Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York

My experience with their pituitary center was awful. They are not really interested in helping patients. You have to basically “apply” to get in. They gave me the run around just to be considered. I did everything that was asked. Then I was told I was not accepted. I didn’t realize when they asked for certain testing that I’d be turned away without even a consult despite having positive test results. No reason or advice was given. You’d think people with a little bit of human decency and empathy would at least give feedback, especially when you’re supposedly dealing with patients with serious illnesses all the time, but no. In my case my illness is very rare so it’s not like I can easily go somewhere else and get help. I may have to travel to Rochester which is 4 hours away from me to another pituitary clinic. I was honestly shocked by the treatment. I guess today you have to come to expect that people can’t be bothered. I’m not sure why doctors go through the trouble and expense of medical school if they’re not interested in actually helping people.

This is a review on their international remote consultation services. We didn’t find many reviews when we first decided to do this for my grandpa who lives overseas. For reference, as of now it costs 2500 to get a written opinion and 4000 for a video consultation, where they require the local oncologist to be present. We did the written opinion. Further medical reports e.g. pathology,lab that need to be read incur extra costs. - It took three weeks to get a half page of recommendation by Dr. Andrew Epstein that probably didn’t take very long to write. - The recommendation is not very helpful to the patient as it’s meant for our local oncologist, not for the patient (or we his family) who requested the second opinion. my mum has enough medical knowledge to understand what was written but if you don’t know anyone like that, make sure your local oncologist is ok with you getting a second opinion and reviewing it for you later. - He mistakenly referred to the patient as female, when he is in fact male in the follow up, which shows lack of attention to the case. - He recommend first trying a chemotherapy regime which have already been administered six cycles and shown not very effective for lung metastasis, and didn’t justify why this regimen should be tried again. - No detailed dosages and instructions were given for recommended drugs. - When asked about prognosis, he mentioned that there are so many other factors he does not have access to, but he didn’t ask. The patient summary already indicates that the patient can walk and able to carry on working, but needs medicine to boost appetite. However, he still mentioned that he has no access to such information.

No idea what these bad reviews are about because I have been treated with the best care I have ever had at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr Alice Wei and Dr Judge are ROCKSTARS in the type of cancer I had. I am very proactive in my own care, so some of the issues mentioned appear to be from people, who did not properly advocate, for themselves or their loved ones. I was seen and diagnosed immediately and had surgery within a couple weeks. I was placed in a beautiful VIP suite and looked after 24-7 by a bevy of fun and kind nurses, PT people, and maintenance folks. Because I tested positive for Covid after surgery, I was there a week so had tons of great nurses and physical therapists except for one recovery room nurse named Camille — who lied about me not wanting any painkillers (I just didn't want any highly addictive ones!) — and Tara, the last nurse in my room, who tried to rush me out of the room by taking my clothes and throwing them on a chair while I was in the shower. Since coming home, I have had phone calls almost daily checking on my recovery and whenever I ask a question in the portal, it is answered instantly with either a phone call or email back. There are some changes I would make. First, there was an incident where Dr. Wei outright lied to me when I requested a routine scan that is usually done prior to surgery for the type of tumor I had. She inexplicably claimed that the scan was too expensive and that MSKCC did not do them. This was just odd since neither thing was true. That made me a bit nervous at first. However, she saved my life, so I feel so grateful that I found her. Secondly, people need more than 2 days in the hospital after surgery. I was in so much pain there is no way I could've gone home in 2 days, which I would've had to do if I had not had Covid. Also, the pain meds need to be timed with the physical therapy visits so that the patient can actually do the walks/exercises that are required. My PTs kept coming so late that my meds had worn off. Then, I couldn't do the walks. And finally, the drain bags need to be smaller. It makes no sense for patients to have to wear a 600ml drain bag if they are only outputting 20-40ml. Having a smaller bag would be much more convenient for patients, who have to wear a drain for a long time. And finally, patients need a realistic estimate of how long recovery from surgery can be. I was told I would be ok in 2 weeks. But it was 3 months with 5 hospital stays due to complications. And now 4 months later, I still have some pain at my drain and wound sites. I kept returning to work then having to be out again. If I had had a realistic notion of how complicated the recovery could be, I would've just taken the full 3 months off to heal. That said, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is the gold standard and I am so glad I chose to work with them. Like anything health-oriented, you need to do your homework and advocate for yourself. There is nothing scarier than cancer, NOTHING! So if you live in NYC, make sure you come here. Because it is the best.

The most terrible organization and coordinator experience ever! If you are looking to getting the best cancer treatment at this hospital, good luck! These people have the worst coordination between doctors, nurses, billing financial team etc. They will call the patient asking for a form he never heard of only to hang up and never call back. Each time you call they ask you to call different department. It has now been 3 weeks and we are still waiting for the chemo treatment to be approved. They tell you that" you shouldn't worry we have it covered", only for nothing to be done and for you to continue waiting for your treatment until your condition gets worse!

My daughter was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and not given much hope. We went to MSKCC for a second opinion and it was a no-brainer to proceed with treatment there. We hand picked the doctors we wanted on our team and all of them are experts in their field. They even have a special team of doctors for cancer patients under 40. They offer treatment options that are not available just anywhere. This is a CANCER center and that's all they do, research and treat cancer. My daughter's treatment has been really rough because of how advanced it is, but they have been with us every step of the way. They are so responsive when we reach out through the patient portal. Scheduling is extremely easy and lab work and test results are uploaded to the patient portal within hours. Dr. Wei, Dr. Connell, Dr. Smith and Dr. Romessar are awesome! I would highly recommend going to MSKCC for the best possible outcome of your cancer treatment!

Want to give a shout out to the nurses and staff on the 17th floor. I was briefly there this past Thursday to pick up my uncle Juan who received treatment. It felt very welcoming and calm on the floor. I am assuming that they were nurses (I apologize if they’re not) as they were sitting in the central location and also running around taking care of patients. When we asked for a wheelchairs, they processed the request with a smile. One of the folks even asked how my day was going and asked about the Buffalo Bills. I know this may sound small but it’s the little things that can make a difference. I had some anxiety coming to visit and was exhausted from my 8 hour drive to get here, but all that went away when I entered the 17th floor of this hospital.

The nurses, admin team, patient care team I have no complaints about. I dread thinking how the doctors here have handled my Dads care since the very beginning of his AML diagnosis in April. To begin when he was initially admitted, he received his chemo and was discharged with oral meds that he was told to keep taking upon going home. Doing some basic internet research we discovered he was taking the meds for 20 days longer than he was supposed to. We had a teledoc visit with his doctor, she described it as a “misscommunication” and that he indeed took it weeks longer than he was supposed to. Also during this period, he was doing outpatient in New Jersey and never had any follow up from his doctor until weeks after discharge his initial diagnosis. I do not think this is standard. He was discharged with no Oncology follow ups scheduled or anything. When we finally did talk to his Doctor she said to move to a clinical trial that had not been successful on anyone, nor was it even available. She gave him more chemo that did not make any progress towards treating his disease. To say she was hands off is an understatement. I personally messaged about clinical trials that had success with patients with similar diagnosis and subtypes. We were told to reach out to hospitals that had them while she continuously kept stringing my father along without any real plan besides what was already not working. I asked about transplants she said it could kill him, now they have no viable plan as the chemo and lung issues (related) are too much to overcome. I continue to seek treatments for him. In short, I feel like we experienced a 1980s treatment plan, with no creativity or critical thinking applied to treating my Dad. He is a number to (most) of the doctors. They also will scheduled him for blood transfusions once a week on outpatient when he got them daily in the hospital. Extremely frustrating. Their bedside manner was also… abysmal. Offered little hope this whole time and didnt give confidence to other centers that would have been more capable in treating him. I would not recommend MSKCC and wished he went somewhere like Mayo or MD Anderson. Maybe they can be helpful for more straightforward treatment plans, but my Dad has a very rare subtype that made it complicated. Several doctors come off as thinking they are the end all be all of what is known about my father’s disease. Newsflash - we’re all capable of reading studies that show efficacy of treatments but your heads are too far up your own you know wheres to listen to family. They also give off a vibe of thinking they are the Almighty as well and it breaks my heart to see how they spoke to him and how it affects his mood, graces, and personal outlook.