I found Dr. Schleuning to be a skilled surgeon who told me what I needed to hear, had patience to listen to my concerns, was honest about my situation and gave me excellent advice. Most importantly, the outcome of my surgical procedure was excellent and my recovery went well. I am very grateful to have had her as my surgeon. read more

My experience with this doctor was terrible. After waiting over an hour undressed in the exam room, she finally walked in and, in a condescending tone, asked why I was "in such a hurry." I won't go into graphic details, but after performing a minor procedure, she left me in pain and bleeding and simply walked out. I had to get up and track down a nurse for help. Overall, an awful and deeply unprofessional experience. read more

Dr. Schleuning is a terrific physician. I started treating with her back in 2006, when I was trying to conceive. She thereafter delivered both of my kids. I had a very difficult first delivery with unexpected complications. Dr. Schleuning handled it quite well. When my second baby started to come, she voluntarily substituted with her colleague so she could be there to handle the delivery. She is now supporting me through menopause and I'm so happy to be getting some welcome relief from those symptoms. I believe Dr. Schleuning has moved mostly to surgeries now and is not delivering babies anymore. In any event, although she is sometimes late (as noted by others), it's because she is willing to take the time to stay with a patient where there's something significant. She has stayed with me when necessary and I'm sure she would do it with others. She is thorough and wants to get it right. Highly recommend. read more

I used to go to Sutter in Berkeley but since moved to the Orinda area. I was having issues with recurring infections and made an appointment with this doctor. I have a challenging schedule with work and childcare, and it took much effort to block off my schedule for this appointment. I also waited many months for this appointment. 2 weeks before the appointment, I get a message from her office stating that they have decided to cancel my appointment. And I can't even get a future appointment with her. I received a message from her staff stating: This is per Dr. Schleuning's request that her schedule be scrubbed and all new patients be removed. I understand this was our mistake but, all I can do for you is give you the call center phone number to reschedule, 510-204-8180. How rude and unprofessional. I would not even bother trying to see this doctor. read more

I had to wait an hour for my scheduled appointment, which was a quick 5 minute interaction. An hour! They don't seem to care about patient care at all here. They didn't take payment for my copay. They couldn't answer my question about my last visit with the doctor. I won't be back. read more

Dr Schleuning became my OB after I became pregnant. I adore my Gyn (Dr Girgis), who is a doctor in the same office\practice, but he doesn't work as an OB any longer. Schleuning was recommended by a nurse practitioner in the office when I described the type of OB I'd work best with. I said that I am very curious and ask why and how a lot, I want very practical answers and suggestions, Im very interested in hearing all possible (alternative, classic, controversial, etc) methods of treatment, don't scare easily, and enjoy pleasantries. Dr Schleuning fit the bill perfectly. She takes time with me & my partner and so we never feel rushed. She is very open open to answer any question no matter how "out there" or in depth it might be and typically offers a very real answer, not candy coated nor dumbed down. To top, she is a pleasant Dr to be around; friendly and attentive. The office is well run by really friendly staff and the nurses I meet with when Dr Schleuning isn't available are also fantastic. Birth is coming soon and I will update this review if any feelings change. If I didn't like my Gyn so much, I'd likely switch to Schleuning for that as well. read more

My experience with Dr Schleuning was awful. I was a high risk pregnancy because of my age. We had already had one child with IVF successfully and this was my second pregnancy with IVF. I, unfortunately, miscarried at 12 weeks. Going into her office the day after i miscarried, my husband and I found her to be extremely uncaring, unsympathetic, and downright cruel at such a horrible time. We will never forget her saying, "you're a really bad obstetrics candidate..." (among other things that I frankly can't remember because I was in shock at the words coming out of her mouth). She has a terrible bedside manner. I cannot recommend this doctor, especially if you are a high-risk pregnancy because if things go awry, she does not handle it well at all. She made a terrible experience 1 million times worse because of her hurtful words, cruelty, & horrible bedside manner. read more

My experience with Dr. Schleuning was nothing but positive. She greeted me with a smile, answered my questions and offered treatment options, and did not rush through the exam. read more

I have been Dr. Schleuning's patient for just over 10 years. I've always been beyond pleased with her professionalism, her knowledge, her demeanor and her care of me. Her staff has also been unfailingly pleasant, competent and conscientious. However, last week, my satisfaction with both Dr. S and her staff rose even higher. Although I normally see her in the Lafayette office, she needed to do a minor procedure and the necessary equipment was only at the Oakland office. I had a 4:00 appointment and when I arrived (about 15 mins early), someone else was checking in ahead of me to see Dr. S as well. The waiting room was relatively full. It became clear that it had been a challenging day. Another waiting patient soon stood up to complain that she had been waiting for 45 minutes and she couldn't wait any longer as she'd have to leave to pick up her kids; she complained this was the second time this had happened. (**Not sure why you'd even schedule an appointment with a doctor late in the day if you know you'll run up against your kid pick-up time, but... Maybe that's just me.) The impressive thing was that Dr. S herself came out to apologize. She'd had a difficult (or maybe just an unexpected) delivery that morning and had had to cancel all of her morning appointments; the day just unraveled from there. This MUST be expected when you make an apointment to see an OB-GYN; babies are just not respectful of our calendars. :) But Dr. S was kind enough and professional enough to acknowledge the situation in person and apologize. When I got in to see Dr. S myself, despite the late hour and difficult day, she nevertheless did not appear rushed and spent a not insignificant amount of time with me answering my questions and discussing my care. Moreover, her nurse practitioner (Diane) was absolutely calm, top-notch and effective in calming me down through a brief, tough moment in the exam. What a star! Practicing medicine these days is so tough from an administrative perspective. Dr. S and her staff do it right and do it well. Thanks so much to all of them. read more

I saw Dr. Schleuning in the Colby/Berkeley location..She is great. I had recently a bad experience with another doctor (recently moved to the area) I was looking for a doctor to keep up with my annual exams and the doc I first saw was just awful..Dr. Schleuning she is great. Takes time with the patient, she explains the procedure and makes you feel comfortable. The exam took only 30 mins, she was gentle and just great and I could also see two other expecting moms very happy to be there. I am happy that i found my doctor at the Berkeley. I highly recommend her. read more

I rarely write reviews, but I have had such a negative and demoralizing experience with Dr. Schleuning, parallel'ing that of others here, that I feel it important to speak up to hopefully prevent more suffering. I too had a 'high risk' second pregnancy (due only to my age - no complications fortunately) and yet Dr. Schleuning has caused me so much unnecessary stress, I wish that I had an alternative. I was referred to Dr. Schleuning from my previous OBGYN who was absolutely fantastic, and delivered my first child, but has recently retired. In the course of this pregnancy Dr. Schleuning has made erratic diagnosis of the size of my baby (even though my weight gain has been pound-for-pound identical with my first child, who was 8 pounds+), and all ultrasounds have shown normal growth; her measurements were so erratic that one measurement was almost 25% less than a previous value she reported! (I performed my own measurements almost daily after she initially 'scared me' and have seen nothing but consistency). She has virtually demanded an early induction of the delivery, first predicting that I would not carry the baby to term (I am now in full term, week 40), and now in a final last straw, performed membrane stripping assuring me "no negative results" - only to cause unnecessary cramping and (hopefully) no early labor given my good health and normal first pregnancy, and no evidence supporting her demand for induction so far. Finally, in addition to her poor judgment, her bedside manner has been frighteningly negative: she has made multiple comments throughout the course of my pregnancy - well, let's hope that you actually deliver a healthy baby - again when there have been absolutely no test results to back up this cynicism. It would be bad enough to listen to this on the basis of high risk test results, but there has been no such evidence in spite of the many ultrasounds she has required me to take in "antepartum" monitoring. This is the medical system at its worst and I strongly recommend avoiding this person. read more

Dr. Schleuning has been my OBGyn for many years and I've had a consistently good experience with her and her staff. They are accommodating, efficient, and friendly. Dr. S is patient, takes as much time as needed, and given the type of practice, that's impressive. I have had other OBGyn's rush through a visit, or skip past something that I felt warranted their consideration. And when I needed a hysterectomy, Dr. S was great about giving me a time frame: i.e., if I wait til a certain point, it would be a bigger deal. I listened to her advice, and my recovery was very fast. I decided to keep my ovaries, which she mildly advised against, but filled me in on the odds of ovarian cancer so I could make an informed decision. In other words, she treats me like an intelligent woman capable of making my own choices. And she has a warm and approachable bedside manner. read more

Dr. Schleuning was nice as a person, but she caused me so much unnecessary stress it isn't even funny. I went to see her in the Berkeley location shortly after becoming pregnant. I was supposed to be 8 weeks along based on my last period, but because I had long cycles, I told her that the dates could be off. She asked if it was a planned pregnancy (yes), and told me I was one of her youngest patients (at 29), which made me feel strange. Then, after the ultrasound revealed an empty sac, she told me that it looked like a blighted ovum and that I was probably going to miscarry, but that I could come back in another week to check again before scheduling a D & C. I was totally distraught and did a bunch of internet research on blighted ovums, and learned that, while it was possible I was going to miscarry, there was also a possibility that I just wasn't 8 weeks along. I couldn't believe that Dr. Schleuning didn't even mention this to me as a possibility, especially because I already told her that my dates could be off. When I went back a week later (after many sleepless nights), she still didn't see anything and told me that she "didn't have a good feeling" about my pregnancy. As a consolation, she said that because I was young and got pregnant so quickly this time, I would probably get pregnant again quickly (just what I wanted to hear in that moment). Again, she was super negative, even though there was a possibility that nothing was wrong. I asked her to refer me to a radiologist (a tip I had read online), and she did, and the radiologist's ultrasound immediately showed a viable pregnancy and heartbeat. Needless to say, I switched OBs right away and found a much better fit. I shudder to think what could have been with my now healthy daughter if I had listened to Dr. Schleuning's advice. Years later, I am still haunted by this experience and would caution anyone to think twice about seeing her. read more

I was Dr. Schleuning's patient for a number of years and I wish I could give a better review, but unfortunately, I can't. For a while, the experience was fine, no better or worse than that. The office staff was reasonably efficient and polite. I never had to wait too long for an appointment. And she was pleasant enough and seemed reasonably knowledgeable. But I never found her particularly forthcoming with information. It seemed that she would anwer questions if you asked them, but not necessarily volunteer information, which is great if you know what to ask, not so great if you don't. Dr. Schleuning diagnosed me with fibroids a year or so into my time as her patient. I had an ultrasound and they were not too large at that time and giving me no trouble, so there wasn't really a need for me to do anything right away. But she did tell me that if I was thinking about having a baby, I should do it sooner, rather than later. As I had no plans to have children, that was not a particular concern. At the end of one appointment, she handed me a brochure with some information on treatments but never really discussed them with me. I'd done a little reading on my own and knew that time was not of the essence, so I was in no hurry to act. Perhaps I should have done more research or asked more questions at that time and that is on me, but I honestly didn't think I had any questions and I knew that watching and waiting was an acceptable alternative, so I thought I was fine. Fast forward about six years - during which we did annual ultrasounds to monitor the slow growth of these little buggers - and the fibroids were now big enough that they were giving me trouble and I was ready to do something about them. I was stunned to find that Dr. Schleuning was very negative on any treatment other than a hysterectomy. Yes, I was in my early 40s and I didn't want children, but that doesn't mean I want to remove portions of my body if there are less extreme alternatives! Her argument was that if removed, the fibroids could come back. Well, yes, but why does that mean that the most extreme treatment is the best one? Shouldn't I be the one to decide if that's a risk I'm willing to take? I was really put off by this attitude. I want a doctor that respects my wishes, not forces me to do what's easiest for them. To make matters worse, I discovered that one of the less invasive options - uterine artery embolisation - was only recommended for fibroids of a certain size. At that point, mine were much larger. But at no point as they were slowly growing was I warned that if that was an option I wanted, I needed to do it ASAP. I may well be wrong, but my impression was that she'd already made up her mind that because of my age and the fact that I did not want children, hysterectomy was the only appropriate treatment for me and because of that, she never bothered to give me good information on other treatment possibilities. To be fair to her, after three consults with other doctors, I found that this opinion is not uncommon, but that doesn't make it right! I ended up having surgery with Alison Jacoby at UCSF, who was amazing and whom I can't recommend enough (you can read my review of her on her Yelp page!). I wished I could have kept her as my regular GYN, but she only did fibroids, so I could not. Six years after my surgery, my fibroids are back (again, a risk I was happy to accept, so I don't regret my decision!). I'm now a patient of Katherine Hsiao, in San Franciso and the difference in the level of care is striking. Upon diagnosis, Dr. Hsiao sat down and went over every single option available to me, explaining those she recommended and those that she didn't and why, and of the ones that were options, the pluses and minuses of each treatment. She must have spent a good 30 to 45 minutes going over this information (rather than shoving a brochure at me!). It was so much more conducive to being able to ask good questions! I even learned that there are medications I can take that may slow the growth of the fibroids until I can reach menopause, which is my goal. I don't recall ever hearing about medications from Dr. Schleuning! Seeing the difference in care kind of made me mad all over again because I feel that I didn't get the best care the first time. Dr. Schleuning is a nice enough person and for routine things or perhaps for delivering babies, she's probably just fine. But I felt that her pre-conceived notions meant that I didn't get good care and I really wish I'd learned that sooner rather than later. I hope I can save someone else that pain. I would never go back to her. If you're a patient of hers and have complex issues, I'd say do tons of reasearch and get outside consults right away, because based on my experience, you may not be getting all the info you need at the time you need it. read more

I picked Dr. Schleuning based initially on 2 criteria: female and local. At the time, I just needed someone for annual wellness exams, and my previous GYN was rude, rushed, and the staff unprofessional. Dr. Schleuning is very thorough, takes her time with patients, and genuinely seems to care about her patients as people. During my most recent pelvic exam she could feel that my left ovary was enlarged. She asked me to get a pelvic ultrasound -- it revealed that the ovary was 3x normal size and had a huge cyst on it. Dr. Schleuning felt it was likely due to endometriosis and that it needed to be laparoscopically removed. I resisted the thought of endometriosis (I've never had any pain or heavy periods) and couldn't wrap my head around needing to have my ovary removed. I wanted a 2nd opinion (which she wasn't offended by at all and they promptly sent my records). When the other MD concurred that surgery and removal was appropriate, I still stalled on scheduling the surgery since i was busy and in no pain. She said she'd support postponing a bit if I'd take a cancer test. She felt there was a slight chance that the large ovary and cyst could be cancerous. If the cancer test was above 200, she didn't want me to wait. It was 248. I read up and found out that a cancer test over 200 has a fairly high probability of cancer and surgery recommended with an oncologist present. Sure enough, she called in a gynecologic oncologist who specializes in ovarian cancer just in case. Luckily, it wasn't cancer, but I did have severe endometriosis that had "attacked" my ureter and rectum. If I'd postponed the surgery, the condition might have been even worse and caused bigger problems. It took both Dr. Schleuning and the oncologist to clean up all the endometriosis and save my ureter. No MD is perfect. She's more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. Before surgery she recommended that I consent to a full hysterectomy (I'm 45). I didn't want to be put into medical menopause so I said no. She fears a return of the endometriosis and possible future surgeries, but she respected my choice. She also wanted me to be treated with Lupron for 6 months after the surgery, but I'm not comfortable with the risk/benefit profile of that drug, so I said no to that as well. She accepted that decision and will monitor me carefully. In my case, her professional hunch and the actions she took were in my best interest and benefit. And while she's aggressive, she partners with her patients to make informed treatment plans. read more