***please note: I am re-posting this review because Yelp's filter unfairly hid my review,…read moreapparently thinking that it was bogus. I can assure you I am not related to the doctor, he's not my friend, and I have nothing to do with his business! I put a lot of time and thought into this review, and I only did it to tell the truth.***
I could not disagree more with the firsrt reviewer. I think Dr. Rathbun is outstanding.
Dr. Rathbun has been my family's physician for half a decade now, and I have nothing but good things to say.
Dr. Rathbun has a quiet and gentle manner that puts children (and nervous adults) at ease. He is never pompous, abrupt, or condescending, which are traits one unfortunately sees sometimes in doctors who graduate from the best medical schools (Dr. R went to UCSD). Instead, he is patient, courteous, and calm, and appears genuinely concerned about his patients' well-being. In my experience, he approaches the patient's concerns with the seriousness appropriate to the occasion, but is never without a genuine smile and a bit of humor to lighten the mood.
The first reviewer said that Dr. Rathbun rashly blurted out to her mother that she "may have cancer when there was nothing to indicate this." I mean no disrespect to that reviewer, but I find that very hard to believe; it just doesn't square at all with my experience.
Here's an example: in infancy, my daughter experienced a series of unexplained ilnesses and multiple bouts of pneumonia. People started throwing around the "C" word, so when I approached Dr. Rathbun about an underlying cause, I was really scared. (Dr. Rathbun had already suggested we consider a more comprehensive approach to find out what was going on.) Dr. Rathbun was not alarmist at all. He calmly listened to my concerns, reviewed my daughter's medical history, then helped me formulate a plan for invesitgation and eventual diagnosis.
Happily, it turned out she does not have cancer, but a condition that more or less resolves itself by adulthood and can be managed in the meantime with proper prevention. Throughout the diagnostic process, Dr. Rathbun was always available with a calm, practical, and reassuring response to the changing information.
Here's another: a while ago, I began experiencing pressure and pain that started to interfere with my ability to run and carry the kids. Being a lifelong runner and a mother, I was worried. Of course when I finally went to see Dr. Rathbun, I was worried about the big C. As always, Dr. Rathbun calmly and patiently listened to my symptoms, asked pertinent questions, conducted a thorough exam, and then devised a plan of testing and diagnosis, starting with the simplest and most obvious and working up from there. Never once did he say, "Oh, my God, I think you have cancer!" or anything so ridiculous. He must have read that fear on my face, though, because at the close of the visit, he said with a smile, "And no, I don't think it's cancer. Nothing in your symptoms or your exam suggests that."
Finally, even my husband, who HATES going to the doctor and avoids it until a body part is falling off, likes Dr. Rathbun. He was a little leery before his first visit; he said, "Isn't he a baby doctor?" But after Dr. Rathbun helped resolve a long-standing elbow problem that had plagued him for months and interfered with his push-ups, he agreed that Dr. Rathbun is pretty great.
In short, in my opinion Dr. Rathbun is an excellent pediatrician and family practitioner, and I would highly recommend him.
