Pediatrician in Baltimore

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Aug 03 2009, 10:34 am

amother wrote:

I guess I am in a unique position to comment bec. we started out with Pulcinella but ended up switching to Schwob. you have already gotten valuable feedback from all. we were initially very happy with pulcinella--it's a very well-run, organized, timely office. He is very chilled out and laid back and easy to work with. Medically, he is very competent. At a certain point, however, he became very hard to get in touch with. at the time, he did not have an NP and he was the only medical professional in the office. we had to call multiple times and leave multiple messages to get a call-back. there was never a nurse who could answer a simple question for us. after waiting 2 1/2 weeks and leaving 3 messages to discuss a specialist opinion, I confronted him about the difficulty with communication and he got very defensive. at that point, we decided to move on. consequently, I did hear that he got an NP so perhaps he is better about call backs. B"H, we are thrilled with Dr. Schwob. his office is quite busy, but we never had a problem getting a same day sick visit. I have found him very flexible with regards to treatment. he will typically ask me whether I want antibiotics in a borderline situation. when we met with him initially, I told him that I wanted someone less aggressive and he told us he would work with us. the staff is very efficient. there is always a nurse available to answer questions that don't need to be addressed to him. he always returns phone calls.
of course, anywhere you go, you need to be on top of things and assert your needs to the staff. yes, they have forgotten to follow through on some things, but with a polite reminder phone call, everything gets done. if you have any more specific questions, let me know.
hatzlacha with your decision!

To state what I experience as a current patient of Dr. Pulcinella: I always get called back within the same day.

amother

Mon, Aug 03 2009, 7:10 pm

I agree that Drs. Andorsky, Cardin, Wandeshin and Finklestein are great - for the previously mentioned reasons. We started with Andorsky and then switched to Cardin. Now that our daughter is getting older, she will probably switch to one of the female doctors eventually. It's nice having options. They have many frum families, so they have been good at times when one kid gets sick with strep and I shlep the six others to the appointment to get a throat culture. They've even done a 15 minute strep test on my husband.

The one drawback is that they are relatively far - compared to someone "inside the eruv." Not that you're going to walk there, but driving the 15 minutes to Owings Mills, depending on the traffic is annoying. At times of the day, just having to drive through Pikesville to the beltway can take 15 minutes.

I guess all the parents who drive to TI everyday think it's not so bad. I'm spoiled, I guess:-)

mommalah

Thu, Aug 20 2009, 12:56 am

energy11 wrote:

We use Dr Heiligman and I highly recommend her. Her intelligence and patience are legendary. She is always on target and a pleasure to have nearby, on park heights.
She is not quick to prescribe antibiotics if not truely necessary. She really works with you. Give it a shot!

I'm pretty happy with Dr. Heiligman as well. I'll update my opinion after I speak with her about delayed/ spaced vaccinations... Wink

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Aug 20 2009, 10:14 am

Someone else on this board uses Dr. Heiligman with delayed//no vax -- I think I've heard she can't really guide too much (like most doctors, as in she doesn't have a shitta how to vaccinate, but you take the initiative, unless I'm misremembering), but she's very accommodating.
The one negative this board member mentioned was longer waits in the waiting room, but that is negated by the lack of travel time since she's right here in the frum community. Traveling a half hour to Dr. Tellerman each way, for example, takes more time than a little waiting room wait.

Oh, and for those who use Dr. Brown, what do you think of his nurse-practitioner? I've only heard negative about her, and so far she's lived up to her reputation when she checked on my niece in the hospital (telling the new mother the baby's mouth is too small to nurse and her baby is starving -- mind you, my mother in law is a lactation consultant and sees the baby was doing fine!; that she wouldn't discharge because the baby was a bit yellow when on the scale of bilirubin for that age, it wasn't considered high; etc -- oh, did I mention the baby gained 9 ounces the first week? Smile

) If others are having problems with her, please speak to Dr. Brown about it. There are people more than happy to use him but are afraid to have her.
It could be I'm just hearing one-sided and she was stressed out, etc and normally, she's good. I don't know.

momoswyf

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 8:49 pm

I was surprised that it took so long for someone to mention Dr. Heiligman--my friends who use her LOVE her. There is a whole long article about her in the WWW. She gives her pts a lot of time and she is more natrual then others. I personally use Dr. Schwob. My husband and I are very happy with him. One thing that I think was really amazing was how quickly he came to check my babies after I had them in the hospital--all the nurses said that he was the most on top of things--other docs just defer to the hospital doc. And lastly, it is plus that we live near to him--for all the time we panic on shabbos when my kids are sick!

Tova

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 10:02 pm

momo-

I'm with you. I have friends who use Dr. Heligman and are thrilled with her, and we will join you in the Dr. Schwob fan club! (he used to live near my parents - very convenient for when I had my bechor 2 days before Shavuos, was discharged after tzeis on second night of Y"T - w/ a Rav's guidance - and felt I wanted a ped on hand!).

It is amazing - he shows up at the hospital at all hours, and w/in 12 hours of the birth. I think he came midnight for one kid and six in the morning for the other.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Jan 26 2010, 9:36 am

No info if that is true or not (nor have I heard of Dr. Stein) but it's not unheard of for peds to stop taking new patients every so often because they don't have expandable time to fit in everyone who needs to come in! As some kids grow up and leave or move out or switch, etc it leaves more openings for newcomers, but it logistically makes sense.
There was a period of time my pediatrician wasn't taking new patients, but he is now...