Dr. John Ira Hochman, MD

This man was absolutely terrible to me. I just moved to la 3 months ago and I went in to get medication prescribed that I had been taking with much success for over a year. He made quick judgements after talking to me for about 30 seconds. Saying I was disorganized and seemed distracted when he had just got done typing all my info onto the computer for the first 10 minutes of the session. And ya, duh, I haven't been on my medication for over a month in a half, so Of course I'd be that way. He then continued to judge and probe me about all aspects of my lifestyle until finally telling me I'm a drug addict and that I need to go to rehab. Which I am not. But point is even if I was, is that really the way to go about it? Not at least try and help someone out by giving them the 3 medications they take daily so they can balance themselves back out again? Anyways, it's obvious he's very black and white, extremely uptight, old school and set in his ways. It was at this point I had heard enough… and walked out. I'd rather take my business to someone I can be open and honest with but doesn't judge me so harshly and tell me what I need to do with my life just to get medications regularly perscribed to me. That work! Great!

Horrible horrible experience.

I can't stress enough what a nightmare this man is. I've never felt so bad after seeing a doctor in my entire life. In fact, this is the first review i've ever written online. I saw him once and this is what he managed to do: mocked my career goals and assumed i was depressed only as a result of not being where I want to be in life, refused to prescribe me medication for my depression because I recently smoked pot and overall behaved like a judgmental jerk.

He might be the worst doctor I've ever seen or heard of, exceot maybe for Michael Jackson's doctor. Maybe at one time in his career, he was compassionate, responsible, and effective, but he should certainly do his patients a favor and retire. Not only is he rude and cold, but his practices are reckless and frankly, I can't believe he still has a license. During my intial consultation for depression, he had me fill out a questionnaire and put me on ADD meds and prescribed nothing for my depression. My depression grew worse and was later hospitalized. While I was hospitalized he was unable to be reached and after being discharged I made an appointment for after-care. During our ten minute meeting, he told me that I just needed to stay hospitalized which was interesting considering, he was never available to consult with my doctors at the hospital, never reviewed my charts,never went over any of the discharge paperwork I brought to him. He said he couldn't help me and I was left with no… referral, no follow-up care, but he made sure to charge the $300 for the visit. Luckily, my insurance immediately referred me to another fantastic doctor who's prognosis was completely different, go figure. Come to find out that ADD meds can actually make depression far worse, especially when you aren't treating the depression at all. I consider it a blessing that Dr. Hochman "couldn't help" me because God only knows what would have happened had I continued his treatment. I am healthy and happy now, no thanks to Dr. Hochman. I'm pretty sure its called the hippocratic oath, not the hippocritic oath. It's sad when someone continues to work in the medical field when they clearly are a danger to their patients and just dont care.

terribly unprofessional doctor. during session made no eye contact except with watch, has a dirty disorganized office. office assistant was unable to locate my files and needed to contact me a week later for my assistance at which point i attempted to make another appointment to see the doctor. after giving me a time to come in the doctor called, seeming to not know we had an appointment or who i was (!) then promptly hung up on me. the only reason i attempted to make a second appointment was out of immediate concern with a medication that had become an emergency situation. when i redialed him he told that he couldn't help me, provided no reference and told me he had emergencies of his own. atrocious and dangerous misconduct.

I went in and he had me fill out a one page questionnaire, spent 5 minutes with me and diagnosed me with ADD. Did not ask me any personal history and told me I should get on medication for ADD. When I told him I took medication for blood pressure and did not like the idea of that he dismissed my concern. He then proceeded to charge me $300 plus for a consultation. He may be old and experienced but I would NEVER recommend this guy. Horrible bedside manner. Surprise Surprise his "specialty" is ADD. Very reckless in his regard

Dr. Hochman took the time to learn about my background as far as family, friends, where I grew up and so forth and did follow up with it everytime. However, he did not tell me about the major withdrawal symptoms of Paxil when I told him I was going to stop taking it. I had to realize it on my own and learn about it on the net. He also never returned my call when I left him a message regarding my horrible withdrawal symptoms. This was not the first time that he didn't return my calls either. I usually had to call him about 3 times, and his answer was sorry i was busy. Very rude, as well. Always hung up before I was finished talking. Very very disappointing.