1 /5 Sara Beth: While the doctors and nurses are generous and caring, there is something lacking from the office staff at Lipson. My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer with metastasis to the liver. Immediately, we went into action with Lipson.
From the word "go" everything felt disconnected. When my husband was experiencing side effects from chemo we were sent to the ER each time, which is totally understandable. However with each visit we were given multiple tests, including several EKGs, all with good prognosis. Keep in mind there were several visits to the ER. Lipson suggested seeing a cardiologist just to be safe and ceased all treatments until the cardiologist gave the OK.
Fair enough, but the thing was not one doctor in Rochester had any appointments for six weeks!! Should this not raise huge red flags at Lipson?? The office did not try help expedite the process, offer solutions or provide us with any other doctors that were not in their "network". They just couldnt think outside of the box, which is stunningly not that hard to do. Meanwhile, scans are showing the cancer spreading in the weeks off of chemo. This not only felt somewhat negligent, but also felt like no one cared. This was a race against time and we were going no where. We were lucky to have a family friend who works for an cardiologist and he was finally seen; everything was OK. The last straw with Lipson was when my husband was in the ER, on a Friday, with pneumonia. He was advised by staff to contact Lipson for IV antibiotics, which he did, at 9:00 am. Lipson advised that he would be contacted by someone on his care team... No one called until Tuesday. The office left my husband with pneumonia, in a state of limbo over an entire weekend, plus a Monday and not one person person on staff could call us back?To say they dropped the ball is an understatement. Ultimately, we decided to go to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC for a second opinion and we were blown away by the difference, the second we walked in the door. In the five months weve been with Sloan Kettering, theyve successfully removed all the cancer, have a treatment plan, they check on us daily, they have an amazing care team which is absolutely miles above Lipson. All doctors visit are in the same place, not miles apart. Most of all, they dont ignore us. This is our lives, not a hair cut. We felt ignored, confused, scared, angry and no one should feel like this by people who youre trusting with your life. I urge anyone facing cancer to seek second opinions; you dont have to feel stuck.
