Dr. Steven Howard Pursell, MD

He is very rude an demeaning

Horrible bedside manner. Will NEVER step foot in that office again. Can't believe he deals with women let alone women with cancer.

This was by far the worst Doctor I've been to in my 39 years! He degraded, humiliated an made me feel the lowest of the low.. He didn't not have a good bedside manner, in fact he didn't have any manners.. He wasn't professional nor had any compassion when it came to my health, my concerns or how I felt about my situation... He didn't do my biopsy correct, he did not check the site when I came back to my fallow up (which was infected) The worst part of the whole thing is he treated me like this because he took it upon himself to judge me because I have tattoos(which he had a problem with) an I have writin proof from the Dr himself ... I wouldn't recommend him to ANYONE

I saw this Dr 20 years ago and 10 years after that. The first time was over a four year period. I can only imagine the knowledge he now has. It took me 5 tries to get any Dr to even take my case but Dr Pursell did. He was the best thing that ever happened to me medically and I can't imagine anyone having such a hard time with this Dr. He admitted during my surgeries that he wasn't sure what would end up working for me but he continued trying everything and giving me every option until he fixed me! Don't know if I would be alive without him. Nobody else cared enough to even try and help me. I have only good things to say about him!!!

No diagnostics, just scheduled surgery. Demonstrates zero regard for patient welfare.

My mother had to see this doctor while hers was out of own because they were partners. My mother was 49 years old and recently diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. Needless to say this was a very hard time for my mother and our family. My mother's doctor Dr. Doering had discussed that my mother's cancer was terminal and there was no curing it, but by doing chemo she had a chance for it to go into remission. With my mother's age being only 49 years old they decided to try the chemo in hopes of her reaching remission. My mother was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and pancreatitis while her doctor was out of town. Dr. Pursell had to cover my mother while her doctor was out of town. I have never witnessed such bad bedside manner by any doctor and I work in healthcare. Dr Pursell told my mother that it was a bad idea for her to do chemo, that no matter what she was just going to die. My mother explained why she wanted to do chemo and her and her doctor have talked about the… chemo and her treatment in detail. We all knew my mother's cancer was agrees I've and that chemo was just a temporary option to give her some extra years but that is what she wanted and that is the advice her doctor gave her. Dr Pursell was very persistent in trying to convince her to just stop the chemo and go home and die. He would not take no for an answer he tried and tried to convince her to just give up. He was so rude to my mother and our entire family. Dr pursell sees his patients as test results and not as people who have feelings and families. They are just statistical numbers to him. Dr pursell was the rudest person I have ever came across. When you are a oncologist you have to have some type of compassion towards your patients because you are seeing them at the most difficult time of their life, Dr pursell lacks any type of compassion towards his patients and their families. Please do not see this doctor. There is a doctor in that same office named Dr.Doering he was very compassionate and honest. He explained everything to my mother and our family in detail and told us all of our options we had. When my mother was in the hospital he would sit at the end of her bed and talk to her like a human being, Dr. Pursell would stand in the doorway and not even look my mother in the eye.

I have been a patient of Dr. Pursell's for over two years and have never,ever had any of the experiences that she described. That is why I am writing this review. There certainly needs to be some balance and another experience shared in this space. Upon my initial consultation with Dr. Pursell,I immediately sensed that I had met the physician that I wanted to care for me in this very difficult and confusing time. He was very caring and patient and quietly answered all of the questions that I and my family had. We discussed my surgery and treatment plan afterward. He was always available for questions or concerns, as were the nurses and triage staff . I am so glad that I chose this kind ,caring , and extremely gifted gynecologic/oncologist to care for me. I have been in and out of treatment and my concerns and questions are always addressed with the utmost thoughtfulness and patience. I try to be an informed patient and fully participate in my plan of care and this is welcomed by… DR. Pursell as well as the APRN's who work so closely with him every day. In closing, I know that we are blessed to have many wonderful doctors in the Louisville area. I truly feel that he is one of the very best and would recommend him highly any time. Lastly,I am a retired RN and have worked with many M.D.'s over thirty -one years of nursing.

Dr. Pursell should not even be allowed to deal with women with gynecological cancer. His bedside manner is horrible, he acts as if you are inconveniencing him to be there and he gives very little information. As a cancer patient, I was scared and had no idea what to ask. He didn't offer anything other than the futile things I could think of despite my shock of being sick. I didn't even know what stage my cancer was. He said he had not treated anyone with my cancer before and so he would have to do some research. I basically was a guinea pig for him. Further into my treatment I had to go for a pelvic exam. I had received 28 radiation treatments so needless to say things were very sore in that area. Dr. Pursell was having trouble getting the speculum inside of me and therefore began berating me by saying that I didn't care about my health (accusing me of not dilating my vagina, which I did do), he said that I had just given up on everything and why should he continue if I wasn't… going to. (I had gained weight on this visit and that made him angry as well because I am overweight) The weight gain was nothing more than gaining back some of the 30 pounds I had lost during treatment. In the beginning, he said that this was one time that being overweight was going to be an advantage for me. Anyway, he forced the speculum in (as I screamed) and it RIPPED open the area that had been radiated. Keep in mind that I had just finished radiation treatments, I still had remnants of burns. He left the room thoroughly disgusted with me as I lay there sobbing. That wound became infected (no kidding!) I was in so much pain that I could not even walk. I went back one week later and he decided to put me in the hospital and biopsy the wound that he caused on the RADIATED tissue. Who does that? So then I had an even bigger gaping hole on the inside of my vaginal wall. This became even more infected, turned necrotic and spread up into my pelvic area, all the way to my tailbone, pubic bone, rectum, colon, etc... it was a good 6-8 inches up inside me and spread 4-6 inches across. When I went back for the results of the "biopsy", he wouldn't even come in the room but instead the PA came in and told me it was negative. I asked what was I supposed to do about the horrible pain I was in and she went out to ask him. He told her to tell me to take ibuprofen. Seriously? I couldn't sit, couldn't walk and was in so much pain I cried constantly. I left his office that day and went straight to Brown Cancer Center. I was told by the doctor there that she didn't even know how I was still alive and couldn't believe that I was even able to stand. She began aggressive measures to stop the necrosis but it was too late. I ended up having a surgery that more or less "gutted" me. I now have a permanent colostomy, massive scarring and damage from the initial radiation, nerve damage, neuropathy, lymph edema and am now permanently disabled. I can't sit on my bottom for more than a few minutes without being in a lot of pain. I have to use a cane to walk BUT I am lucky to be alive. No thanks to Dr. Pursell. If you love yourself or have someone else that you love that has any female type cancer... DO NOT put them in the hands of this man. RUN to anyone else. Please. I couldn't do anything for myself except get away from him. There is a statute of limitations for filing malpractice and I missed it by one week because I was in the hospital (which by the way, that surgery I had to have to survive lasted 12+ hours and I spent 6 weeks in the hospital) I was told that I would die within a matter of weeks if I didn't have the surgery. Proving malpractice is mainly your word against theirs anyway so be proactive in your health care. I am now! If I don't feel like someone is "on my team" I hit the road looking for someone better. So, as I was saying I may not have avoided this man and his absolute lack of care for his patients, but I sure can warn YOU!