it isn’t 1:00 yet, do you understand me?” as if we were being at all unreasonable here. I’d had enough and said that it was absolutely reasonable to come a few minutes early when you are a new patient, and that he shouldn’t be leaving injured patients standing out there, and that I wasn’t here to be condescended to like this. He said, “Well, you do what you think is best, but again it isn’t 1:00pm yet.” You do what you think is best — again, like we were being unreasonable here. In person, as on the phone, he was condescending as if I was the moron who couldn’t understand it wasn’t the appointment time yet, even though it is (a) completely reasonable to show up 10-15 minutes early to an appointment in general (and we live in NYC! what if we were accounting for traffic/transit by leaving a buffer and we got lucky! happens all the time!) and (b) even more completely reasonable (and usually specifically requested?) to show up 10-15 minutes early to an appointment when you are a NEW PATIENT with forms to fill out! Dr. Delaney acted like it was a huge and totally unreasonable inconvenience for us to be there a little after 12:45 for a 1:00pm appointment. He epitomizes women’s health care concerns in this country. He demonstrates why our fears are not unfounded: that we will be condescended to, not listened to, and told off for doing the absolute right things while seeking care. Especially if we are ill/injured and cannot defend ourselves, or are women of color, or god forbid both. You can bet if we had shown up at 1:01 instead, we would have been met with an eyeroll and, “Here I thought this was a 1:00pm appointment, snd you have to fill out forms first. Didn’t you know to come early?” Doctor, just because you’re a old white male who is too cheap to hire a receptionist doesn’t give you leave to be rude to any woman who makes an appointment and walks up to your door seeking help. It was the most unprofessional experience I have had in my entire life (which unfortunately includes a lot of doctor encounters, many rough but none so out the gate rude as this). If he’d been contrite instead — “I’m so sorry, I had to step out for just a moment but will be back in a few minutes” — instead of defensively hostile, we would have felt very differently about the (still unreasonable) wait on the sidewalk. But no. Dr. Delaney is just a nasty, unpleasant person to the core. Really hoping my mom makes it out of this appointment unscathed. And really disappointed that if she does, we will be back on the hunt yet again for a doctor who remembers what his job even is.

Dr. Delaney is a superb doctor, knowledgable, patient with excellent bedside manner.

Really listened to the problem and explained the treatment options clearly in normal English.

Richard Delaney is old school excellence in medicine. He work is first-class and you know prior to the surgery you are in the hands of an expert. The surgery for me, for two different needs, went flawlessly. A few visits in between over a twenty five-year patient relationship further leads one to the conclusion this is a doctor who knows his stuff, and care primarily for the patient needs. Too few of doctors like him

Excellent surgeon. Very meticulous throughout the process from the Pre -Op phase through the post-Op phase. Very knowledgeable, takes the time to explain the problem in detail as well as the potential solutions. Dr Delaney operated on both of my shoulders and the results were excellent. He is about to operate on my knee after a significant fall and I could not have asked for a better physician for the pre-op assessment phase. This being my third experience with Dr Delaney I would now consider myself to be somewhat of an expert in assessing his patient interaction skills and care. I would highly recommend Dr. Delaney to anyone without reservation.

Dr. Delaney!!! One of a kind!!

Dr Delaney is one of the finest surgeons in NY. He is by far the smartest and most talented of all the doctors I have used for various sports injuries. Add to it that he seems to care and follows up , old school style.

Dr. Delaney was recommended to me by a few individuals, and exceeded my expectations. I was able to get an appointment within two business days, the wait was short when I got there, and Dr. Delaney was thorough, yet conservative in his recommendation for treatment. The office is no-frills and older, but I wasn't there to lounge.

I've been a patient for 6 years. Dr. Delaney is extremely professional. You can expect a very detailed explanation of your diagnosis. Very conservative in treatment and very competent in the operating room.

I like that he is so meticulous. He is very particular about things being done properly. Great follow up and let's me ask all the questions I want/need to ask.