I had emergency surgery for appendicitis with Dr. Leichtling and although the process was a little bumpy in the beginning (through no fault of his) the surgery went off without a hitch and Dr. Leichtling made himself available to me, even after hours, when I had pretty bad post-op pain that was due to the anesthetic (again, not his fault, just my personal reaction). His office assistant is awesome. I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. She was very kind to me and even helped me fill out several forms including SDI and return to work forms and was happy to do so. Nice team and I'm glad I got them. read more

Worst experience I could have imagined. Don't trust this guy under the knife. Mr Leichtling botched my appendectomy surgery by cutting open my bladder. He blew it off in our conversation calling it a "complication." read more

Dr. Leichtling nearly killed my partner with a brain infection that he gave him. Details available if you private message me. When Dr. Leightling asked why my partner was upset with him, I told him several other doctors had reported him for malpractice. Dr. Leightling said - my partner just out of two weeks in intensive care - "You do your best, and shit happens." read more

Dr. Leichtling performed a double hernia operation in my brother today. I found him to be very professional. The surgery went very well and my brother is almost walking around as if nothing happened. So, why not five stars? The only way to put pressure on the culprit is to give the doc a lower rating due to his horrible office manager, Lori. after all, she's the first impression patients have before meeting the doctor! My bro complained about her inept manner and personal chatting on the phone about her family. That is extremely unprofessional and should not be tolerated in a doctor's office or anywhere rude for that matter! His complaint lined up exactly with the other bad reviews online. It's not hard to see the legitimacy of the complaint when others say the same exact thing. Since my bro has only lived in So. Cal. for about one year, he hasn't had a chance to get new doctors down there and his PCP is still in the City. The troubles began when Lori told my bro to get labs done pre surgery, but didn't tell him what, where or how. She took her sweet time to get the orders sent to him. He needed to pull every piece of info out of her himself. He finally got the orders and requested EKG, but no one told him he'd need a physical, too. He's never had surgery since having his tonsils removed as a young child. It's the doctors' offices' responsibility to inform the patient ahead of time. The hospital even expected him to come in personally to pre-register when all that could be done via phone or online. As he was getting ready to make the long drive to the Bay Area, he got a call asking why he hadn't gotten a physical? WTF?! He was told that the surgery may not happen if he didn't have the physical done first! He called Lori, who told him she'd need to ask the doctor if he could override the request and forge ahead. She did call him back hours later and he immediately took off. But, he didn't leave until mid afternoon and didn't arrive until 10 pm, needing to be at the St. Francis by 6 am! Absolutely insane! So, if you do decide to use Dr. Leichtling as your surgeon, know what your getting into with his lack of professional staff! Obviously, she thinks the world is made for her and no one else! If it'd been me, I would have been all over her like white on rice! Do your job or ship out! What a shame this doctor's reputation is being tarnished with a inept and arrogant B like Lori!! read more

I went to Dr. Leichtling at the request of my primary doctor. I had to wait 30 minutes because he was not in the office yet when I arrived on time for my 10:00 appointment. I nearly left as I had to get back to work -- I'm glad I didn't. As others have said, he is an amazing Doctor. His bedside manner is second to none and his knowledge is extensive. He put my mind at ease about an issue I thought I may be having and I didn't feel like he was rushing to get me out of his door so he could need the next patient. He took the time to thoroughly examine and inform me. If I ever need to get cut open, this is the guy I want to do it! I If you get there and he is running late -- wait it out. It's worth it :) read more

I was referred to Dr. Leichtling by my PCP a few months ago and got an appointment quickly in his Pacific Heights basement office. I hear his surgical skills are excellent, and they may well be, but I am never going to find out, because I was so put-off by the horribly sexist way I was treated by this doctor. I showed up at the appointment by myself and he took me into an exam room, took one look at it (my navel) and said kind of shook his head saying, "Your husband is not going to like it if I fix it. It's going to look weird." Because, yes, clearly I make all my decisions about my medical treatment based on how I look to My Man. I was kind of stunned silent and stammered something -- by the way-- no actually mention of my spouse had been made, though I do wear a wedding ring. (Reader, take note, this is foreshadowing). After my stunned muttering, he went on to talk about how weird it would look when I wear bikinis. (Reader, I am 49, on the larger side and ALREADY HAVE A BIG SURGICAL SCAR IN THIS AREA, it's safe to say I am either never going to wear a bikini again, or I DGAS about what scars might show if I did want to wear one. In either case, it seemed more of a condescending wink wink, oh, isn't it hilarious I am pretending this middle-aged fat girl might wear a bikini.) So, pretty much as soon as I replayed the things he was saying over in my head, I got myself up off the exam table and started to leave. On my way out of the tiny room, Dr. Leichtling grabbed my hand and pulled it up towards his face. Again, I was stunned silent. He looked at my engagement ring and ASKED ME HOW MANY CARATS IT WAS. WTAF. I came home, totally stewing about how I had not jumped up off the table and would my way out of his basement office immediately, and I posted on Facebook with a very short description (and definitely no names) of what happened, and a friend of mine reached out immediately and said she knew exactly the doctor, and she told me his name, and went on to describe the exact same thing-- winking comments about what the boyfriend would think, bikini wearing jokes (to another middle-aged larger woman) that were condescending at best and YES, comments about her engagement ring. Perhaps if you are a dude and it's an emergency, you'll probably have good luck, and even if you are a woman and it's an emergency, you might have a decent medical result, but if you have a choice, and are sick of this kind of treatment from men-- run. Run far far away. There are plenty of surgeons in the sea. read more

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Leichtling when I had the misfortune of ending up in the emergency room for appendicitis. He was thorough in his explination what was going to be done. BUT the best part, I have tattoos where he would normally have to operate, and I told him about that. He worked AROUND it! Totally respecting my feelings about my art work. I would 100% recommend him. read more

Dr. Leichtling saved my life! My appendix had been infected and ruptured. He suggested immediate surgery. He took such good care of me that I will always be grateful. He is nice to deal with and totally down to earth. He explained everything he had to do during surgery so that I actually could understand it. He did an amazing job with the after care too, gave me a lot of helpful tips for a quick recovery and made sure the wounds were healing nicely. I highly recommend Dr. Leichtling. read more

Dr. Leichtling is an amazing Doctor! I felt super comfortable with him, and as the other reviewers here said he is worth the wait. WELL HE IS! He also made me feel super comfortable on the issue I as having him look at. * You ask yourself why the one star review* Well....... The receptionist whom I don`t know her name was one of the rudest people I have come in contact with in a professional setting. When I inquired about how much longer the wait will be, after all it was 45 min into my appt time. She curtley replied " he will be with you soon " she also under breathe said a couple more rude comments. (as she looked at her computer screen). Not to mention the rude checkout ignoring everything I was saying.. Oh and a word of advice to the receptionist----- I don`t care about your sister being fired the other day from her job because she didn`t follow the rules where she worked!! When you close the windows we can still hear everything your saying to your co`worker.. I don`t care about overhearing your family issues, Please keep this info private The integrity of ones business is challenged when one hears this. Your people skills does`nt seem like your strong point . Thank you Dr. Leichtling read more

Dr. Leichtling performed surgery on my wife a year ago and because he was so good, now I want him to perform my colonoscopy (sorry, TMI...). He is knowledgeable, caring, personable and just a plain 'ol nice guy. I would recommend him to anyone. OK, why the 2-star rating? Like others that have also yelped Dr. Leichtling's office, it's all because of the crazy rude receptionist Lori. I show up for my appointment and without even saying hello or making eye contact, she says, "NAME??". I say my name and no response. She starts typing away and in about 5 minutes, she throws, yes literally throws a clipboard at me and says, "FILL THIS OUT". Wow, what a b**ch.... As I was filling out the info, another patient comes in and at least she knew his name and says "sit down John". My appointment was at 8am. Dr. Leichtling shows up at 8:30am. Ok, sometimes things happen and throws you off your schedule, but I thought that was kind of inconsiderate too. Anyways, I can get over that, but I cannot get over how rude Lori was and how Dr. Leichtling can keep her as an employee. Everything that others have called out (ie: personal phone calls in Spanish, yelling at someone on the phone) are all true. In addition, her emails are also rude and curt. No please, no thank you. Doesn't she understand she is in the customer "service" industry? Guess not..... She is bad for his business, and I would assume if Dr. Leichtling knew about this, she'd be looking for another job. Let's hope that day comes soon. I would definitely recommend Dr. Leichtling to others but would also warn against Lori....... read more

Dr. Leichtling is a very good doctor! Very straightforward but not cold. He explained everything very well and was attentive to questions. And he performed my somewhat complicated procedure without problems. Really recommend him! To the person who just gave one star because of the receptionist: Yeah, I had the same experience: While waiting there with the glass door closed, I was informed about the dietary restrictions of all her family members. And she was pretty rude and lame. Oh well, good help is hard to find these days, I guess. :) read more

Leichtling saved me a lot of pain and suffering back in 1988 when I went into the ER with a persistent stomachache and he was the only doctor present to correctly diagnose appendicitis and press for an immediate operation. He's such a gifted surgeon that he fished my rotten appendix out through a one-inch slit, so my recovery time was greatly shortened. In 1993, he did a laparoscopic herniorrhaphy on me that is still, after over twenty years, holding up just fine. I cannot recommend him too highly. read more

My husband had to have an emergency appendectomy and Dr.Leichtling was his surgeon. He's very good humored - my husband said he's almost goofy - but I know it helped put both of us at ease from the time he was wheeled into the operating room. I appreciated that Dr.L took the time to explain how everything went following the surgery to me, and then later to my husband during his follow up exam. It was a more serious case than expected, but due to Dr.L and his surgical team, my husband is bouncing back extremely well. He was back home within 2 days and on his feet doing his normal day to day rounds within a week. read more

I echo what others have said. Excellent bedside manner, great sense of humor, and he makes you feel at ease with what he is about to do to you. read more