Dr. Melvin Ira Scheer, MD

KIND. COURTEOUS. PROFESSIONAL. THE BEST!

Dr. Scheer pin-pointed a condition that had eluded 3 other doctors. His is diagnosis and the medication he prescribed did the trick within 5 weeks. Now I am medication free for the first time in almost 4 years. He is a kind and very knowledgable man who never makes you feel he doesn't have time to listen and explain.

I left my first (and last) appointment with Dr. Scheer in total shock. I had come after my general practitioner said she suspected a particular condition. I had all the classic symptoms and my blood results had all but confirmed it. But within the first 30 seconds of my visit (and I'm not exaggerating here), he confidently proclaimed that it was impossible for me to have contracted it--though he admitted that he hadn't yet looked at the blood results. They had been sent over but the staff couldn't find them, and he didn't seem very interested in them anyway. He also acted as if my regular doctor was a complete moron, despite the fact that they're one of the highest rated in LA. What made him so sure? You can't get it in Los Angeles, he said (which completely contradicts what the CDC has to say). However, he never even asked me if I'd recently traveled or anything. And, in fact, when I asked him where one COULD get it, he named a city just about an hour away which I travel to several… times a year. When I told him about some of my classic--and frightening--symptoms, he suggested it was stress. Worst of all, he refused to extend the medication I'm on which is VITAL if, as the tests suggest, I do have this disease. Believe me, I'd love to find out that all this was a big mistake and that I'm as healthy as a horse. But not like that. Test results and previous diagnoses aside, there is simply NO way a doctor could draw such a conclusion after such a short period of time, without any facts, and without ever having looked at the test results for God's sake. PLEASE get a second opinion if you've seen this doctor. The man is not objective. I don't know what he is. I've never seen anything like it.

Excellent, personable.

Yes, I read the reviews on this site but I was desperate to see a doctor right away. I have some sort of parasite contracted while in the jungle.He was a complete waste of time and for every symptom I explained he had a derogatory comment. Completely uninterested in my health concerns- he was just going through the motions. Avoid at all costs.

It is rare that I would take the time to comment on services of any sort, let alone from a physician, however Dr. Scheer's patronizing attitude, his arrogance and his mediocre microscopy skills combined to compel me to urge others to make an alternate choice.I came to see Dr Scheer about a parasitic infection that I believed I had. I had brought with me a sample of the suspected parasite which he examined under a microscope and subsequently told me that there was nothing there.I returned about a month later still convinced that I had some sort of parasite and was given several sample kits that were sent out to Turner Labs for analysis.The lab reports came back negative and I suffered with whatever was ailing me for an additional three months during which time I began to notice that the problem appeared to have spread to my sinuses.Again I brought in samples and again Dr Scheer examined them under microscope and once again told me that there was nothing there. "Protienaceous gook"… was what he called whatever it was he looked at under the microscope.This time I was extremely surprised to be told once again that there was nothing there. Moreover the way in which Dr Scheer spoke to me was obviously patronizing and more than a little bit arrogant. It felt as if the Dr was annoyed with me for wasting his time.So obvious was his disdain for me that I actually asked him if he thought I was imagining what was wrong with me. He suggested that I might wish to speak with a psycho-therapist!His attitude at this point could only be described as condescending and I actually asked him if he thought I was unintelligent. He replied that he had no way of knowing.Let me also add that in the three visits that I had, including the third one where I complained of a problem that was effecting my sinuses, he never did more than the cursory step of listening to my chest, he never examined nor swabbed my nasal cavity nor did he palpitate my abdominal region in spite of my continuing complaint of some sort of intestinal parasite.I left his office following this third visit feeling humiliated, angry and confused. I went to this physician seeking help for something that was obviously wrong and was told to seek psychiatric care!Here's the good part. As a result of this visit I went out and purchased a high quality professional microscope with attached digital camera. ( I should mention that I have a degree in biochemistry and had a heavy concentration of biology during my scholastic years) While my skills were a bit rusty, the high quality equipment is so much better than what I had used two decades ago that within half an hour I was able to obtain absolutely clear images of what is an obvious helminth (also known as a flatworm - there are many different varieties of helminth and I have sent the slides and images to UCLA's parasitology lab for further analysis).So, at the end of the day, after three visits over six months and having endured the humiliation of being told that I was imagining my illness and that I should seek psychiatric care, it turns out that Dr. Scheer's skills and not my perception of my own health were the problem. I have no explanation for Turner Labs failure to identify my problem and can only suspect that like many medical laboratories they blow it from time to time, frequently because these labs have terrible specimen control and thus often mix up samples among the large numbers of patients whom they test.As you can imagine I feel vindicated at being right, but angry just the same. A patient should never have to resort to buying a microscope in order to get an accurate diagnosis (and certainly most people aren't lucky enough to have the skills to take this step even if they wished to).I would like it if Dr Scheer would issue a written apology for the way in which he treated me, particularly for his suggestion that I was imagining my ailment. I don't see doctors frequently. In fact Dr. Scheer is only the third of fourth doctor I have seen in the past decade so I don't know if this is how many doctors now treat their patients but if it is, the medical profession is in desperate need of an overhaul as people are not well served by arrogant and condescending physicians who happen to think they know everything when that is so very obviously not the case.