Jeff Gunter has made his career as a dermatologist central to his Republican candidacy for Senate in Nevada. He says he “cares deeply” for his patients and has “treated, healed and saved countless lives” in his three decades as a practicing physician. .
“I guess I just love my patients,” he said in his campaign announcement, 10 months before next week’s primaries. “I love my job, and I feel blessed and fortunate that they trust me to care for them.”
A number of former patients painted a different portrait of Gunter in more than two dozen blistering reviews on a leading medical review site, RateMDs.com, describing President Donald Trump’s former ambassador to Iceland as “arrogant,” “condescending.” rude’ and ‘TERRIBLE’, with some users giving stark warnings to others not to go to his clinics. Many of the negative reviews predate his entry into politics.
Gunter was also named as a defendant in two medical malpractice lawsuits in California in 2006 and 2007, both of which were settled between the parties. The American Medical Association, a trade group that lobbies on behalf of doctors, published an analysis last year showing that about 1 in 3 doctors reported they had previously been sued.
“This man is the reason why medical malpractice lawsuits exist,” wrote a reviewer on RateMDs.com, where Gunter has a 1.8-star rating, in January 2015.
“His attitude towards us made me realize that he should not come near my body with a sharp instrument, so I left abruptly and immediately filed a complaint with the CA Medical Board,” the reviewer added. “Something has to happen. He is dangerous and completely unsuited for this kind of work.”
Gunter’s campaign declined to comment on the negative reviews but said in a statement that the malpractice claims naming him as a defendant did not involve patients he personally treated.
“In more than 30 years, Dr. Gunter NEVER had a single malpractice claim when he personally treated the patient,” a campaign official said. “He has a large practice serving primarily rural areas with active duty military members and veterans.”
Other reviews were more complimentary. Separate pages for Gunter on RateMDs contain only a handful of reviews, rating him 3.3 and 5 stars. Gunter’s cumulative average rating on RateMDs, Healthgrades and Vitals, three leading medical review sites, was approximately 3.5 stars, with average ratings ranging between 1.8 and 4.7 stars. RateMDs had the most written reviews (30) of the three sites, while its overall rating was strongest on Vitals, where one of the 16 written reviewers wrote in 2018 that they were “surprised by some of the bad reviews.” His practices have also been reviewed on other platforms such as Yelp and Google, where the results were generally more positive than his RateMDs and Healthgrades ratings, although most did not mention Gunter by name.
In a statement to NBC News, Gunter denounced the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who heads the committee. He said questions about the history of his medical practice are part of an effort by the NRSC to dig up information about his background and hurt his chances in the upcoming GOP primary.
“In my thirty years of practicing medicine, I have learned that people are the most important currency. Why? Because personnel is policy,” Gunter said in the statement. “Unfortunately, when President Trump discovers the truth that the NRSC is wasting Republican donor money to harass his former ambassador’s children and neighbors and seek baseless nonsense, Steve Daines will find himself in the same category as Michael Cohen, Anthony Scaramucci and Mitch McConnell.”
“The good news is that despite the continued pursuit of fact-free sleuthing and the absurd mission to fabricate incomplete ‘findings’ from decades ago, we will prevail and President Trump will ultimately succeed bigger and better than ever,” he continued.
In a statement, the NRSC hit back at Gunter, targeting him for previously having a Democratic voter registration in California.
“I’m not sure why California Democrat Jeff Gunter is blaming the NRSC for his patients saying he’s a bad doctor,” said Mike Berg, NRSC communications director. “I pray for his patients.”
More and more candidates are running for seats in the Senate and other high offices without prior political experience, without a voting record in the legislature or other traditional areas of oversight for a politician. That means they place more emphasis on private sector experiences — and invite more research into business, medical and other career histories, especially in competitive Senate races. Nevada is one of several Senate races this year, along with Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and others, where a Republican challenger is running for his first elected office.
Gunter’s practice, SummitMD, has 22 locations listed on its website in Arizona, Texas, California and Nevada, and these practices receive significantly better reviews on Yelp and Google than Gunter does on his personal page, ranging from 3.6 to 5.0 stars on locations with at least 25 reviews.
“Dr. Gunter does all the operations and is very professional, personable and knowledgeable,” wrote a Google reviewer last year under one of his practices in Nevada. “Would highly recommend.”
Gunter’s clinic was the subject of a California medical malpractice complaint in 2022 — a lawsuit in which the plaintiff alleged that an assistant caused a cotton swab soaked in an acidic solution to drip into her eye, causing injuries. The defendants – Gunter was not named – denied all allegations and the plaintiff later requested that the case be dismissed. Steven Brandwein, an attorney for the plaintiff, said the matter had been resolved and a confidentiality agreement prevented further comment.
The Senate candidate has been embraced by some prominent figures in the MAGA movement but is seen as an underdog in his race against retired Army Captain Sam Brown, who lost a 2022 Senate primary to former Attorney General Adam Laxalt but is facing supported by the Senate. NRSC this time. The only real wild card in the race is Donald Trump, who has yet to weigh in on the contest, one of the only contentious battleground races in the Senate that he does not support. The elections are scheduled for June 11 and Trump will hold a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.
In ads, Gunter has touted himself as the most MAGA candidate in the race and has labeled himself “110 percent pro-Trump.” He has also attacked Brown as “Scam Brown.” Gunter’s rival did not initially support Trump this election cycle, but Brown endorsed him ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
Brown’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Gunter also brings into the race a scathing report written by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General, which found in a 2021 report that he fostered a “threatening and intimidating environment” at the embassy , adding that the then ambassador “failed many times.” to respect diplomatic protocol or to coordinate with the Icelandic government” prompted American diplomats to work around him during his time in office.
In response to the OIG report, Erica Knight, a spokesperson for Gunter, disputed in a statement to Politico last year that then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ever had to take action against him and added that embassy staff acted on distance worked, adding: “Thanks to his leadership, the team had zero infections at the US Embassy and zero deaths at the US Embassy.”
In another story to emerge from his ambassadorship, a dozen individuals familiar with the matter, including diplomats, government officials and others, told CBS News in 2020 that Gunter, “paranoid” about his personal safety, sought special permission to to carry a firearm and requested door-to-door armored transport service.
Gunter was nominated for the ambassadorship after donating $100,000 to Trump’s political machine in 2016, plus another $100,000 to his inaugural committee, and has been a stellar donor to conservative candidates, campaign finance records show . Much of his wealth comes from his medical practice, which he valued at up to $25 million in his financial disclosures.
“We need doctors to set our health care policy, not Washington bureaucrats and politicians,” Gunter says on his campaign page, adding, “I have treated, healed and saved countless lives. And if there’s one thing I know for sure: when you mix politics with medicine, you get politics, not patient care.”
However, little was stopped for angry patients.
“I’ve never written a Yelp review in my life,” wrote an upset patient on the Yelp page for Gunter’s clinic in Lancaster, California, “but this time my review might just save the day.” [someone] other people’s lives.”
A 2014 BuzzFeed news report detailed that the rise of such rating sites like RateMDs.com roiled the medical community and was seemingly used by patients as “an alternative to costly and frustrating malpractice lawsuits.”
Not all reviews were so cruel. A 4.5-star review on RateMDs from April 2007 said Gunter was “a bit rushed between patients, but otherwise A-1.” A five-star rating on the site from July 2013 urged patients to “Just [understand] he is not a talkative person.
“He is a nice man and is at the top of his game,” this person wrote. “BUSY because he is good. … ASK questions when he speaks to you. If you don’t, he will leave.”
Overall, results were more positive on Yelp and Google, although negative reviews were interspersed. One patient wrote on Yelp in 2018 that she visited Gunter “about my acne and within just weeks of seeing him, my skin is clearer, my life is better and I have a boyfriend 10/10.”
But the passionate feelings behind the disturbing experiences stood out.
“Worst doctor I’ve ever been to,” wrote a Yelp reviewer in 2014. “Don’t waste your time or money. Very impersonal. Walks into the room and leaves within 5 minutes. Doesn’t answer any of your questions thoroughly. …Worst experience I’ve ever had with a doctor. Not worth his reputation in any case.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
