This could have been a review about a financial rip off, but when the person in question is a doctor, there is no amount of money in the whole entire world that could bring you back your health and your life. I lost my life in a surgery that should have never happened in an honest world. If this review can save even one life, than the effort of writing it should prevail. I went to see Dr. Gerard Gianoli in Covington LA as I suffered from dizziness. Dr. Gianoli after a series of vestibular tests told me that I had a tear in the connecting membrane between the inner and the middle ear. He called it a PLF, a perilymph fistula and recommended to avoid strenuous activity. A year later my dizziness started to clear up and when I came in 2015 for a follow up appointment, Dr. Gianoli, firmly and unequivocally told me that I needed to perform a simple surgical procedure to make sure that the dizziness would not reoccur. "Do it - it will help you - you will benefit from it". He told me, and how did I believe him? I will never know. Within a five minute consult he pressed me into a surgery that was about to ruin my life. I was afraid at the time from the procedure, and I told Dr. Gianoli that I would never perform any procedure that would impair my excellent hearing or that would leave any kind of noise in my ear. I told him clearly, that any noise in my ear would kill my life. Dr. Gianoli dismissed all my fears and concerns and reassured me multiple times that this would not happen. I paid with my life for believing this doctor. Dr. Gianoli performed this PLF surgery on me. All cash doctor US$ 6,000 for the surgery, US$ 4,000 for the all cash ambulatory facility, expenses and procedures not recognized as valid and therefore not reimbursed by my health insurance company. A surgery that destroyed my life: I have been injured, irreversibly damaged and left on permanent disability. I cannot work anymore or take care of my kids. I can barely function or stand on my feet. Dr. Gianoli turned my life into an horror of physical agony and misery, from a happy and most active person to a crushed, disabled person. Dr. Gianoli’s surgery left me with vertigo, motion sickness, dizziness and chronic nausea. My past dizziness that cleared up long time before the surgery was barely light-headedness comparing to my situation after the surgery. Dr. Gianoli impaired my hearing to the point I need a hearing aid, he left me with hyperacusis and a pressurized ear that feels at all time like it is about to burst apart. Dr. Gianoli surgery left me with a monstrous tinnitus -- a constant noise in my ear that no human was designed to endure. Dr. Gianoli killed my life. After this surgery Dr. Gianoli performed another series of his vestibular tests, all cash doctor, US$ 2,000 per round -- that was the (4th) fourth round. This time, Dr. Gianoli told me that the test were showing that the operated ear is "perfectly sealed” but the non-operated ear has a PLF -- a new PLF that opened up in the other ear after the surgery, and according to Dr. Gianoli was causing the debilitating post surgery vertigo symptoms. Horrified, after losing my life in this place, I finally gained clarity. I had to save myself from this place. After hearing this, my journey to find hope for my life began, I was carried to John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Harvard, Penn State and I heard time after time the same statements: (1) None of these top hospitals believe there is such a diagnosis as a PLF and therefore they do not perform such surgery in their facilities. (2) None of the vestibular tests that Dr. Gianoli performed before the surgery indicated that I had any problem with any of the ears. (3) None of these hospitals perform a lumbar puncture during ear surgery like Dr. Gianoli performed on me during the surgery (more cash money?) (4) According to doctors' opinion, I was scammed into a surgery that was performed against any conceivable medical practice and guidelines. Dr. Gianoli in his own article that he published in a medical journal in Louisiana is stating the following: "There is no objective intraoperative test to confirm the presence of a PLF – no tests with adequate sensitivity and specificity are available.” https://archive.org/stream/journaloflouisia146unse/journaloflouisia146unse_djvu.txt A surgery that destroyed not only my life but affected the lives of so many people around me with my kids suffering the most. How cynical and cruel can a doctor be? My life, the only one that I had was lost -- for nothing.
People. Don't trust this doctor. He is dishonest, dangerous, careless, and eager to perform invasive unnecessary surgeries. I trusted him despite getting 4 other opinions informing me not to go through a surgery he recommended and consequently lost my hearing caused by the surgery he performed on me. Red flag to warn the naive people, "hundreds" of positive reviews.
People. Don't trust this doctor. He is dishonest, dangerous, careless, and eager to perform invasive unnecessary surgeries. I trusted him despite getting 4 other opinions informing me not to go through a surgery he recommended and consequently lost my hearing caused by the surgery he performed on me. Red flag to warn the naive people, "hundreds" of positive reviews.
Dr. Gianoli tends to diagnose most of his patients with PLF - perilymphatic fistula. PLFs are extremely rare, and yet somehow every person who comes to his office with some form of dizziness gets this rare diagnosis. Many of his tests are not covered by insurance and surprise, Dr. Gianoli is treating PLFs with surgery. It's a scam.
There were two flags with Dr. Gianoli: first, he pushed so hard for the surgery, as to say I will lose my hearing if I were to opt against it. I did not have the surgery and did not lose my hearing. Among the battery of inner ear tests I had, most were negative except one showed that there was an irregularity (and why should I believe even that?) but nothing conclusive and in no way related to a PLF. Still, Dr.Gianoli pushed hard for surgery. Second, when I got a copy of my medical records from Dr. Gianoli to transfer to another doctor, there was no mention of a possible PLF or Dr. Gianoli insistence that I have surgery. In the event that someone is confused as to why a doctor would not put his recommendation and his diagnosis in his notes, it's because Dr. Gianoli is covering his ass. Should he ever be reviewed by the inept Medical Board of Examiners of Louisiana, featuring top most corrupted state in the US, he will be exposing himself to the disproportionate number of patients that he diagnosed with the same problem and were recommended to have the same surgery. So, by not referring to his insistent to have surgery, he evades detection should he ever be reviewed. Dr. Gianoli is an unethical doctor. Do not go to him. Had Dr. Gianoli at least written that PLF was a possibility or that surgery was an option, I would think Dr. Gianoli is an incompetent doctor. But he is worse: Dr. Gianoli is also a dangerous unethical con cutting into people, recommending them surgeries that they probably don't need.
Unless PLF is the most under diagnosed medical problem in the otolaryngologic world and it isn't, there should not be dozens of PLF surgeries. Gerard Gianoli is an unethical and dishonest doctor. Don't go to him and if you do, don't be surprised if you are diagnosed with a PLF and don't say you weren't warned.
Dr. Gianoli from OLOL Pontchartrain Surgery Center is coming of as a very caring and compassionate doctor, and he also comes off as a competent doctor, unfortunately, for my experience it turned to be a false pretense. I had a surgery at Pontchartrain Surgery Center to repair a fistula that according to his clinical impression was the source of my dizzy spells following a car accident. This surgeon claimed that I needed a minimally invasive outpatient surgery that would take care of the dizzy spells, but this was not the case for me. I ended up deaf in one ear, damaged facial nerves and more intense dizziness, after which he offered to "fix" my other ear as well. Do not be deluded by his kind appearance covering up for his poor surgical skills and poor medical judgement. My experience with this doctor has been fatally disastrous for my quality of life.
Ear and Balance Institute owned and operated by Gerard Gianoli, a nasty and dubious medical entrepreneur committing health care fraud and engaging in a scheme of false diagnoses and bogus courses of treatment and unnecessary invasive procedures, dispensing unnecessary and harmful medications all for his personal financial gain and with no regard for patient well being. Gianoli has been ordering fraudulent repetitive and excessive medical procedures on his patients in order to increase revenue. After been severely injured by this medical provider, he told me to go look for another provider, if I refuse to undergo additional invasive procedures. In his written medical records he never documented the things he told me upfront about the necessity of additional procedures. While his brother John Gianoli was already sent to jail and his medical license forfeited, Gerard Gianoli is still on the loose and in the business of hurting people for personal gain.
Ear & Balance Institute Reviews
This could have been a review about a financial rip off, but when the person in question is a doctor, there is no amount of money in the whole entire world that could bring you back your health and your life. I lost my life in a surgery that should have never happened in an honest world. If this review can save even one life, than the effort of writing it should prevail. I went to see Dr. Gerard Gianoli in Covington LA as I suffered from dizziness. Dr. Gianoli after a series of vestibular tests told me that I had a tear in the connecting membrane between the inner and the middle ear. He called it a PLF, a perilymph fistula and recommended to avoid strenuous activity. A year later my dizziness started to clear up and when I came in 2015 for a follow up appointment, Dr. Gianoli, firmly and unequivocally told me that I needed to perform a simple surgical procedure to make sure that the dizziness would not reoccur. "Do it - it will help you - you will benefit from it". He told me, and how did I believe him? I will never know. Within a five minute consult he pressed me into a surgery that was about to ruin my life. I was afraid at the time from the procedure, and I told Dr. Gianoli that I would never perform any procedure that would impair my excellent hearing or that would leave any kind of noise in my ear. I told him clearly, that any noise in my ear would kill my life. Dr. Gianoli dismissed all my fears and concerns and reassured me multiple times that this would not happen. I paid with my life for believing this doctor. Dr. Gianoli performed this PLF surgery on me. All cash doctor US$ 6,000 for the surgery, US$ 4,000 for the all cash ambulatory facility, expenses and procedures not recognized as valid and therefore not reimbursed by my health insurance company. A surgery that destroyed my life: I have been injured, irreversibly damaged and left on permanent disability. I cannot work anymore or take care of my kids. I can barely function or stand on my feet. Dr. Gianoli turned my life into an horror of physical agony and misery, from a happy and most active person to a crushed, disabled person. Dr. Gianoli’s surgery left me with vertigo, motion sickness, dizziness and chronic nausea. My past dizziness that cleared up long time before the surgery was barely light-headedness comparing to my situation after the surgery. Dr. Gianoli impaired my hearing to the point I need a hearing aid, he left me with hyperacusis and a pressurized ear that feels at all time like it is about to burst apart. Dr. Gianoli surgery left me with a monstrous tinnitus -- a constant noise in my ear that no human was designed to endure. Dr. Gianoli killed my life. After this surgery Dr. Gianoli performed another series of his vestibular tests, all cash doctor, US$ 2,000 per round -- that was the (4th) fourth round. This time, Dr. Gianoli told me that the test were showing that the operated ear is "perfectly sealed” but the non-operated ear has a PLF -- a new PLF that opened up in the other ear after the surgery, and according to Dr. Gianoli was causing the debilitating post surgery vertigo symptoms. Horrified, after losing my life in this place, I finally gained clarity. I had to save myself from this place. After hearing this, my journey to find hope for my life began, I was carried to John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Harvard, Penn State and I heard time after time the same statements: (1) None of these top hospitals believe there is such a diagnosis as a PLF and therefore they do not perform such surgery in their facilities. (2) None of the vestibular tests that Dr. Gianoli performed before the surgery indicated that I had any problem with any of the ears. (3) None of these hospitals perform a lumbar puncture during ear surgery like Dr. Gianoli performed on me during the surgery (more cash money?) (4) According to doctors' opinion, I was scammed into a surgery that was performed against any conceivable medical practice and guidelines. Dr. Gianoli in his own article that he published in a medical journal in Louisiana is stating the following: "There is no objective intraoperative test to confirm the presence of a PLF – no tests with adequate sensitivity and specificity are available.” https://archive.org/stream/journaloflouisia146unse/journaloflouisia146unse_djvu.txt A surgery that destroyed not only my life but affected the lives of so many people around me with my kids suffering the most. How cynical and cruel can a doctor be? My life, the only one that I had was lost -- for nothing.
GERARD GIANOLI IS A CON ARTIST
CONVINCING PEOPLE THAT THEY NEED TO DO OPERATIONS THAT THEY DONT NEED TO DO.
HE TELLS PEOPLE THAT THEY HAVE DISEASES AND PROBLEMS THAT THEY DONT HAVE, JUST TO TAKE THEIR MONEY.
THIS IS A CON ARTIST AND HE SHOULD GO TO JAIL.
People. Don't trust this doctor. He is dishonest, dangerous, careless, and eager to perform invasive unnecessary surgeries. I trusted him despite getting 4 other opinions informing me not to go through a surgery he recommended and consequently lost my hearing caused by the surgery he performed on me. Red flag to warn the naive people, "hundreds" of positive reviews.
Dishonest, dangerous...
People. Don't trust this doctor. He is dishonest, dangerous, careless, and eager to perform invasive unnecessary surgeries. I trusted him despite getting 4 other opinions informing me not to go through a surgery he recommended and consequently lost my hearing caused by the surgery he performed on me. Red flag to warn the naive people, "hundreds" of positive reviews.
Dr Gerard Gianoli Dishonest Doctor
Dr. Gianoli tends to diagnose most of his patients with PLF - perilymphatic fistula. PLFs are extremely rare, and yet somehow every person who comes to his office with some form of dizziness gets this rare diagnosis. Many of his tests are not covered by insurance and surprise, Dr. Gianoli is treating PLFs with surgery. It's a scam.
There were two flags with Dr. Gianoli: first, he pushed so hard for the surgery, as to say I will lose my hearing if I were to opt against it. I did not have the surgery and did not lose my hearing. Among the battery of inner ear tests I had, most were negative except one showed that there was an irregularity (and why should I believe even that?) but nothing conclusive and in no way related to a PLF. Still, Dr.Gianoli pushed hard for surgery. Second, when I got a copy of my medical records from Dr. Gianoli to transfer to another doctor, there was no mention of a possible PLF or Dr. Gianoli insistence that I have surgery. In the event that someone is confused as to why a doctor would not put his recommendation and his diagnosis in his notes, it's because Dr. Gianoli is covering his ass. Should he ever be reviewed by the inept Medical Board of Examiners of Louisiana, featuring top most corrupted state in the US, he will be exposing himself to the disproportionate number of patients that he diagnosed with the same problem and were recommended to have the same surgery. So, by not referring to his insistent to have surgery, he evades detection should he ever be reviewed. Dr. Gianoli is an unethical doctor. Do not go to him. Had Dr. Gianoli at least written that PLF was a possibility or that surgery was an option, I would think Dr. Gianoli is an incompetent doctor. But he is worse: Dr. Gianoli is also a dangerous unethical con cutting into people, recommending them surgeries that they probably don't need.
Unless PLF is the most under diagnosed medical problem in the otolaryngologic world and it isn't, there should not be dozens of PLF surgeries. Gerard Gianoli is an unethical and dishonest doctor. Don't go to him and if you do, don't be surprised if you are diagnosed with a PLF and don't say you weren't warned.
Medical incompetency
Dr. Gianoli from OLOL Pontchartrain Surgery Center is coming of as a very caring and compassionate doctor, and he also comes off as a competent doctor, unfortunately, for my experience it turned to be a false pretense. I had a surgery at Pontchartrain Surgery Center to repair a fistula that according to his clinical impression was the source of my dizzy spells following a car accident. This surgeon claimed that I needed a minimally invasive outpatient surgery that would take care of the dizzy spells, but this was not the case for me. I ended up deaf in one ear, damaged facial nerves and more intense dizziness, after which he offered to "fix" my other ear as well. Do not be deluded by his kind appearance covering up for his poor surgical skills and poor medical judgement. My experience with this doctor has been fatally disastrous for my quality of life.
DOCTOR GIANOLI IS DOCTOR DEATH
Ear and Balance Institute owned and operated by Gerard Gianoli, a nasty and dubious medical entrepreneur committing health care fraud and engaging in a scheme of false diagnoses and bogus courses of treatment and unnecessary invasive procedures, dispensing unnecessary and harmful medications all for his personal financial gain and with no regard for patient well being. Gianoli has been ordering fraudulent repetitive and excessive medical procedures on his patients in order to increase revenue. After been severely injured by this medical provider, he told me to go look for another provider, if I refuse to undergo additional invasive procedures. In his written medical records he never documented the things he told me upfront about the necessity of additional procedures. While his brother John Gianoli was already sent to jail and his medical license forfeited, Gerard Gianoli is still on the loose and in the business of hurting people for personal gain.
Dr. Gerard Joseph Gianoli is Doctor DEATH
A bluffer, a cheater, serial liar, serial mutilator.