Dr. Joan Grosvenor Calkins, MD

The entire practice is unprofessional. Dr. Calkins and her staff have no respect for family members. They have very limited hours. This is a single practice so if you need an MD, you won’t get one here. It’s time for her to retire. I would not recommend this practice.

I always loved and trusted Dr. Calkins and her staff, but I have been blown away recently while my son has become ill with a sudden mysterious neurological condition. She has fought for us the whole way through, got us to all the right specialists, expedited every appointment and procedure we needed, and continues to check in with us through her amazing nurses Jackie, Chelsey, and Dawn. She is holistic, yet assertive with treatment where it matters, always supported my breastfeeding, and makes you feel like your talking to a maternal figure. I hope she never retires.

Calkins is known by patients and professionals to have temper tantrums and is hard to work with and for.She misdiagnosed my child causing him unnecessary pain and suffering.She acted jealous when we sought another opinion!She didn't relieve my childs pain and she reported us to CPS.Whensocial serv.brought my screaming child to her she took away ALL his meds.!!!

Calkins was my child's doctor for the first 4 years of his life. My child was misdiagnosed by her several times. She had him on meds for allergies, acid reflux, and reactive airway disease. He was as sick as a dog for 2 years, with ear infections and strep throat. She had him on 7 antibiotics in a row at one point. I specifically asked about his tonsils and she said they were fine. Finally, I demanded to see an ENT. She sent us to a hack that put ear tubes in, but also said his tonsils were fine and pushed the acid reflux meds. When that didn't work, we sought a second opinion from the best ENT, who solved all our problems. He told us our son did not have allergies, reflux or RAD and promptly took him off all the meds he was on. He also said that his tonsils were horrible and pitted and needed to be removed. Since his tonsils were removed my son has hardly been sick. I am disgusted when I think about the years he spent on unnecessary meds and in terrible pain. He also has nodules on… his vocal cords to this day because of the damage caused by so many bouts of strep. Needless to say, we promptly switched doctors and are much happier now. To the reviewer who "doesn't get" how anyone could not like Calkins...consider yourself lucky you didn't have an experience like ours.

Dr Calkins is a very thorough and competent Dr. She has been my 2 sons doctor for 22 years now. I have only experienced a doctor who calls them as she sees them, she never sugar coats anything and I like it that way. My sons asthma was severe when he was younger, she has stayed late to see him and when hospitalized she pulled up a chair and spoke to me for a long time . She addresses my sons age appropriate questions and listens to them.If i call with a problem we are always squeezed in .She also gave me advice on my ADHD son that I needed to hear. She does not deserve the negative comments made. I am an advocate for my sons health and demand th e best and that is what I have in Dr Calkins. Staff is great Jackie, Brenda what would we do without you !

Runs too many unnecessary tests for unrelated issues....does not listen to the parents. Youngest had to go to ER due to dehydration despite Dr Calkins saying he was oK, just had a cold. She was intrusive in an unfortunate situation with our youngest and tried to place the blame on my wife and I and tried to vilify us. This was the final straw and we changed doctors. Stay away from her and her staff...incompetent and lack any sort of bed side manners.

It is rather hard to find a pediatric rheumatologist in this area. Dr Calkins does properly give a proper diagnosis. She does not have any bedside manner. She is very often rude with the patient and parent. If a different specialist recommends any treatment about your child's health it is not appreciated and or totally disregarded. This is difficult to deal with if your child has other health issues. Very arrogant. If you can start with a different doctor I would certainly recommend it as she doesn't "play well with others".

My children have been seeing Dr. Calkins for several years now and she's an excellent doctor. As stated by others previously, she's extremely intelligent and thorough; perhaps her intelligence and questioning is misconstrued as "rude" by some, but I wouldn't dream of switching practices. It's not often one encounters a doctor who's as competent and knowledgeable as she is (also, she's never given me the slightest bit of guff over second opinions and specialty referrals). I also appreciate her conservative approach to medicine; she's not one who's quick to jump and write a prescription and she's also more than willing to work with me when it comes to staggering my children's vaccination schedules. Overall, Dr. Calkins gets a glowing endorsement from me, a mother of three. To those who don't like her, I would suggest that's merely a personality clash more than anything else. She's well-respected in the community and extremely adept at what she does. I'm glad she's our family… doctor. As an aside, I've always found the staff friendly and courteous.

Dr. Calkins is probably the smartest doctor we have ever encountered. On our first rheumatology visit, she spent over an hour asking questions and then did an exam. Separate from the reason we were seeing her, she diagnosed a rare pain condition that my daughter's orthopedist had not, and she directed us to immediate treatment. She is extremely thorough with blood work, has the office call immediately if they see an issue, and she has also had the office call to schedule an appointment when she has felt we needed a periodic check. I don't know any doctor that does that! I completely trust Dr. Calkins (and so does my 16 year old, which is hard to do) and would recommend her to anyone. Also, the office staff is courteous, respectful, and helpful at all times.

Joan Calkins is a bad doctor.I had what she thought was a cyst on my spine and instead of sending me to a surgeon, like she should have she scared me out of it by drawing me a picture of my "cyst" and how the surgeon would then "fillet me open" (her words). Well instead she prescribed me massive amounts of antibiotics. Well it turned out that I had a severe reaction to these antibiotics which included my lips peeling off from the inside. When my mom tried calling Joan, the office said to just keeping taking the antibiotics as prescribed. About a week later I then developed a very dangerous and severe case of c-diff, (a bacteria in the colon, which is life threatening which is caused from an overdose of antibiotics). I then had to find a GI doctor on my own because when my mom had called to tell them, they said "doctor says it's time to find a new physician". That was the last I heard from Joan Calkins. Well now 4 years after I stopped going to her, I have colitis, a lasting side effect… from the c-diff, and I went to see the surgeon she said not to go see, it turns out that I never had a cyst on my spine to begin with.