He made me feel uncomfortable, overcharged me, and I left the office BLEEDING from an unneeded ultrasound during a regular Pap Smear.
This is my real experience and honest impression of Dr. Goncharov after consulting other doctors and working in the medical field myself as a college-educated woman in Brooklyn, New York.
At the time, I was new to the neighborhood, a poor young college student, and obviously fooled by his Yelp reviews. (I'd like to point out that most of the highlighted reviews are written by men.) My visit was short and Goncharov was impersonal and quiet. Barely made eye contact and would only speak Russian to his nurse. I accepted his behavior as the result of a bad day, and the appointment went smoothly until the very end. He ushered in an unnamed woman with a machine, saying "now we will do the ultrasound--" without asking me. Most importantly, he did not explain that this unnecessary $600+ procedure was not covered by all insurance policies. Before I even had the thought "this feels wrong," he was probing me.
After 5 seconds, he handed the wand to the unnamed lady and left the room. She examined me. "I can't see anything," she said as she twisted the wand. Not something you want to hear when a stranger is examining your uterus. "I can't see anything," she repeated a few more times before removing the wand that was now COVERED IN MY BLOOD. I gasped with terror and almost cried as she quickly began stammering "Its fine! You're fine! It's okay you're fine!" She gave me no explanation as to why I was bleeding. I asked her what happened, but she quickly handed me a rough paper towel, told me to get dressed, and vanished with the machine--all before I could catch my breath.
I was only 20 years old, frightened, half-naked, alone, and bleeding in an unfamiliar doctor's exam room WITHOUT a doctor, and without answers. How would you feel?
I was afraid, enraged, and done. I booked it home before a breakdown. I quickly buried the experience in the back of my mind and sought a better doctor. My next doctor did NOT perform an ultrasound, and I DID NOT BLEED. Since then I have asked other medical professionals if an ultrasound is part of a normal pap smear and every single one of them had the same answer, "No."
I thought I was through with the horrible memory until the office called me A YEAR LATER demanding that I pay them for the ultrasound. I asked them to send me a bill to prove my insurance didn't cover it. The secretary sent me an unorganized, manually typed up list of charges from the office, IN AN EMAIL. No header, no official disclaimers, not even a PDF copy of the physical bill. I told her that was unacceptable and she could get in a lot of trouble for such a slap-shod bill. She seemed slightly embarrassed, yet still demanded payment.
According to his online presence, there are several patients who say they were uninformed about the cost of their exam with Dr. Goncharov.
From one concerned woman to another--I would NEVER trust this guy with my body, my confidentiality, or my newborn child. read more