Dr. Lauren Elizabeth Elson, MD

There is one review here that I just can't understand. Are we reviewing the same doctor??? I was referred to Dr. Elsen by a friend after almost a year of painful knees which were sometimes bad enough to require a cane. I had orthopedists from two different practices tell me that I needed to stop walking for exercise. After a thorough intake assessment, she told me that not only could I get back to walking, but I could even go back to jogging if I wished. Sure enough, after 4 months I was pain free and eventually started jogging intervals. I found her to be fully present with me, thorough in her assessment and highly effective in guiding me to a much, much better quality of life.

Dr. Elson has changed my life. I have gone from chronic pain to being almost pain free.

My appointment with Dr. L Elson was a great experience. She spent a great deal of time during my initial exam, diagnosing, explaining, and offering a treatment plan. My future appointments for X-Ray, PT, and follow-up were easy to obtain. Again, NWH provides a great service for their patients. The professional and support staff at the Ambulatory Center are wonderful and the ease of maneuvering through the clinics is seamless. Thank you, Dr. Elson and NW!

This practice is by far the worst medical experience I have ever had. From the onset of my appointments, I found the office staff difficult to deal with, unpleasant and sometimes downright rude. They range from being inept to being outright incompetent. There are too many examples to write about. Just making an appointment or getting a prescription refill can be fraught with difficulty. Calls are not returned at all or returned in an untimely manner. The business model for the practice does not allow the doctors to speak with you unless it is an emergency. This may not be such a problem except the staff mixes up questions and what could take one 2 minute conversation with the doctor instead takes 3-4 phones calls with the medical assistant over a long period of time. This difficulty continually affected my medical care. When I spoke with the doctor about the issue I was told quite firmly that she does not speak to patients unless it is an emergency and that she is already there late at… night doing her paperwork. I also asked her at one point to speak to my pharmacist due to medication problems (they had asked to speak to her). She would not do this either; my medication issues never got resolved with her. The pharmacy also told me one of my prescriptions was written incorrectly. I feel that because of this medical care model, patients needs do not come first. I do not feel that the doctor was completely incompetent but I found out subsequently that her diagnosis of me was incomplete and this clearly affected my treatment. She spoke down to me on several occasions, and had a lack of interest in my care that I found disturbing. I felt she was more concerned about following the administrative procedures of her practice than helping me. This is the first doctor I have ever visited who did not make me feel as if she was trying to help me. This was a feeling I got from all of the staff. I did not feel at all satisfied with the medical care I was receiving and left the practice.I thought at first that mine was possibly an abnormal experience but by chance found two other patients who had similar experiences and difficulties within the practice. I also then read the reviews of another doctor in the practice and found other people who had as many difficulties as I did. This is clearly a long term and continuous problem. I would strongly recommend against seeing this doctor or anyone else in the practice.