Dr. Hetal Bhakta's Online Review Report Card

The doctor changed the frequency of some medication...but never bothered to tell me. When I ran out of medication, my insurance would not pay for refill because it was too soon. After 7 years of same Dosage of pills, wouldn't you think the doctor would inform his patient of a change? Apparently not this doctor. If you take your doctor/patient relationship seriously you may want to seek help elsewhere

Wonderful surgery wasn't best I had he is the best in his business he's a doctor and a friend to everybody

Good

The staff at Doctor Bhakta's office are unfriendly, uncaring and some are even incompetent. It took more than 4 months to get an approval for a simple procedure (nuclear stress test). In the end it was the knowledgeable and kind nurses at Desert Regional Hospital that were able to determine the incorrect code was being submitted over and over. I felt like I was bothering them. Do not expect to receive a phone call back until the next day at the earliest...if at all.

DR. BHAKTKA WAS A WONDERFUL DOCTOR. VERY NICE MAN, KNOWS HIS BUSINESS AND TREATED ME WITH RESPECT AND EXCELLENT TREATMENT.

Mid evil medicine practiced here. Where’s the Dr.? Just a bunch of incompetent hourly help.

Has a pretty big ego, acted in a patronizing way. Convinced himself he fixed my heart issue, when, he did the opposite- it was worsened. I don't blame him for that- many procedures fail for various reasons- but it was his attitude about it that irked me. Had the nerve to say anxiety was causing my irregular heart beats.... Patients know what they feel. I would say since going to him my condition has become worse. Staff is really unorganized as well. Do not recommend.

Dr Bhakta is a wonderfully dedicated Cardiologist and concerned about his patients. I recommend him highly. Dr Bhakta specializes in heart rhythm problems.P.S. I believe Leana must have met with Dr Bhakta's assistant. I have never, ever heard the doctor speak rudely to anyone, he has always been very pleasant and attentive, answering questions. However his male assistant IS VERY RUDE!!

Got rid of a crappy doctor today…face to face.

Went to Bhakta because I read all the propaganda his firm posted about himself…and believed it. My problem was paroxysmal a-fib. After 2 years of billing the socks off the V.A. who accepted my request to see him through their community care program, he billed the crap out of them for installing two loop recorders neither he or his staff bothered to read once they got “daily” reports and at appointment time had no clue what had been going on with me and all the trouble I had until he looked at the reports the first time on our 6 month appointments. Installing loop recorders was big money and the Desert Regional Medical Center where he initially installed them faced legal action because of all his implantations and now refuses to let him use the hospital to implant the devices…so that did not stop him…he now does it at his office. I spent 2 miserable years waiting to an ablation procedure. Miserable because neither this doctor or his staff respond to your calls….even in an emergency. I was in the hospital 3 days after my ablation procedure as there were complications. It is believed by other electrophysiologists that during my cryoablation procedure he froze or otherwise permanently damaged my vagus nerve, which has caused all types of new irregular heartbeats. Add to that the ablation procedure failed so miserably that ER doctors at Desert Regional Medical Center “joked” about it and also expressed frustration in Bhakta not returning any of their own phone calls to him for the entire 3 days I was there. If it were not so tragic it would be funny how this doctor said when I first saw him that “we’ll just zap away that afib”. When it became obvious the procedure failed and he had previously assured me he would go in a second time if the first procedure failed, when it did fail, he refused to go in again and correct a $90,000 billed problem because “he wanted to observe it until it got worse”. Why wait for the afib to worsen when whatever he missed could be taken care of immediately once it was realized the pulmonary vein reconnected and the procedure failed? One doctor not associated with his practice who is a well known electrophysiologist suggested that the reason may be because Bhakta knew all along he had already damaged my heart during the ablation procedure. So now I am faced with implantation for life of a pace maker by other doctors to try and treat the damage he caused to my vagus nerve and guess what? I still have the afib I initially went to him for treatment for and prior to that I had no other heart problems. My experience with Dr. Bhakta has always bern that he is a control freak, arrogant, unresponsive, condescending and often rude. Just call him “Holiday Bhakta” because he is more concerned with his off time, vacations, and trying to be a lical small time TV celebrity on a short weekly segment in Palm Springs than his concern for his patients. Bhakta wants to be a star and is consumed with a false sense of self-importance. I am sorry I ever met the man. V.A. Doctors repeatedly critiqued this doctor’s over-the-top outrageous billing for doing literally nothing and then billing the socks off them for loop implants and the ablation. I was asked, “Why have this extremely expensive doctor do the very same things we can do?” They were right. But I drank the Koolaide, got caught up in the hype of his self produced bio on his websites and paid for it. I would venture to bet, as someone who works in the legal field, that this guy has had all types of malpractice suits filed against him but you will never see anyone who filed them write any reviews because settlement in these types of suits prohibits the plaintiff from making any disparaging statements either verbally or in writing. My recommendation is if you have a heart problem don’t be too quick but take your time and do some research on the doctor you hope to help you. And if you experience the first inkling of an unresponsive office, indifference and all the things I