Ford Lloyd C, MD

I was referred to an ENT for my 3-​year old and didn’t love our first experience (at a different facility). Positive Unilocal reviews were hard to come by so I decided to try Dr. Ford, who did a procedure on my mother. We had the best experience… he was friendly, took time to talk to us and answer all of our questions, and was able to build a rapport with my son and with us. The surgery was fast, on time, and kid friendly. I happened to come across other parents who also see Dr. Ford and who also have positive reviews about him. His anesthesiologist, Dr. Sharpiro, called the night before surgery and was extremely friendly and reassuring. He was also great with my son and with me:)

You know the stereotype about doctors not listening to their patients, and not viewing them as human beings? Well, Dr. Ford is the poster child. I accompanied a friend to see him for a nose issue about a year ago and I was absolutely amazed, then amazed, then insulted by how extremely rushy rush the dr was during the visit.
He’s a very fast speaker – not an issue for me since I myself have a tendency to speak too fast, though this was difficult on my friend for whom English is a 2^nd language (actually, it’s a 2^nd language for me as well but I learned it very young so I speak it better than my native tongue).
My complaint is not about the speed at which he speaks though. It’s about how utterly rushed the office visit felt. I have been to see a lot of drs, not just for myself but to accompany others so I have a lot to compare to when it comes to bedside manner. I think the visit may have lasted not even 10 minutes (probably closer to 5) and the entire time, it truly felt like he wanted to get us out the door because he needed to be somewhere else. This was to discuss an upcoming surgery too. It was on the tip of my tongue to actually ask him if he had somewhere more important to be. Not only was this unprofessional, I think it was rather rude.
I can’t opine much about the actual surgery that was performed on my friend. I assume it was a success and that there were no complications arising from it. Dr Ford may be a brilliant doctor for all I know but I would very much hesitate ever choosing him as my doctor because I would want one who took the time to listen to my problems and concerns. Instead, I felt like you’d barely have a chance to get your bearings, take a breath and open your mouth to say anything before you were shown the door. I’m sure that the dr is a very busy man with a very busy schedule, but you’d think that he’d make you, the patient, feel like you were the most important thing on his schedule at least during your appt with him.
I don’t know if the above experience was just a fluke, and I hope it was. There are a couple of Unilocal reviews left for the same dr in his Walnut Creek office, and if it weren’t for the fact that the names are the same, I would have no idea we were speaking of the same person because those reviews were glowing – quite the opposite of our experience. The ironic thing is that John Muir has recently made a push to market their doctors as the kind who listen to their patients. Somebody needs to share that memo with Dr. Ford. (And I’m not bashing John Muir as a whole because I use their drs/​hospitals myself and have had positive experiences.)
My friend had a more recent visit to the dr to follow up on an issue not involved with the surgery the dr performed. I was not present so to be fair, I won’t go into too much detail. However, I met her outside in the parking lot immediately after the visit and she was close to hysterics because of the way the dr treated her. I wasn’t there so I can’t say he was rude because he very well might not have been. But for her to react in such a way, I’d have to say he had to have been, at the very least and to put it nicely, careless in the way he handled her concerns. Needless to say, after that, my friend is currently seeking another ENT specialist.