Lawrence J Handler, MD

Stay far far away. A few years ago I was having gastric distress. I was about 38. I had been to my primary care but she wanted to refer me to a gastro. I couldn’t get an appointment with any of her suggestions within a few weeks so I started calling around. I was thrilled to get this guy. Strangely his calendar seemed very open. When I arrived there was a waiting room of elderly patients that looked ½ dead. My first thought… medicare quack. But I was there so I went in.
This is what happened. He did not take a detailed history, talk with me about what was happening. He didn’t examine me at all and I remained fully clothed with my coat on. He listened to me for a short time and then told me this: «yeh, it could be a million things, the only way to find out for sure is to have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy.»
I think I laughed. But he was dead serious. Since I was already dressed it was super easy to get me up and out the door and to the front desk to make the appointment and before I knew it, I was signed up for a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Which I canceled as soon as I left.
The problem turned out to be something I was eating. So a colonoscopy and endoscopy wouldn’t have helped either.