Dr. Joan Walls Barkin, MD

Both of our children have been with Dr Barkin for several years. She is bad but bearable when the kids are healthy, but plain dangerous when kids are sick. Dr Barkin is very opinionated and cares more about her opinions than her patients. She has absolutely no respect for parents, and lectures down to us at each visit. She is very rough with the children. She is a horrible diagnostician -- Claritin is her answer to any and all issues. At the last visit we had a physical fight with Dr Barkin after she ignored our very specific request not to pull back our son's foreskin. We will be leaving Dr Barkin's practice immediately.

Dr. Barkin has taken excellent care of our daughter for 17 years! She always has time to see us and responds quickly to any of our concerns.

Dr. Barkin is rough with the kids, and condescending to parents. She is also very opinionated,and freely shares her often uninformed opinions on every topic (why is a pediatrician lecturing her patients on politics?) If you disagree on any point, she will chastise you as ignorant and tell you that because she knows "Dr So-and So" at Harvard (they're always at Harvard)--she knows the truth. She is perhaps the worst diagnostician I have ever encountered. When my son broke his leg, she had us in the hospital testing him for leukemia and she allowed my son's Lyme Disease to go untreated for almost 6 weeks when she refused to test him for it despite the trademark bull's-eye rash. When she did finally agree to test him--she tested him for everything else under the sun and our bill from Quest Diagnostics (not covered by insurance) was over $600.I wish I had read some of these reviews before--I have spent too long blaming myself for a poor relationship--when it's clear MANY other parents have… had similarly unhappy experiences with this doctor, as well.

Dr. Barkin is an outstanding physician. I have had 4 children and used her with the youngest. Wish I knew her and used her for all my children.We thinks she's great!!

I highly recommend Dr. Barkin. She has been our doctor for 2 years now. I have one child with asthma and one with GERD, and she has been wonderful in treating them. She genuinely loves children and loves the science behind medicine. She spends as much time with you as you need to talk about your children, and she has actually called me after several visits to see how the kids were doing (when was the last time a doctor actually called later to see how you were doing??). She is eccentric and talkative, very intelligence, keeps up to date with current pediatric literature and helps parents understand exactly why she is doing what she is doing. I trust her judgement implicitly, and I have recommended several of my friends and neighbors to her. My only minor complaint is that I have had to wait quite a while to see her on several visits, but she is worth the wait. My older child can hardly wait to go see "Dr. B".

My son, since he was three days old, has been seeing Dr. Barkin. She is everything the reviews has said, intelligent, compassionate, up on current medical knowledge. My son has always felt comfortable in her office, I have never had a problem getting him to the doctor. As a teenager, he respects her and does as she asks. She talks to the child, asking questions all the time. I appreciate that, after all, he is the patient.She is a true children's advocate, caring about the needs, education, laws, and overall well-being. I recommend her highly and without any reservation to anyone needing a pediatrician.

Thank goodness another doctor friend of ours recommended Joan Barkin, MD, who at the time was in the same building on Executive Blvd. She is now across from White Flint in the same parking lot as Chili's (with super easy parking right in front of her door).In my experience, Dr. Barkin is THE most wonderful, caring, brilliant physician with amazing connections and resources if you ever need an outside referral or input (e.g., NIH, Children's for any special needs). Her answering machine after hours never says, "Only call if this is really important" -- it's always the same way she is in person: "If you need anything, call me on my cell phone."Her own kids - grown now - are exceptional and went MIT and Stanford, but you'd never even know that or about her own amazing credentials and training because she is so down to earth and so focused on you. You will never feel like a number. Always extremely cared about. And you'll always know that her insights are based on the very best medical and… continuing medical education and training - she reads all of the journals and meets with other pediatricians and specialists regularly to discuss both developmental pediatric and teen issues, and public health needs.I have two kids: one is almost five and the other is two and a half. I don't know what I would have done without Dr. B when I was pregnant as she guided me through some complications, and postpartum - which hit me hard. The advice she has on caring for my kids (general parenting issues) is always awesome. If you like PEP (Parenting Encouragement Program) you will also adore Dr. B. I come from a family of physicians -- and Dr. Barkin really is a doctors' doctor; old school. Much attention and thought even after your appointment about your kids and tips that may help. She's great for regular check ups with no problems, and for complications and special needs, I've sent many friends to her and everyone is thankful. She is a gem and a very rare find, anywhere in the country. I've even sent friends who have kids with special needs including osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) and another with RSV and another with Spina Bifida. Dr. Barkin knows a lot about all of these issues, and after having tried other doctors on their own first before we talked about pediatricians, my friends were so grateful to have found her.

Our sons have been patients of Dr. Barkin for fourteen years. We have been guided by her through some very tough and trying times and we have trusted her judgment all of this way. She is a dedicated, caring physician and remains concerned for our sons well being, always looking out for her patients best interests.Dr. Barkin spends helpful and comforting time with our sons and with us, never making us feel foolish about our concerns nor that any of our questions are stupid. We consider her to be a wonderful doctor, as well as a friend to our family. She is very communicative and responsive. Her answers to our questions are very direct and, therefore, very clear. We know that her heart is in the right place and her focus is on our well being as a family.

Dr. Barkin is a fantastic pediatrician. She truly takes an interest in the children and their families. She explains everything to parents so that we have a better understanding of the illness.

We just moved to the area and took our toddler for her two year checkup. As soon as Dr. Barkin came in she started lecturing us about how we should parent our child. She didn't introduce herself or ask us any questions. She implied that our daughter's fear and 'lack of cooperation' with the checkup was because of our poor parenting. She started promoting a book she had written. At one point when our daughter was crying, Dr. Barkin said "Just ignore her." She kept ordering me to put my daughter on my lap even though my daughter was afraid and did not want to. I didn't appreciate her telling me how to parent my child when she had just met me and my chlid. We told her we felt uncomfortable with her approach and wanted to discontinue the visit, and she responded that she knew more than us after practicing for 30+ years, and that we seemed to think we knew a lot but really we did not. We asked for our records so that we could leave but instead she started questioning our choices… regarding immunization. It was a very unpleasant visit, and to be honest she seemed hostile, condescending, self-important, completely lacking in respect for our knowledge and expertise as parents, and completely dismissive of our daughter's needs and emotions. It was like we weren't even there.