St. Luke's Thoracic Surgical Associates - Bethlehem

Lorenzo Marinelli _{on Google}

Jun 23rd, 2023

I am leaving a public review in hopes that St Lukes will take this seriously and perhaps better train staff to avoid this from ever happening again. I won't name names, as I was happy with the doctor overall.

I would be willing to delete this review if proper action is taken.
I visited this practice on 6/20/23 for a surgical consult. I first saw a PA who was ... let's say almost militant in stating her disapproval of a different surgeon I already saw regarding this same matter (my visit to St Lukes was for a 2nd opinion). I told her that I understand people can make mistakes or misunderstand, so I was not interested in faulting the prior doctor. She went on to say, quite clearly (in my own words but very close to her words verbatim): You have a mass in your chest that needs to be removed, and no one should tell you otherwise.
However, when the surgeon himself entered the room after the PA consulted with him, she never spoke again and the surgeon basically stated the opposite of her. My health issue is a rarer one than most and there is some "grey area" in both interpreting my CT scan and deciding a course of action, but to have the PA be so overly forthright only to have the doctor then say overall the opposite is in my opinion highly problematic.
For the PA to never say to me "the surgeon has more expertise and I now understand his perspective" or anything to address her oddly bluntly and forcefully earlier telling me a have a mass that must be removed ... it made my head spin and question the entire encounter. It was extremely unprofessional and I can't stress enough how odd the PA's behavior / body language was when the surgeon was present. She certain had a strong personality with me initially, but she was as shy and quiet as can be when the surgeon was present.
The PA was however not shy to express her disapproval of a different surgeon I told her I was scheduled to see the next day (on 6/21). I did indeed see Dr Chang at LVHN as I planned and I felt I received a much clearer and more well informed plan of action that matched my own research (by way of NIH level papers and such, not nonsense sources) and feel very well taken care of.
I have met many amazing doctors in the course of what has been a whirlwind of health issues recently, and no one at LVHN has been anything other than professional and has never said anything negative of any other health care provider. It was worrisome to have a PA at this practice act so unprofessionally and spend time bad mouthing other surgeons. Assuming that St Lukes expects this PA to be in an assistant role, perhaps they need to reinforce that and make it clear that bashing other surgeons is not a good look, nor is it productive.