Benckendorf Sandra B MD

"I originally saw this Doctor at her practice in Morton, Illinois. I saw her because something quite rare and far from textbook was happening to my body and slowly progressing. Her demeanor and bedside manner was pleasant,, at least to my face.. I requested copies of all my records and discovered that the comments she documented in my file were much different. Serious misdiagnosis that it was all in my head which caused any specialist not to take me seriously because of her comment which also decreased my level of care, refused to do any further testing and delayed à real diagnosis instead of just stating that she didn't know what was going on yet. However, she had no problem dococumenting my record with disparaging comments. Like making fun of my attire because I wóre shorts in 45 degree weather. It was the first warmest day in months in the Midwest and I moved there from Southern California ànd Tucson, AZ. Documenting her judgmental opinion about my attire is highly inappropriate and has Nothing to do with my care. Since some of my symptoms involved some neurological symptoms she sent me to one of her friends "Dr. Lasher" who just started his practice. His inexperience and limited testing stated that I might have a muscle disease caused by limitation. After he had me stop lipitor, he documented that the problem resolved. I kept complaining because the symptoms didn't resolve. After getting my current records from Dr Benckendorf and Dr Lasher, I saw that both of their comments stated it was all in my head and wasn't getting adequate care. Just disparaging comments. After wasting several years with these 2 Doctors with an 87lb unintentional weight loss over the last 5 months, I had to fire them both and found an amazing PCP who actually listened and couldn't believe what was documented in my record by both Doctors. To make a longer story short and seeing a panel of well known, highly rated Neurologists, my final diagnosis after watching, testing by EMG and waiting, I was diagnosed with ALS aka Lou Gehrig's Disease. If you have something remotely rare, I cannot recommend Dr. Benckendorf. One of the most unprofessional and judgmental Doctors I've ever encountered.maybe things are different with her now, I don't know. But what I went through with her and her Neurologist friend, NEVER should've happened and shouldn't happen to anyone"