Dr. Bernard T. Lee, MD

Dr. Lee is an amazing doctor. I had a bilateral mastectomy with the flap 5 years ago. Dr. Lee performed my breast reconstruction and he did a wonderful job. I'm very satisfied. I have been seeing him for 5 years and never had any issues with my post op. visits nor the follow ups.

I met with Dr. Lee just this morning after consulting with his NP 2 weeks prior- the NP assured me we could do my medically necessary breast reduction and panniculectomy simultaneously, and bring in a general surgeon to repair an incisional hernia in my belly button that popped shortly after my gallbladder removal a year ago. Recently, I met with a plastic surgeon at another hospital and wasn't very comfortable with them so I wasn't expecting much today from some new-to-me plastic surgeon. Although I did wait an hour after my 8:30am appointment time in the exam room to meet with him, it became clear after just a few moments with him that this was because he is incredibly thorough and thoughtful in his treatment plans. Instead of simply agreeing with moving forward with everything at one time, he spoke with me in detail on why we he felt it would be best for ME to separate the breast and abdomen procedures, based on MY individual health concerns at this time. He could have just said "yes lets get you in and take care of it all and get me paid!", but instead he said "let's tackle this reduction to give relief to your cervical and thoracic spine ASAP. And let's get your hernia repaired separately, before moving forward with the panni, as to not increase physical pressure on your GI system and risk post op complications". Additionally, I currently wear a HH cup bra and have been about a D since 5th grade- this has contributed signifcantly to pain my entire life. When his team asked how small I'd like to go, I said "Kate Hudson in How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days". After a short chuckle, he explained why that would not be medically possible- there are many, many blood vessels in the breast and my specific anatomy would require keeping more tissue than Kate Hudson, or we would risk necrosis of the nipple and poor healing outcomes. I explained that I just never want to have to wear a bra again, and care about functionality and healing well more than a filled cup of any size. I am afrolatina, and did not experience any kind of discrimination from Dr. Lee. I found him to be a great ally in getting my health back on track. His biggest concerns were my health, how these procedures could contribute to bettering my quality of life, and avoiding the creation of further dysfunction. That his team will be reaching out to my orthopedic doctor and GI team so that they can assist in the planning is in my opinion, above and beyond. I would happily wait an hour to meet with him again due to his attention to detail and fact-based decision-making that puts his patients' health first. He's the chief of plastic surgery at BIDMC, and after meeting with him it's easy to understand why. I can see how personality differences or certain expectations could lead to lower reviews, but he's human after all. I found him to be very respectful of my concerns, my health, and very insightful on what the path forward for me and my unique situation could look like.

I agreed to a single small surgery and he performed an additional surgery on me that I did not consent to while I was under general anesthesia. I became totally and permanently disabled. He exactly and completely ruined my whole life. I’ve been almost completely bedridden ever since and I can rarely leave the house. I live in horrible low income housing for disabled and elderly people now and because I became so disabled. I lost my opportunity to have children and get married or even have any quality of life. Before that, I was healthy, happy and thriving and working in the medical field (that is why I know the laws). He is a harmfully unfit person to be practicing medicine. When you are under general anesthesia there’s nothing you can do to stop him even when his colleagues beg him to stop. He did nothing to help me after what he did and verbally admitted to me that it was “ethical duty” to have me admitted overnight after what he did but he didn’t tell me until way after. Again he was laughing when he told me and he said that the nurses were banging on the door and shouting “What are you doing? What are you doing? You’ve got to stop! You’ve got to stop!!” He said they came to the door multiple times before that to try to stop him. I would like to thank the nurses for trying to stop him. He told me that he took so much more out of my body than he was supposed to (well he wasn’t supposed to do the unplanned surgery). It is his duty to make sure that he doesn’t do that, and there were/are clear and concise systems in place for the doctor not do either of these things, but he doesn’t feel the steadfast rules apply to him apparently. I have no idea how he is still practicing medicine except that hospitals don’t want to report these things because it would get them in trouble. He said he was shocked when he realized how much he took out (but again was laughing when he told me and he was supposed to be monitoring that). After that, he did something so bad that I can’t bring myself to say it. Also, other nurses told me that he was chanting, with the resident, inappropriate things about seeing me naked (which is just embarrassing for him really). I’m not trying to be retaliatory, but I think it would be morally wrong for me not to warn people so they can make an informed decision about the doctor they choose. I hope this helps others.

He made me wait an 1 hour and 15 mins for my 6 week post opp appointment. He didn’t even show and eventually I left because he has no respect for time or has no bed side manner. Ridiculous, did not even see me once post opp or communicate properly. Rude, disrespectful and extremely careless. He doesnt seem to care and needs to be humbled. Patients are human and not customers. Never recommend this surgeon to anyone- having a breast reduction is nerve recking enough & being treated rudely with no empathy is just disgusting. The whole team there seemed to be fed up by him & he needs to reconsider his approach and be more human.

Horrible experience. Do not go to this Doctor. First of all, no empathy, no rapport with a new patient. I had surgery done outside the country and had persistent pain after three months of surgery. I consulted with Dr. Lee, who gave me the most arrogant attitude. He was highly annoyed he was consulted about a surgery he had never performed. To questions about my pain, he said: "I do not know; I did not perform the surgery." He denied a patient appropriate counseling and medical services. He questioned me about an MRI, which he already had approved..... Arrogant and insensitive. Dr. Lee is the Chief of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at Beth Israel. But he can not relate to actual human patients. My visit with him was traumatic.