Dr. Steven Daniel Schwartz, MD

I have a few concerns about this doctor. My lawyer contacted Dr Schwartz to have him review my daughter’s medical records for a malpractice case. The original doctor who saw her diagnosed her with cat scratch even when all tests came back negative for cat scratch. When he attempted to take her off the meds controlling the inflammation, she woke up completely blind in one eye. During 5 days in the hospital, she was seen by teams of doctors from a multitude of other specialties to include infectious disease. She has also seen 4 different retinal specialists. All have determined that the original diagnosis of cat scratch was wrong. They have also informed us that she will remain partially blind in one eye because the retina is partially dead due to lack of blood flow. Dr Schwartz has reviewed her records and then told our lawyer that she did have cat scratch and will regain her vision. I’m sorry what? No. He is completely wrong and I find it unethical to falsely give hope of returned… vision when there is none. She has spent the past year trying to learn to deal with the vision loss and it is more than cruel to try to say her vision will come back when all others have told us it will not. And she has been some by some of the best in the country. There is no cure for dead. He might be satisfactory for simple cases but I would question if he is capable of handling any more complex conditions. I know some will say I’m upset because of the effect on the case, but for me, it’s the false hope and the complete lack of regard for the negative test results time and again. It’s disgraceful and unethical.

Dr. Schwartz, plain and simple, saved me from going completely blind. He is not only brilliant, but compassionate, caring and he has a great sense of humor. At times, when I was scared to death, he held my hand and comforted me. I love Dr. Schwartz, and I am so grateful to have him in charge of my care.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF DR. SCHWARTZ: 1) Compassionate 2) Amazing bedside manner 3) THE BEST Eye Surgeon in the WORLD 4) Blind to Eye sight!! OH MY GOD! NOW THE DETAILS: My mom's left eye felt very itchy so she went to a UCLA Urgent Care doctor who said "its just an allergy, don't worry about it." And so she did.... A few days later she was completely BLIND in her left eye. We immediately went to Ronald Regan Emergency and the team sprung into action. Dr. Schwartz took complete control of the situation with his entire team of specialists. First, he stabilized her eye by injecting multiple forms of antibiotics in her eye and then planned the surgery when he felt it was appropriate to operate. He even made his team open the Stein Eye center on a Sunday so they can inject my moms eye (thus not even waiting till Monday). WOW - what doctor actually does this? NOBODY but Dr. Schwartz and his amazing team of doctors!!! I didn't get all the doctors names but I do remember… Dr. Messina, he too was amazing! It was very well planned from the very beginning. Dr. Schwartz had an entire team of physicians and surgeons as he orchestrated what each persons role was as well as keeping us in the loop. He said he would try his best to save her eye but there was no guaranty since an advanced bacteria was eating the inside of her eye. At one point he said they had a protocol to remove her eye, but instead of going the lazy/easy route, he persisted and did everything in his power to save her eye and remove the bacteria from the inside of her eye. As busy as Dr. Schwartz is saving eyes, he still had time to sit down and compassionately talk and give us an update on her operation. He didn't rush and let us ask as many questions as we possibly could. He never clock watched and was just so compassionate. A few days later he removed her patch and unfortunately there was no vision. So Dr. Schwartz did not give up and kept up with protocol and gave her more injections. A week later my mom started to see light and Dr. Schwartz kept at it and still didn't give up on us. Another week and my mom now can see small images... Another week and she can see big letters and numbers.... Another week and she can see! Her vision is still blurry but it can be corrected with prescription glasses. We are ever so grateful to Dr. Schwartz. God bless him and his team. They never gave up and were just adamant on saving her eye. Never, never, never giving up just shows what a Godsend this man is! We are blessed to have Dr. Schwartz in our lives! God Bless You Dr. Schwartz!!!! And thank you from our entire family for doing everything medically possible to save my moms eye!

He is a good surgeon but he’s a bully. He insisted that my daughter take unpaid leave to care for me, that only family will do. She was so distressed that she was in tears. Also said I told him something that I never did during my recovery. I went back for several days in extreme pain, but he wouldn’t give me even a mild med for a long time. I changed to another physician.