I felt very judged. I am a health care professional and wanted to try a newer med - and he was opposed to it. He told me that my problem was "psychological"- very demeaning. I am changing doctors.

Submitted Dec. 30, 2013

I went into the office with stomach pains that even a 4-year old could have diagnosed as appendicitis. However, Dr. Alpern took blood work and insisted it was just colitis pains. Having had Ulcerative colitis for 3 years now, I knew that the pains were sharper and different. I went home that night and the pains got so bad, I took a trip to the ER. They diagnosed me right away with appendicitis and had it removed the next morning. To me, when a doctor that has been practicing for over 20 years has trouble diagnosing something as simple as appendicitis, he is definitely not worth seeing. Another account: I went in for a routine tetanus shot. When I finally saw him, he told me that he couldn't give me a tetanus shot because his staff had gone home for the day. How is it that Dr. Aplern is unable to stick a needle in my arm without the assistance of his staff. Unbelievably imcopetent. He then sent me home because he didn't know how to give a shot. Please don't go see him!!!

Submitted Aug. 28, 2012

Dr. Alpern was good enough, except in one major area, which I'll get too. He was efficient with the exam, and asked good clarifying questions that showed he was listening to what I was saying about my history. The major flaw? His first words to me when he walked in were that I needed to lose weight, AFTER the nurse had made a note to tell him I'm here for general physical, and an eating disorder. Yes, thank you, I know I'm overweight. But before establishing what the disorder was, he told me to lose weight. I'm anorexic, and had been eating less than 1200 calories a day. I'm now down to less than 600 because it so crushed me to have a person of authority tell me this. To cap it all, he told me, upon hearing about my anorexia, that at least I'd lose weight this way. If you're thin, or have secure belief in HAES and your body image, he's fine. Don't go otherwise.

Submitted Dec. 26, 2011