Complaint Review: Dr Andrew Kornstein

The individual slandering Dr. K is obviously a disturbed individual who needs psychiatric help. She was clearly looking for free work and when Dr. K didn't settle, she went ballistic. She thinks he's a terrible doctor, but would drop her case if he did more work on her? No wonder she didn't show up to court. I hope he sues her for slander. 
Dr. K is a caring, COMPETENT surgeon, who is a pioneer in the field of fat transfers. They ARE long lasting, and he does a natural, beautiful job.
Glad he didn't settle with this wack job.

We received notification today that a Civil Court action in this case was dismissed today because the plaintiff failed to show up in court.

I've been a patient of Andy Kornstein since he was a fellow at St. Lukes Roosevelt clinic, when he took on my difficult case and helped to truly change my entire life. He's consulted with me numerous times over the years (unpaid) and he has indeed refused to take on my business when he didn't feel the benefits out weight the risk. Recently he sent me to another top doctor who specializes in cases like mine rather than take my case. Andy's fine skills as a surgeon are well known, but I want you reading here to know, Andy's one of the rare doctors in his field who act from an ethical core. I have experienced that consistantly through the 20+ years I've known him. So my experiences have always been quite the diametric opposite of the complainant. It really bothers me that someone can so readily smear a reputation, over the anonymous internet, that I know Andy spent a career building. I'm glad to have seen this and to be able to rebut what I really feel is very imbalanced at best, slanderous at worst.

In response to Dr Kornstein:
 
Yes, my "case" was denied by your malpractice insurance, but here is what happened:
I never wanted to file a suit against you and I never did. Instead, after giving me the run-around for a little over two years (and a few months), you decided to have "my case" handled by your malpractice insurance. I was contacted by your maplractice insurance company asking me for before and after pictures. By the time I sent them in, the company had already denied "my claim", citing the 2,5 years New York State statute of limitations as the reason for the denial.
 
Naturally one would think that that was premeditated. Why give me the run-around for a little over two years and the hand it over to the insurance company? Unsuspectingly I was unaware of the New York State staute of limitations and it's 2,5 years time span. Not only was I unaware, I was really not that interested since I had absolutely no intention of filing a suite. Why would I when I would be taken care of? That was my thinking. I believed, up until I received the letter from the insurance company, that I was in good hands and that my concerns would be addressed.
I had full trust in Dr Kornstein. Before hiring you I had put a lot of time and energy into researching plastic surgeons. I had met with some of the country's finest plastic surgeons, to name a few: Dr Baker (New York, NY) Dr Gunter (Dallas, TX) Dr Aston, Dr Foster (both in New York City) etc.. Afraid of ending up looking like some of the disasters walking around in our metropolitan cities around the country, I wanted to pick the right doctor. I wanted to make sure that I would not have to go under the knife several times with different doctors. My expectaions were high walking in and I made that clear. I was promised great care but was short-changed, not because of lack of competence, but because of lack of interest.
I find it sad that a surgeon who is so clearly gifted at his craft would succomb to greed, thus sabotaging his own work.
I did indeed offer you money to perform a breast implant "exchange" (removal of old implants and insertion of a set of new implants) because I was getting the not-so-subtle hint that in order to address my concerns, you would need a new billeable item. I was detremined to not have another surgeon touch my face and stick with you. I thought it only appropriate that the new procedure would be discounted since I had no immediate need for it at that time.
Today (March 2010), about 3 years and 3 months after the procedures my face is sunken in, I clearly need fillers in all the areas that were injected with fat, including under my eyes, my cheek bones and around my mouth. It is confusing as some doctors tell me to not inject synthetic fillers in areas where fat was grefted, so I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. My nose is still asymetrical-I guess the good news is that noone suspects it to be a nose-job. I have shown it to a few plastic surgeon's in New York and was given a written note by one of them stating the uneven shape was the result of too much cartiledge on one side of the nose. I am uncomfortable with posting that note online as I think it would only create tension between two collegues who work only a few blocks from each other.
In conclusion, I find it sad that a sollution benefiting all parties involved was never worked out, it was after all not a big deal to go over work that had previously been done. The entire thing was unfair and could have been handled differently. Women put a lot of trust into a surgeon whom they let touch and operate on their face. I feel that that trust was broken.

Because the website Ripoff Report does not publish names (and the law prohibits me, as a physician, from mentioning names in any event), my office staff and I can only guess at the identity of the patient behind this complaint.  Yet the circumstances of the complaint are familiar to us as well as my malpractice carrier. If it is, in fact, who we believe it to be, the patients claims are entirely untrue and I am the person who is being treated unfairly, and damaged.

1. As alluded to above, I referred this patients complaint to my insurance company after I received several rambling letters from the patient including a request for discounted breast surgery.  A truly dissatisfied patient would not want more bad surgery or unkept promises.

2. I tried to reason with her, including showing her intra-operative photos of her nose proving the nasal issue she was complaining of was not retained cartilage, as she alleged, but just skin. Furthermore, when she complained the fat was not lasting (I have been doing successful fat grafting for approximately 20 years---otherwise I would have stopped many years ago) I offered to do a touch-up for free but when she found out she would be charged for any new sites, she balked..

3.Prior to her complaints, this patient consented to allow me to use her fat grafting and nose photos when lecturing as an invited professor in Europe.

4. I tried to be reasonable, but after fruitless back and forth, I turned the files over to the insurance company who sent the file to an independent medical investigator for a review, and it was concluded that there was no malpractice.Unlike some other types of companies you find in Ripoff Report, it is very easy for a person in New York to find a lawyer to take on a contingency fee case for a cosmetic surgery issue.If the defects are so plain to see or clearly unjust, would this individual need Ripoff Report to obtain satisfaction?

5. Neither medicine nor the human mind or body is completely perfect or predictableSome people hear only what they want to hear, and other people are difficult to satisfy.Despite this, my reputation is one of an honest physician who routinely turns away unworthy or unnecessary cases and goes out of his way to protect patients who might be the target of less scrupulous individuals. I am proud of my record of quality patient care, and my hard earned reputation among both patients and physicians. My record of patient care and satisfaction speaks for itself.Included below please find the completed investigation finding no evidence of any malpractice.I plan on seeking legal remedy to unlock this patients name and press charges against her for slander---at a time when dedication and honor may be difficult to find, she has struck against one of the good guys!