Dr. Maria Eugenia Cabanillas, MD

I'm a patient of MD Anderson and also an employee. Although the majority of my doctors are fabulous at MD Anderson and as much as it pains me to say this about a provider at my institution, Dr. Cabanillas is not a good doctor in my opinion. Not only did she lie to my face three times in a single appointment about my own medical record that I could easily view in our electronic health system, she denied ever writing me prescriptions for the thyroid medicine I used. She then wanted to completely take me off of medication I had been on for more than a decade to switch me to something brand new, even though the current medication I was on was still effective. She did not listen to the concerns I had and through her own clinical team of advanced practice providers under the bus for a mistake that she had made. Like I said, every other doctor I've had at MD Anderson is fantastic. Maybe others have had better experiences with Dr C, but I cannot put my faith in a provider that was blatantly dishonest.

Have been seeing her for right at 2 years. The first couple of visits were amazing and we were certain that we had found the right doctor. When symptoms progressed and illness started getting worse, she is impossible to get in touch with and to speak to her nurse, you have to leave a message and pray for the best. We've been given no answers as to what is making our family member so sick with constant vomiting that meds don't even help by pill form. Our family member gets admitted, put on meds by IV for several days to control the vomiting and then released. An answer is never really found because only cat scans or pet scans are ever done. When those are done, takes weeks to get results. I am.very familiar with petscans as my daughter has had many for her encephalitis and we get results in less than 3 days. It would make sense to me that if you don't find a cause on scans, you try different options such as gastroenterology, scopes or something else. We had an appointment last week, paid our copay once again to be told get your petscan, I want to see the results. Um well, ok! I had figured that out when it was originally ordered so, why did we just pay yet ANOTHER copay just to be told that and her walk put of the room? I feel she is absolutely overloaded with patients and can't keep up. Why keep taking new patients? We're sick of being here every other week for all of these doctors to not be communicating on a plan. Thi is supposed to be the best Cancer center in the world, prove it, by all means! We would live to be a testament to that! It should not be this exhausting to get great medical care! Have to say, daughter was at a big name hospital but out of the medical center and we were blessed to have doctors listen, research with us and learn new things, not act like they already knew everything and they never refused to listen to the family and give feed back. All we want is the care any human deserves!

She called me on a Saturday morning to explain a study she was participating in for my rare cancer. I had already requested hospice at my treating doctor suggestion! I went to Houston and after a week of scans and tests I was accepted into the study! I have seen Dr Cabinallis regularly over the three additional years of life she’s given me! She is a world-class physician who is, because of her skills, over worked and probably underpaid!! Her team is caring and helpful! The system at MDA requires a team approach and it is effective!!

She does not take the time to really help her patients. While I was under her care she would spend maybe 10 minutes talking to me at each visit. She bases all her recommendations on data and didn't listen to my concerns or symptoms. Her nurse and nurse practitioner do all the work and then speak to me for her. And neither of them are friendly. She can't be bothered to interact with her patients.

Provides conflicting medical consultation.

Dr Cabanillas is smart, kind, isn't condescending, takes appropriate amount of time to answer questions, easy to talk to etc. Very happy to have her as my doctor. I feel very confident she will do her best to keep my cancer at bay for as long as she can.