Downtown Women OB/GYN Associates, LLP 568 Broadway, Manhattan, New York 10012

"I'm leaving this practice as it's just too much of a pain getting an appointment. I reached out three times over the last two weeks and I still haven't heard from them, both online and by phone. If they could just send me a message saying their clinic is full that would be one thing, but it's really not okay just to ignore people. I really liked Dr. Whitehead but it's not worth the hassle to see my own damn doctor."

"I’ve been with Downtown Women OB/GYN for over 25 years. Dr Buxbaum is attentive to all of my questions, concerns and has a great bedside manner. I started with her as an OB patient and have continued to go to the practice for my GYN care. I have also received excellent care from the nurse practitioners."

"There were a few things I found unsatisfactory about my overall experience with Dr. Mechlovitz. First, she had me wait a total of 40 minutes before I got to actually see her, and she did not seem at all apologetic or phased by that. Second, she didn’t seem all that knowledgeable when I asked her follow up questions about basic, over-the-counter tests and vitamins that she was instructing me to start taking. Third, her overall demeanor struck me as very fake and making up for genuine confidence and ease in her role. Last and most importantly, she was extremely pushy in trying to have me and my husband come in to get a genetic blood test, and was visibly upset when I told her I wasn’t interested and even tried sending the nurse in to do it after I said no. UPDATE: After my last review, Dr. Mechlovitz stalked my instagram. This is extremely unprofessional and predatory. Feeling really sorry for the medical community right now, who’s reputation she’s being down with this kind of childish behavior."

"I have been a longtime patient of Downtown Women’s for both ob and gynecological care and have always had a good experience with both their doctors and their office, though I did feel that the quality of care had gone downhill in recent years. However - I feel it is very important to other women for me to write this review and explain why I will not be working with Downtown Women’s anymore and why I strongly recommend you also look elsewhere. The incident started after my wife (who, prior to this experience, was also a patient) had an IUD insertion at the office. This was her first experience getting an IUD and when she inquired about the insertion procedure and any possible pain or side effects of this procedure, she was told by the nurse who did the procedure, that there was nothing to worry about and the pain should be mild. She was never told about (what we now know are) the widely documented experiences of women who have reported the insertion to be the most painful thing they’ve ever experienced and akin to childbirth or the option that other offices offer to be put under anesthesia for the procedure. During the insertion she was right away in excruciating pain, which continued throughout the day and into the night. She tried repeatedly to call Downtown Women’s as her pain progressively increased to the point she was concerned of perforation or infection and wasn’t sure if she should go to the hospital. We have a young child and no family nearby or childcare, so making the decision to go to the hospital is a big one. Eventually, after repeated calls to Downtown Womens and no calls back during business hours, we decided to call their after hours line before making the difficult decision to go to the hospital. Right away, the person on the online answering service was rude, curt and strongly dismissive of mine and my wife’s concerns. He acted both genuinely annoyed to be bothered and reproachful with us when the on-call physician could not get through to our cellphones, despite both of us sitting right next to them and waiting for the call. After several tries of the on-call physician attempting to reach us and with both my wife’s distress and the answering service representative’s unprofessional attitude increasing to a fever pitch and desperate to talk to someone and find out what was going on, I used some choice words with the representative that I’m not proud of in order to express my emphatic frustration and severity of the situation. That said, this was after at least four calls of being disregarded, dismissed and frankly, yelled at. When we finally reached the on-call doctor, who I believe was Dr. Buxbaum, she too seemed annoyed by the back and forth and essentially told my wife she was fine and to call the office in the morning if she still had concerns. A few weeks later I received a letter informing me that I was no longer a patient of the practice, based on the words I used with the on-call representative (to be clear I think I called him a d*ck) despite my repeated prior attempts at calm and professionalism with him. I want to punctuate this last point to make clear what I believe are Downtown Women’s values. They would rather prioritize a disrespectful and unprofessional vendor rather than a patient who was repeatedly trying to advocate for her loved one in the face of their extreme pain and fear, they claim a patient-first mindset while taking no accountability for not providing informed explanations of the risks of procedures, their persistent inaction, their lack of empathy and their systemically poor communication process. In a country where maternal mortality rates rose 40% in the last two years alone, where 84% of pregnancy-related deaths have been proven to be preventable and where medical gaslighting is at its worst among female patients, it is clear that women can and should seek only the most ethical, professional and - most of all - safe medical facility for their OB and gynecological care and this office is decidedly NOT it."

"Disappointed that when booking this appointment through Zocdoc, it confirmed that this doctor took my insurance. At no point during the check in for my appointment (or any point during or after) did the front desk staff alert me that they in fact, did not take my insurance. I came to this doctor because my normal ob-gyn no longer took my insurance. Got a lovely $350 bill."