David A Sass Md's Online Review Report Card

I don’t often leave reviews, but I felt compelled to for Dr. Sass. Had I gotten a response from his team at Jefferson after I filled out the survey they sent me, I would have refrained from posting so publicly, but their lack of response is so typical for our entire experience with Dr. Sass and the liver transplant team at Jefferson. My husband passed away a little over two weeks ago. He was 61 years old. He had been having health issues for several years, and was finally told he needed a liver transplant. Had I known how he and I would be treated by Dr. Sass and his team I would have chosen another hospital. I would have moved to a different state if necessary. I’m not a Dr., and I can’t say for sure that the lack of attention from Dr. Sass caused his passing, but I do know that he and his team made his last 4 months of life incredibly difficult and caused us more anxiety than you can imagine. It began with 2 days in February of running all over Philadelphia for my husband’s evaluation. Their offices are spread out over several blocks in the city, and I had to wheel my husband around in the cold and rain to make all appointments. No transportation was offered, even though it was clear my husband could not walk those distances by himself. They accused my husband of being an alcoholic and wanted him to go through months of counseling for this. He did go for the initial evaluation, but the person doing the evaluation did not see any need for counseling. She sent a letter to the Jefferson team, and I think even tried to call them to let them know that Dr. Sass was incorrect in his assessment. This did not matter. Even though my husband could not drive and could barely get around, they insisted he go to the counseling before they would even consider putting him on the transplant list. So he did it anyway, but it caused a lot of anxiety and was difficult for him to get to. Each week he had to be tested for alcohol, and a report had to be submitted to Jefferson. It was degrading and completely unnecessary. Communication within the team was poor or nonexistent, except for Karen Pine. Test results were lost or weren’t located, calls were not answered, tests that they wanted done were not communicated to us. At one point they claimed they left me a voicemail about something that I didn’t respond to. I checked my phone, there was no voicemail for the date they claimed they called. Who knows what number they left that message for, if they called at all. Most people on the team were tolerable to pleasant to deal with, except for Dr. Sass. His bedside manner is terrible, and he even accused me of not being involved enough in this process after it became obvious that my husband was experiencing the expected confusion from his condition. I can tell you that almost every single time there was communication between myself and his team it was initiated by me, not them. At one point I told one of his people that my husband was declining rapidly and dying in front of my eyes, while there was nothing I could do. That was two months ago. I was told to simply wait and let the evaluation process take its course. Dr. Sass finally called for a second telehealth appointment after my husband was hospitalized for pneumonia, which attributed to his death amongst many other things that probably could have been prevented if more attention had been paid to him. That second telehealth appointment was 3 days after his death. Even after I let them know of his passing, they still sent me a survey for the appointment that never happened. So careless with patient and families’ feelings. 2 weeks later I still don’t have a response to the survey I filled out. Why send a survey if you are not going to respond to anything negative? One thing they were quick about was billing our insurance. I guess it’s all about the money for them. If you or a loved one needs a liver transplant, go elsewhere. RIP Larry, you were a kind, wonderful human being, and you were well loved by so many people.

I don’t often leave reviews, but I felt compelled to for Dr. Sass. Had I gotten a response from his team at Jefferson after I filled out the survey they sent me, I would have refrained from posting so publicly, but their lack of response is so typical for our entire experience with Dr. Sass and the liver transplant team at Jefferson. My husband passed away a little over two weeks ago. He was 61 years old. He had been having health issues for several years, and was finally told he needed a liver transplant. Had I known how he and I would be treated by Dr. Sass and his team I would have chosen another hospital. I would have moved to a different state if necessary. I’m not a Dr., and I can’t say for sure that the lack of attention from Dr. Sass caused his passing, but I do know that he and his team made his last 4 months of life incredibly difficult and caused us more anxiety than you can imagine. It began with 2 days in February of running all over Philadelphia for my husband’

Rarely will you meet a smarter more nurturing doctor. The GI docs at Abington Hospital speak VERY highly of him, and once you become his patient you will see why