Dr. Laura Shaw Nowacki, MD

We love Dr. Nowacki. Our now 6yo daughter has seen her many times for ear infections and an assortment of other colds/flus/illnesses she's picked up from being in daycare/school. She and her Nurse Practitioners have always been informative, helpful and compassionate. They take the time to answer questions and are responsive to our needs. Can recommend her and her team wholeheartedly.

years using this practice and it is getting progressively worse with Laura nowacki. She seems to almost enjoy berating parents in front of their children. Sadly we will have to find another doctor.

I feel a little vexed writing this review given that doctor Nowacki appears, on the surface, to be an upstanding member of the Newtown community. However! I feel that her professional conduct on a recent visit was completely unprofessional, unethical and should be noted. Doctor Nowacki has been our pediatrician for several years but my wife and I have slowly become concerned of our youngest daughters wellness. Our daughter has repeatedly visited the doctors office for several months with concerns about her stomach and a lingering cough for which the symptoms have not abated. Repeatedly we've been told the cough is a virus and nothing can be done. We became so concerned about her stomach issues that we took her to a gastroenterologist. He subsequently diagnosed her with severe fecal impaction and chronic constipation putting her on a course of strong laxatives. This was after Dr. Nowacki determined no further course of action. For months we've had repeated visits to Dr. Nowacki's… office about these issues and every time turned away with somewhat condescending reason which, until lately, we've accepted given her credentials. But after weeks of our daughter clearly having stomach issues and, now, subsequent justification from a gastroenterologist, it has reaffirmed our believe in a somewhat unapathetic and at times, lackadaisical approach to pediatrics. However; the primary reason for my compliant is a recent visit to Dr. Nowacki's practice as a result of the sudden onset of a pronounced rash developing on our daughters abdomen and legs. We were concerned it may have been an allergic reaction to the medicine the gastroenterologist prescribed. During examination Dr. Nowacki appeared agitated that we'd questioned her medical opinion by taking her to see a specialist. My wife began to ask what may be the cause of the rash and made inquiries about further examination for the cough that doesn't seem to have resolved itself. We're just looking for answers. The entire situation then rapidly escalated into a very! heated discussion, at one point bringing my wife to the verge of tears, upsetting and distressing our two children. I can only imagine that everyone in the practice heard the event. Regardless of any medical opinions we feel Dr. Nowacki's conduct was extremely unprofessional. There was a complete lack of apathy, unrestrained medical condescension and an aggressively critical attitude bringing our children to tears. As a medical professional there should be no excuse! for this kind of behavior. I really cannot commend her FAAP membership.

Before I start saying anything negative about Dr. Nowacki I want to first say that out of the 3 pediatricians my wife and I visited we liked this office the best. If you are planning on following the CDC vaccine schedule then this will be a great doctor for you and your family. They had a great sick and healthy side (one main entrance though) and everyone was very nice. Dr. Nowacki was funny and kind and I think she is probably a great doctor which is why this isn't a 1 star review. The reason I only am giving 3 stars is because I feel lied to. Stick with me for a second as the story will take four paragraphs of your time. My wife and I are pro vaccine but cautious of needing all of them. It is hard to go into detail about vaccines here but to cut to the chase we did not want our child to have the Hepatitis B vaccine since no one in our family has it, and we wanted more information about the rotavirus since we didn't know if the side effects were worth it. Everything else we are on… board getting. Dr. Nowacki is very pro vaccine so I called her again once we decided we wanted to go here and made sure that she was okay with our not getting the Hep B vaccine and talk to us more about the rotavirus. She said while she really would rather we get all the vaccines, that we chose the two vaccines she is okay with her patients not getting if we insisted. I said that sounded great and asked if we needed to send in any paperwork saying we wanted to see her once our child is born. She said nope just enjoy the next few weeks and call once our baby arrives (she is a very sweet woman). And now we get lied to... the next day we get a call from one of the admin ladies in the office named Patti who left us a voice mail telling us that the office is no longer accepting new patients and that they are sorry to have to decline our interest in becoming a patient. Hmm... interesting timing I thought. Before calling to talk to them about what happened I had a friend make a call to ask if they were accepting new patients --- they said yes they were and would love to make an appointment with them. Bummer. I then called the office and asked why after talking to and getting approval from Dr. Nowacki that we were not allowed to use their practice. They said that they are full and acceptance is on a case by case basis. I said that Dr. Nowacki accepted us and I had a hard time understanding why an administrative woman could override a conversation I had with the doctor. They just repeated that acceptance is on a case by case basis. I finally asked, is it because we don't want the Hep B shot? She said that acceptance was on a case by case basis. Okay then... I must say again that the whole office is very nice. It isn't a mean woman who is calling us saying we are evil or anything like that. I'm just really frustrated and disappointed that they didn't tell me the truth as to why we couldn't be patients there and I'm extremely puzzled how the doctor isn't the one who makes the decisions (or maybe she is and when she got off the phone she told them to call us back and say no... not sure). At the end of the day, I don't think I could go here even if they approved our not getting the hep B shot because shouldn't you be able to fully trust your doctor? What if this isn't the only thing we get lied to about once our child is in their care? Scary stuff. So, sorry for the long review here but I hope it is helpful for anyone considering a pediatrician. Again, if you are planning on getting every shot on the CDC schedule, this is probably a great doctor for you to go to (minus the possible huge black eye if lies like what were told to me are common). If you don't plan on following the CDC schedule then look elsewhere.

Dr. Nowacki is an incredibly caring, warm and loving doctor. She always goes above and beyond, spends lots of extra time and encourages questions. Her office staff is equally as pleasant. It is always easy to get an appointment, except for check ups because she is the best doctor in town so there is a wait! But its well worth it! She is the best!

very caring

Somewhat short... Discourteous

questionable competency, very poor bedside manner.