I scheduled my appointment with Dr. Susan Hirsch for today almost 2 months ago. She came highly recommended by both my mom and stepdad. It’s almost a year now that I’ve had chronic pain in both knees and so far no one has been able to diagnose it. My mother insisted that if anyone would be able to get to the bottom of this, it would be Dr. Susan Hirsch because she is so thorough, will test for everything under the sun, and she is very charismatic. They both raved over how great she was so when I arrived to my appointment today, I was shocked that I was told by the receptionist that someone had left me a vm cancelling my appt 2 days ago! I never got a voicemail from anyone. In fact, I was receiving emails confirming the appt days before! (And even if they did leave me a voicemail, how unprofessional is it to cancel an appt 2 days prior to an appt that was made 2 months in advance?!) When I told the receptionist this and that I took a sick day from work to be here and drove 45 min, and that I was in pain and have been looking forward to seeing this doctor for 2 months now, she came back 5 minutes later and said the doctor would see me. There was no one else even in the waiting room! I was brought back abt 20 min later which was fine. Dr. Susan Hirsch came in my room with a chip on her shoulder and it was clear she had no interest in seeing me. She accused me of making the appointment wrong when she asked if this was a wellness visit. I responded that I didn’t know what she meant by that but told her that when I made this appointment 2 months ago I told the person I spoke with why I was coming in and what was going on with me. She said that my appointment was a mistake and that she wasn’t accepting new patients. I told her my stepdad’s name because he’s in there a lot and that I’ve been waiting to see her because my family highly recommended her. She was extremely rude and nasty. She told me she didn’t have a magic wand after I asked her if she could run blood work to rule things out after telling her all of my symptoms and the chronic pain I’ve been experiencing. I’ve never had an experience like this with any doctor before! I was so shocked because my parents kept telling me how great she was. It was clear that she was pissed that I showed up for my “cancelled” appointment and took it out on me, the patient. Not only will I obviously not go back to her but after leaving the appointment in tears because of how awful she was, my stepdad won’t go back to her either. Everyone has bad days and I understand that but what happened today was extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. I’m a patient that was seeking out medical help for chronic pain I’ve been having and was really hoping this appointment would be the light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a lot more that she said but I ran out of room. I hope this helps the next person when thinking to make an appointment with her.

Submitted June 18, 2021

I saw Dr. Hirsch in the ER at NYU Medical Centre for my first episode of atrial fibrillation May 4, 2012 - an altogether frightening experience for me. She brought with her a calm that carried me through six hours in the ER. She answered all my questions and came to assist often in my care. I had complete confidence in her medical abilities and was overwhelmed by her kindness. I cannot say enough good things about the care she provided while I was there. Would that all doctors were like Dr. Hirsch!

Submitted June 6, 2012