Dr. Poornima Rao, MD

Dr. Rao not only comes with outstanding credientials and known to be remarkable in her areas of expertise, but treats her patients with respect, dignity and patience. She explained my husband's upcoming extensive surgery, drawing pictures of her intended surgical intervention and reflected on radiographic images to further our understanding. She also generously talked with my brother, a retired critical care physician in Palm Springs having been in charge of an ICU for over 20 years. Dr. Rao reviewed my husband's pathology and plan of treatment with him. His comment was, 'You don't know how lucky you are to have someone as highly skilled, well educated and competent in Bend, Oregon as Dr. Rao.' She is surely a gem within our Central Oregon landscape.

I had an amazing experience and my surgery was text book! I had the dream team! The day after the surgery, I didn’t have pain or bruising like i did with a previous surgery by another doctor in town for the same issue. He missed the biggest tumor!! And wanted to wait until I was more ill before surgery. He apologized after the surgery for not resolving the issues and referred me to OHSU. The doctor at OHSU diagnosed the issue the first doctor missed but was unable to do the surgery due to a medical issue of her own. I was referred to Dr. Rao who performed her own analysis, confirmed OHSU findings, and put together a plan. She was very kind, explained everything very thoroughly and BELIEVED me when other doctors were dismissive. She is a fantastic doctor and I trust her completely, hard to do after my experience with doctors I’ve seen. Having lupus (SLE) and my current issues make you feel like you’re crazy but she helped me and was not condescending, lacking the hubris of other docs.

She was not patient with questions.

Very rude doctor. Unprofessional. Does not treat patient as a whole human being. Only focused on her surgical plan. When asked questions she was annoyed . Replied "do you want me to draw you a picture?" Would never recommend anyone ever to have her as their physician. Stay away from her.

Dr. Poornima Rao is an awesome doctor. She is very knowledgeable, caring and thorough. She explained every detail of my diagnosis to me and made me feel at ease. I felt comfortable asking her questions about my diagnosis. I love Dr. Poornima Rao! Her MA’s and staff are just as wonderful as she is.

I was fortunate in having Dr. Rao... an outstanding surgeon and straight-talking doctor. She was very much appreciated by myself and family.

Dr Rao is a caring surgeon. She explains your treatment plan in ways that you can understand and makes you comfortable. She made one incision during surgery and I now have one scar where there should really be 2! Cancer is not fun, but if Dr Rao is in your corner, then you can do this!