Dr. Russ Joseph Tonkovic, MD

After almost 2 years of trying to find out what causes the dizzy spells finally got a reply. A very busy office with a friendly atmosphere...Dr. Tonkovic was efficient and confidence-inspiring. Brynn, the nurse practitioner was so kind to take me downstairs when I had an cute attack of the dizzy spells.

Dr. Tonkovic is thoughtful, answers ALL of my questions, explains everything that I am dealing with and is concerned for all of my welfare. There are no dumb questions. He always answers my calls and addresses my concerns -- on the phone or in person. I have never waited more that one or two minutes to be taken into the examining room and I never wait more than 5 minutes to see the doctor.

I saw Dr. Tonkovic for a heart murmur that got picked up by another doctor. Turns out it is a pretty benign murmur, but I had no way of knowing that by the automated email I got with a cryptic diagnosis that I don't think any non-doctor should attempt to interpret on their own. So I made a follow-up appointment in which the doctor said he welcomed questions. I asked one question and proceeded to spend the rest of the appointment with a sneering, egotistical bully who accused me of being a complete slob and who apparently never bothered to look at my chart, from which he would have learned that I'm doing a solid 10 hours of aerobic exercise per week and yet I still have shortness of breath that doesn't seem to be asthma-related and haven't lost an ounce. Something is up with me, but clearly he had no interest in figuring out what, much less getting me to someone else who could help. He had utterly no interest in figuring out what is actually wrong with me, which is admittedly a… mish-mash of subtle symptoms. I got the impression he thought anyone who didn't have a perfect BMI or was a walking talking heart attack was a complete waste of his time. There are more compassionate and helpful ways to talk to a patient about weight, such as "are you doing anything to lose weight?" "Is it working?" "Let's figure out something to help you make this work better." Instead, I was told "you know why you have shortness of breath. It's because you don't exercise and this is what you get for that."

My experience was horrible with this doctor