Dr. William Michael Mcdonnell, MD

This Dr. has all the right letters behind his name, but treated me in a demeaning way, I had to suggest the studies that should be done, in order for me to receive treatment for Hep C. He was never the one to follow up with me, I was always obliged to try to contact his staff, which was time consuming and not always effective in getting a response from him. He actually caused me to miss the deadline for entering a clinical trial because he would not forward my chart to the MD running the trial. Luckily I had kept copies of my chart, and faxed them to the clinical trial myself. Their opinion of Dr. McDonnell was that I should definitely seek another provider. That would be my recommendation to you who read this review.

I went to get my weeklong stomach pain checked. This was my first visit with him. When I was in NY I was diagnosed with IBS. Prior to this recent pain, there were no deviation from my normal routine (food/stress/work) and so the sudden start of pain which lasted for about 8-9 days and still continuing when I went to see this doctor was of my concern. As soon as he heard I have IBS, he wanted to wrap up the visit almost immediately. He did not even put the stetho on my stomach where I had pain. His remarks were: "I can do nothing". I was like "what?". When I asked him to check my stomach, his comment was: "You know your body, and you know I cannot do anything." I was literally stunned. I was like: what do you mean? If I know my body well, why would I come to see a doctor? Plus I have an on-going pain issue. As if, I have done a big mistake by having IBS and all pains can be attributed to IBS. I cannot have anything else wrong in my body and I should know my body. Simply unbelievable… behavior from an established specialist. All in all he spent probably 8-10 minutes with me. Most of that time I was explaining the pain and my past history. After that it basically came down to like: I was just pursuing and requesting the doctor to check my pain and he would dismiss my concern. He had absolutely no concern for a patient and had zero value to me. I had never ever had such a short and horrible experience. And btw: his bedside manner is not good either. My English accents are not great but I speak clear English - everybody can understand my English. However the whole time I was talking to this doctor - he would smirk. At the end I was so frustrated that I had decided to let others know about this doctor. This is the first review I have written for any doctor in my life and I am glad to share my experience here. I want others to know what kind of doctor this guy is. BTW: that was my last visit with him. I had never gone back to him. I went back to my PCP - he is a great doctor and cares for me and spends enough time with me. He checked the pain and did some testing (scan etc.). The pain was due to two different reasons - I was diagnosed with fatty liver and my colon was full of stool. I am much better now.

Dr. McDonnell is a nice enough man, and his bedside manner is okay, as long as you don't ask too many questions and as long as he approves of your primary physician. Whatever you do, DON'T mention if you are seeing a naturopath. He will make disparaging remarks about them and your treatment plan. I wouldn't go see him again myself, but he probably works for the average patient who is content to be told what to do, what is wrong, etc. I'm a bit too involved in my own health care to put up with doctors who can't play nice with my other healthcare providers.