This review is LONG overdue. My daughter is a singer pursuing a career as a musical theater artist. She is also a tiny human and one of her tonsils was positioned in such a way that it was obscuring over half of her throat. At some point she started getting tonsil stones and they became a non-stop issue. I knew that we probably needed to have her tonsils removed but I also knew that meant facing two hurdles. 1) I needed to find a doctor that took seriously how important it was not to damage any part of her throat while removing them and 2) my daughter had a SEVERE phobia of all things medical with an extra focus on needles. When I say SEVERE I mean next level. As a small child she had a fair amount of medical procedures done to eventually figure out she had celiac disease. This set her on a path of fearing doctors, clinics, hospitals, the mere mention of a anything at all regarding medicine. Any doctors appts. caused nightmares and suffering like she was heading to a firing squad. I tried everything I could to help her. Fast forward to me telling her we needed to deal with her tonsils. We live in Seattle. We found one doctor who supposedly works with singers. Two minutes into meeting her we knew she had no idea what it meant to work with a singer. When my daughter explained that she had intense medical anxiety the doctor said “well you shouldn’t, this surgery isn’t a big deal.” At that point I started looking around the US. I found Dr. Gupta in Los Angeles. I read about her experience, all of her reviews, and decided to schedule a zoom appt. When I say that our zoom meeting was the most AMAZING experience I have EVER had with a doctor I’m not even remotely exaggerating. She listened. REALLY listened. She explained everything about a singers tonsillectomy and why it is so important to protect the throat when performing these surgeries. Then came the best part. My daughter explained to Dr. Gupta that she had extreme medical anxiety. She stressed how much it had taken over her life. Dr. Gupta listened intensely. Then she floored both of us. She looked right at my daughter and said “Listen to me. If you choose to work with me, we are going to face this head on and together. You have come to the right place and the right person to face this. You are in charge and you are going to tell me what to do and what you are comfortable with and I’m not going to do anything without your permission. I will be here every step of the way and the only way to get over something like this is to face it knowing you are in complete control.” I just sat there stunned. Not only had she listened to my daughter, she believed her that it was severe and she had every intention of helping her overcome it. What transpired over the next two months was nothing short of a miracle. We drove to LA and before she had the surgery she had to get scoped. She was TERRIFIED. Dr. Gupta explained every single move she was making and throughout the procedure she worked with my daughter by letter her give the instructions. Do you feel safe? Can I keep going? Are you comfortable? By the end of the scoping my daughter had changed. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Then the surgery day came and it was the same thing all over again getting ready to go into the room. “I’m here for you, you are in charge, we are doing this together, etc.” The surgery was flawless and her recovery was shockingly easy. My daughter seemed to think it didn’t really hurt that bad. Beyond that, and much more importantly (believe it or not) is that my daughter overcame her medical trauma. I don’t mean she sort of felt better. I mean she completely overcame it. I would pay triple what I paid and drive 5 times as far as I did to have the outcome we had. Beyond being an incredibly skilled surgeon, Dr. Gupta is an incredibly skilled human who embodies what it means to be compassionate and empathetic. She cares about her patients. A LOT. My daughter had been wanted her ears pierced for years but she was too terrified to do it. When we got back from LA she said she was ready to do it. I took her in and she sat, unflinching, as the woman pierced her ears. I found myself standing there crying as I watched her face her fears like a boss. As a mother you never want your children to suffer. I would have done anything to help her overcome her medical anxiety. It didn’t occur to me that a doctor would be the one to do it. So Dr. Gupta, thank you so much for what you did for my daughter. Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving her a sense of power back. Thank you for removing YEARS of trauma and terror. You are one of the best things that has ever happened to our family and I don’t say that lightly. May you be blessed in your life and your career. I wish all doctors were like you.