Dr. Saira Naz Haider, MD

Made me feel like medical waste wouldn’t recommend her to anyone with a hint of a soul. Surprised she is still practicing.

I have been handling my mental health successfully and proactively since I was diagnosed 6 years ago. I have never felt the way I felt while being treated by Dr. Haider. I checked myself into the hospital while having an acute episode for the first time in a long time, because I wanted to make sure I was getting solid care and that my new medication had time to kick in in a safe environment. Doctor Haider was immediately dismissive of me and just consistently rude. When I submitted my letter to check out so that I could see my own doctors again and actually get the help I needed/join an intensive outpatient program, she would attempt to intimidate me to stay, threatening with court action, which made no sense in my case and obviously had no weight. She diagnosed me with an additionally and extreme diagnosis that made no sense, and attempted to put me on more medications on top of the two I was already on. When I left, my doctors laughed at it/said it was disturbing. When I looked… around the hospital at her other patients and spoke with them, I saw people who had had normal responses to life events being overmedicated and over diagnosed(some on 3 medications for the first time in their life). They were also being kept for extreme periods of time because they weren't lucky enough to already have a care team and support system to advocate for them from the outside/they didn't know any better(with this being their first mental health treatment experience). I'm not sure what her deal is, or why she is so consistently like this with her patients, but it obviously seems like a pattern. Is it for insurance money? Is it a god complex? I have no idea. But it is awful and disrespectful and honestly scary. I felt so bad for every one dealing with her during their first mental health experience because it was traumatizing for me and made me scared of doctors for the first time in my life.

My sister was treated at 6 South at the Presby Campus in White Plains. She sees a lot of patients and was in a hurry . We spoke to other patients when visiting and generally, most patients were dissatisfied with her bedside manner. There are patients that have less critical conditions than others, for my sister it was depression and anxiety that did not warrant such a long stay of a month. She misdiagnosed my sister with bipolar disorder and screwed-up the orders for blood-testing, hence prolonged the hospitalization. Created complications with insurance and payment. I feel that there should be a through review of her treatment of patients. She does not attend enough time and is very haste and restrictive in medication options. Has a tendency to prolong stay. Also, doesn't like talking about her medical training even if you ask. She was also very disrespectful to one of the social workers in charge of discharge planning. Follow-up with outpatient program gave us opportunity to talk… to former patients and there was discussion an over-diagnosis of bipolar disorder with Haider. Hopefully, she reviews the DSM-V closely or perhaps some review should be put in place.