Dr. Wajih Istanbouli, MD

I am in the customer service business, and I know that while it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or MD for that matter...) to have a decent, courteous, and kind attitude toward a customer / patient, depending on the customer or patient, it can be a difficult task. However, I do not see myself as a difficult patient. I was patient (though in immense amounts of pain) and quiet. I didn't demand much at all, and yet was treated with the same respect as a disobedient dog. I came in to the emergency room around 10pm with severe abdominal pain. Without even examining the protrusion coming from my naval, which was the root of the pain, Dr. Istanbouli insisted I take an immodium. I am no doctor, but I can tell you that I know what immodium is for, and I did not have diarrhea- nor was my stomach cramping or hurting in any way. It was more superficial and lower down that my stomach, and felt as if it had nothing to do with my digestion tract. Then when he finally did see me, he argued with me… about taking pain meds and the immodium, and asked why I had refused them before any tests had been run, or before any sort of physical examination had taken place. Firstly, it takes a LOT of physical pain to get me to take even a tylenol. I'm just not one to pop a bunch of pills because I want to feel better. I gave birth to both children drug free- that's just the type of patient I am. But because I didn't ask for medication to dull the pain, I certainly wasn't complaining about it. That would just be silly. He was very uncaring about my concerns and my feelings. The whole reason I came to the ER in the first place was because my 49 year old mother, who was otherwise healthy, died suddenly after an aortic aneurism ruptured in her abdomen. She had severe ABDOMINAL pain (not stomach) and thought it was gas. Less than 2 hours in the ER, she was dead. Literally within an hour of diagnosis. I'm not one to go to the doctor, especially the hospital / ER for just any complaint, but because of those recent events with my very young mother, I decided to go in. Did he bother with my reasoning? No. After 6 hours of waiting (having work at 7am the next morning) and only an X Ray and CT scan done, the diagnosis was a paraumbilical hernia. His treatment option was that I could "stand to lose some weight". Obviously he didn't take the time to read my chart. I recently quit smoking 5 months prior, changed my diet more than 4 months prior, and began running 3 miles/day on a 3 times per week / regular basis. So apparently I have been trying to do something about my weight- but had he have had the least bit of hospitable or even amiable bedside manner, he could have said "keep doing what you're doing- the swelling will go away on its own", or even "you're lucky- it's small, and you're already doing all the things necessary to avoid surgery for this type of abnormality of the abdominal wall".... but he didn't. He was rude, crude, short, and all around hurtful of my feelings and concerns. I would not recommend him to any body- especially since finding out my elderly neighbors had the same types of problems with him just the week before. (we later figured out it was the same doctor...) He had simply told the wife that she needed to commit her husband of 53 years to a nursing home, or she would fall and break her back one day while trying to help him. But in a very rude an obnoxious tone. No consideration whatsoever. I am disgusted that people like him are given the opportunity to work with the general public. He even gave me a prescription for constipation medicine after trying to get me to take an immodium- when I wasn't either constipated or diarrhetic. Horrible, horrible experience.

He rolled his eyes as I described symptoms, walked in the room felt my throat.. and that was the full exam. Wrote inadequate antibiotics, and didn't even want to explain what the problem was. Made me feel terrible.