Dr. Michael Yuri Torchinsky, MD

In early 2012, I reviewed Dr. Torchinsky, whom my child was seeing for a growth disorder. Since then, the office staff have improved, the building has been freshened up, but our relationship with Dr. T deteriorated. He decided to arbitrarily limit my son's growth, instead of continuing on an optimal treatment plan. He became ever more evasive and vague when I would ask questions. He absolutely refused to post lab results on the clinic's new multi-million dollar electronic medical records portal. By the next summer, I had had enough of the poor communication and under-treatment of my son's condition. I requested a transfer to the newest endocrinologist in the practice, with whom we have been very pleased. I still believe that Dr. T was our best choice in 2009. He isn't a bad doctor, and does genuinely seem to like working with children. If you are the sort of parent who never questions a doctor, who does no research into your child's medical condition, and who doesn't want to be… bothered with the numerical results of lab work, you'll like Dr. T just fine.

After reading some of the reviews on here I had mixed feeling. Let me start off by saying that I was 30 minutes late and my daughter was still seen. The office staff was very friendly and went out of their way to help. We were in the exam room for 5 minutes before the Doctor walked in. Dr. Torchinsky is soft spoken and even though English is not his first language I understood him well. He spent over and hour with my daughter and I. He is very knowledgeable and shows compassion, he seemed truely concerned. I asked him to run a few more blood test and he did. My daughter has only had one appointment with this Doctor but overall I am satisfied! Last thing, maybe he switched offices because the building we were in on stadium drive was not run down. Nice paintings on the walls and ceilings even had a t.v with cartoons for the kids in the main waiting room. Give this Doctor a try.

We've been seeing Dr. T for 2 1/2 years for my son, who has growth hormone deficiency. Dr. T's speech is indeed very hard to understand--especially on the phone, when I can't read his lips--but both his vocabulary and his accent seem to improve from visit to visit.Dr. T took my concerns seriously, did a very thorough job of testing, and we had no problem getting insurance to approve my son's treatment.I wasn't as impressed with how he handled things when my daughter also appeared to be growing poorly, with delayed puberty. Once we ruled out GHD and adrenal problems, he focused entirely on her being mildly overweight, and ignored my concerns with the delayed puberty.Dr. T does seem genuinely interested in the children, and attempts to make small talk with them.The front-office staff is not very good. Even though we come early for our appointments, they never bother to call us up to do paperwork until the scheduled appointment time or later. They sit there and chat with each other quite… a bit instead of working. They will also happily schedule appointments for times when they KNOW Dr. T isn't in the office; i.e., they'll set up an 8 a.m. appointment, even though he doesn't come in until around 9 a.m.The lab techs are very good at drawing blood, very friendly and helpful.Once we get to an exam room, which may take another 15 minutes after paperwork is done, we sit there for anywhere from 15 to 45 more minutes before actually seeing the doctor.The staff will not call you with your child's lab results, nor give them to you over the phone if you call, nor will they mail them without a formal medical-records request; and then they take the maximum time allowed by HIPAA. When I call to request results, Dr. T will eventually call me back, though it may be a few days. He won't always give me exact numbers or reference ranges; he just keeps saying "normal".Batson Specialty Clinic has the only three pediatric endocrinologists in the state. Dr. Torchinsky actually seems to be the best choice of the three for us.

Dr. Torchinsky has been a blessing to my family ever since my now three year old daughter was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Yes we do drive five hours per appointment which is no real joy; but is worth it. He has even contacted us on a Saturday to tell about my daughters hormone level. Yes his english is a bit rough and his volume is a bit low but he can still get his points across and is highly skilled in his profession. He was able to save my daughter. I give him props. He wants what is best for his patients which may seem like criticism at times but understand he is also a parent of a child with diabetes and yes that is his way of giving wisdom. Although I do understand how a overly sensitive mother can feel insulted.

We've been seeing Dr. T for over 2 years now, and it just never gets better. All he talks about is my daughter's weight and eating pizza. He is VERY hard to understand as English is not his first language. He talks to my 13 yr old dtr as if she were 6! She has been diabetic since age 4 and every time we go he treats us like a newly diagnosed diabetic! The nursing staff and office staff ask us EVERY TIME if this is our first visit. Infuriating. NO continuity of care. The nurses are not personable at all. The ONE person who actually sat down and talked with us and related to us was a very nice dietician. I can't remember her name, but she is the younger one (there is an older one, too, and she is terrible).This office needs to learn about PEDIATRIC DIABETES!!!We used to go to a brilliant clinic in TN, but we had to move. I am so frustrated with Dr. Torchinsky and his staff, I end up in tears nearly every time we go. I am trying to get in with UAB in Alabama, hopefully this will… happen soon.ALSO, they can never seem to submit the labs to my insurance correctly...it is a fight every time to get them to file them as Office Visit labs. So simple, yet they make it so hard.JUST AWFUL! Unfortunatley, this area has very little choice in pediatric endocrinologists.

The appointment was at 2and we did not see him until 4:05. Trying to get a 9 year old to understand why we have to sit in a run down room for 2 hours is hard. Then he told her she need to not eat pizza and eat carrots or thing without a lot of calories. She cried all the way home and said she would never go back. It was a horrible experience!