I rarely leave negative reviews, but after three years with this pediatric office, I feel other…read moreparents deserve to know about our experience.
We brought our son to this practice when he was just 2 days old. We trusted them with his health from the very beginning and stayed for three years despite many concerns because changing a pediatrician is not easy.
The biggest problem is not even the medical care--it's the office management. The owner, Irina, is consistently rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. She speaks to parents in a way that feels disrespectful and intimidating, often using guilt and pressure instead of empathy. Every time we had a concern or simply asked a question, we were met with hostility rather than understanding.
Our appointments were also incredibly frustrating. In three years, I cannot remember a single visit where we waited less than an hour. Waiting 60-90 minutes was the norm. We were always placed in a small exam room with no windows and told to wait. I repeatedly asked whether we could take our young child outside to the nearby playground or café and simply receive a phone call when the doctor was ready. The answer was always no--"just wait." After sitting in a tiny room for over an hour, any toddler becomes exhausted, hungry, and upset, making the examination much more difficult than it needed to be.
Another serious concern was infection control. Although the office has separate entrances for sick and well visits, both entrances lead into the same hallway, which defeats much of the purpose.
When our son was only six weeks old, he became seriously ill with COVID shortly after a visit. We cannot prove where he was exposed, but we strongly suspected the exposure happened at this office because our family had been completely isolated for weeks beforehand. It was a terrifying experience, and our baby was hospitalized.
Unfortunately, this wasn't an isolated concern. Over the course of three years, it became a pattern that after routine well-child checkups, our family often became sick within a few days. Most recently, after our son's well visit on June 22, both my child and I developed very high fevers within three days and ended up in the emergency room. While we understand that illnesses can happen anywhere, these repeated experiences made us increasingly concerned about the office's cleaning and disinfection practices.
The office itself often appeared unclean. I frequently noticed hair left on the examination table, and during all the years we were patients there, I never once saw cleaning staff. This only added to our concerns about hygiene.
Another issue is staffing. The office no longer has a nurse, so procedures such as injections are performed by the office owner herself. What made this especially uncomfortable was that she openly complained about having to do them and repeatedly expressed how much she disliked giving shots. As a parent, that is not something you want to hear before your child receives an injection.
Communication was consistently poor. If we politely asked why we had already been waiting for over an hour or when the doctor might be available, the response was often along the lines of, "There are many patients like you, and there's only one of us." At no point did we ever hear something as simple as, "I'm sorry for the delay."
The final straw came when we raised our concerns about the office's cleanliness and repeated illnesses after visits. Instead of addressing our concerns professionally, Irina told us to find another pediatrician and refused to continue seeing our child. After being loyal patients for three years, simply expressing concerns resulted in our family being dismissed from the practice.
We paid the office's annual membership fee, paid our copay at every visit, and our insurance paid substantially more for each appointment. Yet every interaction with the front office left us feeling disrespected rather than valued.
Parents deserve compassion, professionalism, and respect--especially when they are worried about their children's health. Sadly, that was never our experience here.
I sincerely hope this office improves its communication, cleanliness, and respect for families. Until then, I cannot recommend this practice.
