GI Care for Kids 833 Campbell Hill Street Northwest, Marietta, GA 30060

"If I could give negative stars I would. Our experience with these people have been unbelievable! My daughter has been seeing Dr. Dinesh Patel when she was only a couple of months old. She is now a little over 2 years old, and she still can not poop without having to take medicine every single day. When she passes stool, she cries and screams in pain. As her mother, it's been very difficult to watch her go through this and not be able to help her in any way. He was friendly until our appointment today. In the past, he always explained that there are other children that he sees that struggle much more then she does. He would say that she's gaining weight, and seems to be healthy. Before it was always, "She's too young to run test". I always stood by what he said and did everything he told me to do. NOTHING changed! l'm a very concerned parent so I would always ask, "why can't she poop?" "Will she have to take medicine for the rest of her life" He sent us in to see the Motility Expert in Atlanta, Dr. Jose Garza. He told us to give her half of a piece chocolate exlax. We couldn't trick her into eating it. It hit her tounge and she would spit it out. I called the nurse and told her this. She said, 'He really wants her to eat the chocolate." So my fiancé and I decided to give her time. Dr. Dinesh Patel would always tell us, "it takes time". When turned 2, we decided to take her back. Which was today. As soon as Dr. Dinesh Patel walked into the room, I could tell the visit wasn't going to be a good one. He didn't greet us like he normally does. He was very rude in his tone when speaking to me. Calmly I asked him why he was being rude. He got a tad bit louder, speaking with his hands saying. "You're rude. Yes. You are a rude person." When I asked how I was rude he explained, "This is your 5th visit with me and you always ask the same questions, clearly you don't get what I am saying. You're not listening. You are rude." So to myself I'm thinking, wow. I'm a rude person because I'm genuinely concerned about my daughter and ask these questions but ALWAYS leave with NO answers. Maybe that's why the same questions were repeating in our conversation. I felt belittled and disrespected. I told him he clearly doesn't have any children, or any children with health issues. That it shouldn't hurt my daughter to poop. He always wanted to talk about the children who were in much worse condition, but I was speaking for my daughter not those other children. (I'm sorry for the children that go through anything painful, it's truly unfair) He insisted that I calmed down because at this point my voice was raised and I was crying out of frustration. I said I was done, grabbed my things along with my daughter and gave him a few choices of words that Google isn't allowing me to post. & we left. I understand other children go through much worse then my daughter. My cousin had open heart surgery at 2 days old. But he should care about the well being of ALL his patients. As her GI specialist, he should wonder why she still can't poop on her on. He stated, "We had to train the colon." But why? & after 2 years of medication and it still isn't trained? Pooping is suppose to be natural/normal! These doctors see a paycheck, not the stress on the parents due to lack of knowledge or the pain these children endure, no matter how big or small the problem may be. I do NOT recommend Dr. Dinesh Patel to any parent wanting answers!"

"Incredibly overrated. However, I’m sure it depends on the doctor you see. I cannot account for the behavior and skill behind any of this locations doctors except for Tatyana Hofmekler. My child has had constipation issues since infancy and has not progressed with any primary care suggestion/prescription of medication and/or dietary structure. This indeed was stated to the above doctor but not taken into account. After explaining a medication DOES NOT WORK, common sense suggests…. It DOES NOT WORK. However in this physicians “plan”, it does. Also mentioning her diet should consist of more vegetables and fruits… I will add here that she didn’t even pursue the question of what my child ate, she assumed. Strike two, not listening to someone who has raised this child daily for 3 and a half years as well as spilling words into our mouth that never spilled out. To be quite honest, my child more than likely eats more fruits and veggies than most adults. Quite a disappointment as we have waited for this appointment for months and answers for years. We will push forward in obtaining the knowledge and correct medical staff that cares for our child. Third strike came when I mentioned a magnesium deficiency to which seemed to irritate her and undermine her intelligence which wasn’t our goal. Our goal is to help our child, nothing more. In conclusion, consider another doctor. I’m not saying a different practice as previously stated above because I can only account for the doctor we saw. But please, fight for answers, not just a pass off because you don’t have a medical degree and what they say goes."

"HORRIFIC EXPERIENCE- DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR BABIES! ONLY IN IT FOR THE $$$ We were on the way and got a call to mention we could come in earlier than 1:00. We live an hour away so I took off of work to make sure we could leave extra early for any mishaps. The GPS had took us to the wrong address (Apple Maps did not recognize the “D” in the address) so we had to correct it and would only be there about 5 to 10 minutes early. I informed her we would come in as soon as we arrived but would only be a tad bit early. There was awful traffic so I called immediately to notify them we would be 15 minutes or less late to the appointment. I was told to hold on “assuming it was to notify the dr.” I was then told “so the provider does not do grace periods so you have to reschedule.” I asked if she could please notify the dr that we had driven a long way and asked that they please be understanding and we were getting there as quickly as possible. I was then told “I will notate the account and you can come if you want to but there’s a strong possibility the dr may not see you.” I said “okay, we have come a really long way and my baby really needs to be seen so we will still come.” Three minutes later, we received another call- the secretary said “ hey, I was calling to tell you the dr. said they can’t see you because they have something to do, so do you want to reschedule?” ABSOLUTELY NOT! You can call and ask us to come early, so obviously there is some kind of grace period, but if something out of our control happens and we are late- you can’t be understanding? You are a pediatric dr….. Clearly in it solely for the $$$ and could care less about your little babies desperately needing to be seen. (This appointment was sent in as an URGENT apt from primary care physician) If there is something you “have to do”- take the day off… don’t be heartless to patients!"

"We had a great first experience at GI Care for Kids. They were prepared for us when we arrived and took us directly back to a room. Our wait for the doctor was brief. Dr. Patel was excellent. He took an interest in my son and made him feel comfortable. Dr. Patel took time to educate us on the situation and clearly communicated the protocol we were to follow. I highly recommend Dr. Patel!"

"Would recommend more than over five stars! Dr. Patel saw my baby and did an excellent examination and in depth health analysis of what was going on with her. He had mentioned he has been or practicing medicine for quite some time With children and it shows not only in his knowledge but with his care for children as patients as well."