Leah Heap, MD

I won’t speak to Dr. Heap’s abilities, but her office staff is a real detriment. I am trying to help my elderly widowed neighbor navigate her healthcare. This office continually screws things up, delaying this poor lady’s needs being met. They screw up referrals, and this last week, they called and left her a message on her answering machine on Friday at 4pm. Told her to call back for her test results before 5! That’s it. So after a three day weekend of the office being closed, she finds out on Tuesday morning that she has a terrible infection and they will call in a very strong does of antibiotics for her.
If they’d handled this right, she would have been on those meds on Friday eve. They couldn’t have told her that on the machine? They couldn’t have said «page the doctor over the weekend?» It’s either laziness, lack of interest, or incompetence. I’m not sure which.
Dr. Heap should shape them up or ship them out!

I have been seeing Dr. heap for over a year and am still sick with the same condition. She first passed it off as a cough. It then progressed so it was just allergies. Then it was asthma. My X-​rays came back saying I’m not asthmatic, no phone calls or follow up. Flash forward to a month ago where I am coughing up blood and I can never get the doctor on the phone. Went in 4 different times within a month just to get brushed off. I asked repeatedly to be referred to a specialist and her office always had some reason why they couldn’t do it and how I need to continue my treatment with her. Her front desk staff is very nice. Maria her medical assistant is a nightmare. I was getting a breathing treatment and she handed me the apparatus and left the room. Ummmm, ok? I didn’t even know what to do. Mind you this was after a 50 minute long wait and I’m super sick. They also found ways to charge me for paperwork. So unhappy with her office. As soon as I see the specialist, I’m switching primary care physicians.

I’m actually sitting here right now, been waiting 45 mins and can hear her through the wall talking to her patient about commercial work. Nothing medical related at all.

I went here with abdominal pain, and she wrote me off after talking to me for five minutes saying it was «probably nothing.» I know my body pretty well, and I knew that it wasn’t nothing. She said she’d let me get an ultrasound (even though it was clear she didn’t think I needed one) and I left her office feeling annoyed… well I never got the ultra sound paperwork I was supposed to receive in the mail, and I called and they claimed they had sent the paperwork to me, and said they’d resend, and I never got it. Eventually switched providers.
Meanwhile, I had a standing appointment with her a week later for a physical, and I got a call a few days before saying she was going to be on vacation and could we reschedule (several weeks later.)
Beyond frustrated — steer clear everyone.

I went to Leah years ago. The ONLY reason I had to switch is because my insurance plan switched. I’m shocked at the bad reviews. I really thought she was very nice and I recall her staff and associates being VERY friendly. I wish I could go back to her, but my HMO does not have her in network. Also, keep in mind, when you have an HMO, you generally need to be referred to specialists who specialize in the category you are possibly struggling with. If you’re looking for a miracle, then grab a magic wand. POOF!:)

I went back after my new physician retired. The whole operation is totally updated and modern, and Dr. Heap is attentive as ever. I got a same-​day appointment for a sinus infection, and think I had to wait 30 minutes. 1 hour after my appointment time, I was at the pharmacy getting antibiotics. I am so relieved to be well again! And I am happy I gave Dr. Heap’s office another chance. (Previous complaint was solely with the office, not her.)
Dr. Heap was training a nurse practitioner when I was there, and while she wanted to let her do the exam, she stepped in several times to make sure the trainee was being thorough enough. She double-​checked my ears, nose and throat. I call that attentive. Very happy!

Dr. Heap has always seen me when I needed her… I don’t have to wait a month to get an appointment. She’s available at 7 am, which allows me to see her without cutting into my work schedule. She comes in, in a hurry with a computer at her side — but, she spends time listening to my concerns and gives me a thorough answer as to what might be causing the issue or suggests tests to confirm.
Every office has their quirks. The office could be more proactive and call patients to let them know that their test results are in (even if there’s nothing to worry about).

Leah, can I call you Leah? If you’re reading this, you have a two-​and-​a-​half star review on Unilocal.That may not seem like a big deal, but in a blossoming digital age, where the world’s hip youth is quickly becoming its dominant population, a simple Unilocal score can mean the difference between success and bankruptcy. Take a look at your reviews and heed the criticisms. With that said — let’s begin.
When I signed up for health insurance through my work, Dr. Heap came highly recommended by my HR lady. Apparently a lot of my coworkers have her as their primary care physician on their HMO plans, so I figured why not, right? Big mistake.
Dr. Heap is about as personable as a damp napkin. And not the kind with original song lyrics or the rough draft of a Harry Potter manuscript on it either. No, more like the kind you’ve just cleaned up a spilled Sprite bottle with. She struggles with eye contact, her examinations are laughably inadequate, and her apparent disinterest in her patients (or me at least) is painfully obvious. After hurrying out of my examination, she bumped into me in the hallway outside the office. Didn’t even receive so much as a nod of recognition from her; it was like she’d never seen me before, let alone examined me in her office not a minute earlier.
I had a small, red bump on my lip for a couple months when I started looking into a medical solution. My girlfriend’s mom, a doctor in San Diego, consulted a dermatologist friend of hers, and they both agreed that it appeared to be a pyogenic granuloma. Harmless, but sure to stick around unless surgically removed. I called Dr. Heap’s office, told them the situation, and asked for a dermatologist referral. And of course they said no. I got a little snippy, explaining how I’d already consulted with a dermatologist and how seeing Dr. Heap would only be a waste of everyone’s time, but they said I didn’t have a choice. So I scheduled the appointment for a week later, and sure enough, Dr. Heap didn’t even look at my lip for ten seconds before telling me she’d refer me to a dermatologist. And those few seconds she did look at me were from a distance and with an uncomfortable cringe on her face. I felt self-​conscious enough with that thing on my face, I didn’t expect to get the same disgusted reaction from my own doctor. It wasn’t even THAT big…
So yes, Leah, are you still listening? For those of you keeping score, that’s a $ 30 copay down the drain because Dr. Heap wouldn’t write me a referral without seeing me, despite my assurance that I’d already spoken to a dermatologist and had my issue diagnosed. Throw a shiny cherry on top for Dr. Heap’s awkward, judgmental glare.
After Dr. Heap told me she’d write the referral and have it mailed to me (which took over a week, and I had to call and convince the receptionist that my situation was worsening in order to mark it as «URGENT,» otherwise the approval could’ve taken another week… Why couldn’t she have just handed me the referral and let me go on my merry way? What the receptionist curtly described as HMO red tape, I took as apathy and laziness), she walked out in a rush, and I had to tell her to wait in order to avoid being left alone in the examination room without so much as a «bye, and good luck with that thing on your face, muahahaha.» I asked her if I could get a standard STD test done while I was there, and she simply said they didn’t do that in the office, but rather I’d have to go down the street to a free clinic. What kind of doctor’s office doesn’t have the tools onsite to perform a basic STD test? Blood or otherwise? I was upset about the inconvenience, but it was Dr. Heap’s certain bedside manner that really put me in the red.
I’ve since had that bump removed, which turned out to be exactly what I said it was at the beginning, and that whole headache is another story, and the fault of a different doctor, so I won’t go into it here. But Leah, if you’d like to start getting better reviews and happier patients, try really listening to them sometimes. Don’t just hurry through appointments, counting down the ear infections and benign moles until your lunch break. Smile once, maybe even twice, during an examination. Oh, actually examine during an examination too. Your patient will thank you, and they might even come back to see you.
*On a side note, patient confidentiality kind of goes out the window when you can hear everything going on in the next exam room. Just FYI.

The front desk staff are hopeless and the Dr doesn’t have the best bedside manner but hey, I wanted a pill prescription renewed for 12 months as I had changed insurance companies and this was in a suitable location and I bit the bullet despite what Unilocal said.
I paid for my visit but after my appointment I received in the mail a bill even though the entire «Well Woman» procedure was covered by my new insurance. I called them about about it and they told me not to pay it and they would take care of it. Never received any paperwork back from them so I let it go.
Cut to now. I ask for a script renewal via my prescription maling service and the Dr will not renew it unless I come in again for an exam which I do not need (and nor do I want to waste my time and money when I am not in fact sick). Her office called me (surely a good sign that they do call!) and apparently it’s «her decision to decide whether you need an exam» not mine but I beg to differ and so does the ACOG and numerous other organizations.
I did some research and apparently this is how it is structured in the US, again women’s rights don’t matter at all despite the recommendations women’s organizations make. You can bet your bottom dollar if men were in the same position their prescription would not be held to ranson for two things which are in no way connected. Oh you want viagra? Well this time in order to get it renewed please bend over! No bending over, no viagra. Sorry.
I’m also tired of hearing «it’s covered by insurance» because that is beside the point and as a bonus for me it’s not as I also have a co-​pay.
Apologies for the rant but in England and Australia this does not happen! You are not forced and they do not recommend annual exams for no apparent reason. The standard is two to three years. Look it up. But then again the medical field in those countries is not full of medical extortionist ripping off insurance companies or vice versa… Little confused about that one…
I looked again at my last exam and it looks like they still charged for procedures they did not do but apparently the insurance paid for it. Hmmm. Maybe I just read it wrong…
Also, I had to take my mother to a doctor when she was visiting from overseas and although she did not see Dr Heap but another doc, the three ring circus that involved her visit to this clinic was disgusting.
We arrived 1.5 hours before her actual appointment (even when I said she was from overseas, had no American insurance etc) because without telling us they added a extra hour for her to fill out paperwork when her appointment was supposed to be at 1pm not 2pm. We arrived 30 minutes early incase they wanted us to, you guessed it, fill out paperwork! And don’t get me started with the filling out a mountain of useless paperwork which had nothing to do with why she was there or accepting the fact she did not live in the US! They also had her wait an additional 45 minutes past her actual appointment!
The best part was making her pay BEFORE she even saw a doctor and then not being able to provide her with a receipt for the service she paid for so she could claim it on her travel insurance!!! I even tried to get a receipt later but to no avail.
All this made me never want to come to the Lakeside Medical Center again even before this latest reason. I just wanted a prescription renewed! I never planned on going back especially if I was sick!!!

I have been a patient of Dr Heap for a few years and I’ve never had a positive experience. In fact I have a long list of horror stories. She’s been helpful a couple of times, but mostly uncaring. Why did I stay so long? Well, I’m a procrastinator and really wanted to stay with a female MD in my area. However I’ve been forced to move on by yet another horrific experience. Dr Heap has regularly coded routine insurance covered visits incorrectly and then tried to charge me directly for them. I then have to spend a lot of time fighting to get it re-​coded appropriately. This last time was the last straw. It’s also routine for her to keep her patients waiting for 30 minutes plus, in a cold examining room. This is not because she’s a compassionate doctor focussed on other paitients. The last time I was waiting to be seen by her for my annual women’s exam, she was chatting with staff members in the office next door for over a half hour while I waited in nothing but a paper robe. It was freezing and uncomfortable! When she finally decided to see me, she was ubrupt and when I tried to talk to her about hormone issues, she cut me off and tried to push an anitdepresent on me. I look forward to changing doctors and feeling comfortable again in this area of my life.

Now before I talk about all of the negative things with the doctor, I will state that the doctor herself wasn’t too bad. She was polite and she was relatively helpful. However her staff is horrible. They are a nightmare to say the least, and she may be a reason for the difficulties. Not only does she never actually contact you when you have important questions, she makes you play a broken telephone game with her incompetent assistants. Now its one thing to be incompetent, but they are also incredibly rude. They don’t want to help you, and they treat you like your sub-​human. And the doctor does not help, because she acts like she has a thousand patients. I am not going to go into detail about my experiences, because they would just be too long for this review, but I will let you know that I am finding a new doctor. If you dont want to wait for months to receive help when you’re sick or you have problems, and you dont want to deal with unfriendly staff who disrespect you instead of help you, than I recommend you do not step foot into her office.

0 Stars — completely incompetent. Two times, two different issues she told me I was fine when I needed SURGERY. Unreal, filing a formal complaint.

I do not look forward to calling this office. Besides being on hold for 30 – 45 min, all the people who answer the phone RUDE and not helpful at all. You CAN’T get an appointment for 2 – 3 months (if you’re lucky) even if you’re dying!
I dread calling or taking my mom here!

Dr. Heap is okay as long as there’s nothing complicated going on. She’s fine (1) if you can get in to see her, (2) you’ve only got one thing wrong, and (3) you can speak intelligently.
The office staff is something else. I’m all for camaraderie, but the atmosphere is unprofessional. The other day I stopped by to pick something up about quarter to 5 and overheard a lot of snarky chitchat followed by a stampede for the exits.
I heard one assistant laughing to another about a patient, «Her blood pressure was so I high I had to give her a lot of [drug name] and then I couldn’t get her to wake up.» The person I was waiting to see was one of the people running out the door. If I hadn’t yelled at her she would’ve kept going.
We all lose stuff, make mistakes, tell little white lies, and want to leave work on time. Someone needs to tell them it’s not cool in a doctor’s office.

Dr. Leah Heap is utterly worthless. I’ve gone to her for 2 years, but until recently, it was just for routine checkups. Last week, I went to her for a kidney stone. I’ve had them before, so I know what they feel like. I basically just wanted to make sure that the stone was small enough to pass naturally and to get some meds to deal with the pain.
I did manage to get a same-​day appointment, which was surprising considering how busy she is (more on that later). But once I got there, she tried to convince me that I had a muscle spasm in my back because if I had a kidney stone, I would «be in a LOT more pain.» She was very condescending and did not believe me when I said I’d had them before, so I knew what it felt like. She did a urine test, which came back with blood in it. Only then did she admit that I was probably right. She wrote up an authorization for a CT scan and started to leave the room… without prescribing any pain meds!
Fast forward a few days, to today. I called the office at 1:00 to see if they had the results of my CT scan back and was told that «Maria» was at lunch, but she would call me back. I didn’t hear from her all afternoon, so I called back at 4:00 (it’s a Friday, and I wanted the results), and I was told that yes, they had the results back, but Dr. Heap hadn’t had a chance to look at them yet, but they’d be sure to get back to me on Monday. MONDAY! I stated that wasn’t acceptable, and the receptionist said she’d give a note to «Maria» and ask her to talk to Dr. Heap before 5:00.
I did get a call back from Maria, but… wow, what an idiot. Now, that may not be Maria’s fault, as it didn’t sound like she got much information from Dr. Heap. But I was told a) there was a 3 mm stone in my right kidney, which was so «tiny» that it shouldn’t be causing any pain because it was still in my kidney, b) that my pain was a random, unrelated back spasm, c) the blood in my urine was «probably caused by the stone, but don’t worry about it.», and d) if it gets worse, just go to the emergency room.
Um. Thanks. For nothing. After all of that, I had to go to WebMD to find out if a 3 mm stone can pass naturally or not, because Maria didn’t know. This doctor is a joke.

First of all trying to get a appointment within a week or two is not going to happen. If you are having a medical issue you think needs to be addressed in a timely fashion don’t both with her.
I have been to her office twice in the last month and both time for the same problem. The first time, she gave me one test which was the wrong one. And the second time I came in she pretty much just dismissed my problem and sent me away with meds. based on a guess. Obviously that just isn’t good enough for me so I decided to go to urgent care. It only took one visit at urgent care for the doctor to know that something wasn’t right. He gave me the necessary tests and in the end I was diagnosed with a bacterial infection.
Besides the fact that this doctor isn’t very thorough she is also very short with you. She is clearly a doctor who thinks she knows it all and therefore doesn’t bother trying. She may have been a good doctor at some point but from my experiences I can’t say the same thing.
I will never return to this doctor. Not even for a cold!

Hey! Whatsup?
This doctor is assey. My big went to this lady doctor for a few months before moving to another state. During the two times he saw her in LA, he found her to be terse and forgetful in her responses. She made him wait a long time in the exam room. And did not seem very sensitive to his health issues.
When he moved to another state and thought his COBRA would work there, it did not, and he needed to get refills for his blood pressure medication, and she would not give it! He could have a stroke without it. Nice concern for someone in a bind.
My big is glad to get rid of her, and if you are smart, you will read the other reviews and see this doc sucks and her staff is even worse. Ask a friend for a referral and find another.
Thank you. I know.

They lost the print out of my labs and had to go back and search for them.
I can never get a sick visit in and end up going to Urgent Care. They suggested last time that I drive to the west valley to go to a different doctor in the network. Yes, I want to drive on the 101 for 20 miles when I’m sick.
I just switched to a PPO and will not be using her any longer!

One of the worst medical encounters I have had. And I have had alot.
It’s always hard finding a new doctor. This experience makes me want to just let whatever illness comes my way just take me over before I walk into this place again.
I arrived as a new patient at 7:45 am — 15 minutes before my 8am appointment. After battling my insurance out with the receptionist, I was finally taken into the examining room at 8:15. Here I waited. And waited. And waited. And finally called into work saying that I was going to be late. Waited some more. Those little examining rooms seems to get smaller the longer you wait and shitier you feel — on top of already being sick.
AN HOUR later Dr. Heap walks in. She makes half an apology for being late, blaming it on the fact that her previous patients were «disasters.» Nice confidentiality, there. She looks over my records and asks why I think I need to see her, since according to my chart I am perfectly healthy (which is not true — I have had 3 major surgeries in the past 6 years and just spent this past weekend in the ER).
I explained to her that I am new in town and looking for a family doctor, and that I would like to go over a few medical concerns. I list them, she writes, and then leaves. No warning, nothing. Then she comes back and leaves the door open, indicating that she is ready to go. I am not, so I tell her that I have some other concerns I would like to discuss. She LITERALLY SAYS, «You know, those are going to take some time, and we have already talked about two issues. Come back in two weeks.»
AND SHE LEAVES!
WTF?! I left hurt, scared, and still aching from my apparently «healthy» diagnosis.

Horrible experience. I came to her office feeling extremely lightheaded and about to faint. After waiting to see her for an hour, she came into the room for five minutes and left for another half hour. Then she said that I just have sinuses and it’s no big deal. I requested that she does some tests and she refused and told me that since I don’t trust her, I should find another doctor. When I went to another doctor, it turned out I had a major infection that needed treatment. I would not recommend her.