Dr. Kelley Hanrahan
Bad Experience
I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have to finally write a review about my experience with Dr. Kelley Hanrahan.
When I still lived in Seattle, I had amazing insurance through Blue Cross. I found Dr. Hanrahan through here, of all places, read the reviews and watched her personal video on the Minor and James site.
I had a good initial feeling and went ahead and made the appt. for my annual and Pap, etc.
What was interesting during my first appt. with her was the way she reacted to my age (I was 35 at the time) and that I’d had one abnormal Pap in the recent past. I appreciated the concern at the time.
Warning, the following might be TMI for some, but I think that it’s important to understand all of the specifics of my visit(s) so that you can be as informed as possible if you’re in a similar situation.
My next test with her came out abnormal and she and Nurse Alicia informed me that I had moderate to severe dysplasia.
This hadn’t come up in the abnormal Pap from less than a year before and my previous doctor had only said to do a follow-up within the year. Ok, not panicking yet, but then Dr. Hanrahan immediately scheduled me for a biopsy asap.
Biopsy is scheduled and I’m leaning toward the freakout end. I feel that she didn’t do her best to answer my questions and that I had to Google a bunch of different topics related to the biopsy, etc., especially possible complications and recovery, et al.
The biopsy that I had with Dr. Hanrahan was one of the worst experiences of my life.
It was painful and I felt extremely uncomfortable. But wait, there’s more….unfortunately.
Biopsy definitely confirms the “moderate to severe dysplasia” and she schedules me for a LEEP procedure to remove the abnormal tissue.
At this point, I’m envisioning dying of cervical cancer and I didn’t care for her growingly blase attitude throughout the whole thing.
The other thing was that she made an odd comment about a condition that I have and said “well, you’re an odd case of PCOS, as you’re one of the lucky ones that aren’t overweight.
Wow, just wow.” Quote, unquote. I’m reminded of the timing and the tone of the comment being incredibly out of place.
The LEEP procedure was quick and relatively painless, so at least that went well.
However, the final straws are these. I went back for a follow-up Pap and exam.
The follow-up pelvic exam was the most brutal that I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, no joke.
She also said that she couldn’t “find my cervix” and fumbled around for like 5 minutes. WTF? Really?
She calls me within 2 weeks, says that the cells are back and she wants another biopsy, etc.
The red flags completely went up for me as I had mentioned to Nurse Alicia during my last visit that my insurance would be running out (due to job change).
I didn’t call her back immediately and the next message she left tried to be ominous, basically chastising me about not acknowledging the severity of the situation with needing to get in asap, etc.
Hmmm. My Spidey sense was tingling. I called her back shortly thereafter and left a message explaining that my insurance would run out by such and such time and that I was very concerned about the future and I’d appreciate her guidance and advice. Guess what? NO CALL BACK.
I left a similar message a few weeks later, knowing that she’s very busy and hard to see and all of that and guess what? Yup. She didn’t bother calling me back at all. Ever. 🙁
I moved out of town to Portland, OR and signed off to get my records from her for my new doctor last year.
She only sent PARTIAL records, nothing after the biopsy, even after repeated attempts to get the complete records. Bizarre and incomprehensible, truly.
I’ve since switched doctors (gotta love the insurance rigamarole) and I’m concerned that she’ll do a repeat performance and not send everything.
Not sure what to do if that happens, just short of marching back to Seattle and demanding my records in person so they can’t keep ignoring me.
Yes, this is a book and TMI, but if it can help anyone out there avoid something like this happening to them, so be it.
Good luck with your future care.
