I realize many patients and doctors respect Dr. Perella and so did I for over 15 years as her patient. But I feel it is my obligation to expose my experience with her and her practice. I went in for my yearly breast exam, which consisted of an MRI with contrast. Normally I would receive the report from the exam within two days. Because I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary, I completely forgot about it, until two weeks later, when I realized I had not received my report. I called my other two doctors, who normally get a copy of my report, to see if they had received it, and they had not. I called Dr. Perrella's office and they said I should have gotten the report two weeks ago, and they faxed it to me immediately. To my shock, the report said I had a "definite malignant sarcoma" in my right breast. The words "malignant" and "sarcoma" appeared several times in the report, and yet, no one from Dr. Perrella's office had ever contacted me. It appeared as if my report simply fell through the cracks. I was terrified and confused and confess I was impolite to the staff when I called about the report. I ran to the office to speak to Dr. Perrella, who I never saw. I spoke to a doctor i didn't know, who told me I had cancer. What struck me most, was that the doctor and staff were more concerned about making sure they covered their tracks for why no one contacted me, nor sent the report in a timely manner, than they were with my diagnosis. The doctor repeatedly assured me that the only reason it took two weeks to make a diagnosis, was because she and the other doctors were discussing my diagnosis "extensively." I asked if she was really sure I had cancer, and if instead, this wasn't maybe one of my usual masses that resulted from monthly hormonal surges; these were common for me. She said no; that all her colleagues agreed I had cancer. After that, I spent the rest of the day having tests. When I was with the radiologist having an ultra sound, she told me that on my previous ultra sounds from the last two years, the mass in my right breast was present and had not changed. As this seemed odd to me, I asked if this mass was present for the last two years, and is exactly the same, why is it now cancer. The Radiologist ran out of the room, literally panicked, and brought back the doctor, who said that now she didn't think I had cancer but she wanted to make sure. I reminded her that she and her colleagues apparently waited two weeks to tell me I had cancer, because they were discussing it "extensively." Or perhaps, my report fell through the cracks, and everyone was covering for whoever dropped the ball on this one. I continued to ask to see Dr. Perella and never did. After three hours or waiting for a final diagnosis, a nurse came in and said I did have cancer would have to have a biopsy tomorrow. Still no word from Dr. Perella. I was sent the next morning to the only place they could get me in, which was in Laguna. There, I was in the MRI for three hours when the doctor finally came out and said she couldn't find anything to biopsy. She felt from all my photos that the mass everyone had been so concerned about must have been caused by monthly hormones and there was virtually nothing to biopsy. I called Dr. Perella's office that day and left word for her. She never got back to me. I wrote her a long personal letter. And never heard back. I can only assume that the fear of being wrong, or being sued, motivated her horrible, unprofessional, inexcusable behavior. I am grateful now to be healthy and with a doctor I trust. read more
