Susan T Dombroski, MD

So far she has missed one of my son’s having scoliosis, not mild either, we’re looking at surgery next year. She dismissed one of my other son’s bowel condition as needing to eat more fruits and vegetables after we already told her about the various diet changes we had tried that seemed to make no difference. We ended up at a GI specialist when he began having bloody stools. Most recently when I took my daughter in for her annual physical one of the papers she filled out indicated she was at risk for suicide/depression, which I took very seriously. My children lost their father very suddenly about 10 years ago so mental health has been a very big part of our lives. They have been in counseling and support groups but my daughter didn’t want to make me feel bad by telling me how she felt. Dr.Dombrowski had no idea how to handle this situation other than to demand I take her to the emergency room and I should even consider having her stay in the psych ward of the hospital for a few days.… When I saw the panic in my daughters eyes that she might be taken away from everything that supports her and put her in a scary environment where she feels alone, I let her know that this was out of the question. I have many resources available and many mental health professionals familiar with our situation that can help us. I had an appt set up with a therapist within 48 hours, before we left the exam room. But because she was so clueless on how to handle a teenager feeling depressed her only concern was that my daughter might go home and hurt herself and she was the last health professional to see her, so she was worried about how that could effect her medical license. That’s not my conclusion of her actions, that’s exactly what she said to me. I again told her I don’t think running to the emergency room is the correct way to handle this. I was then told if I didn’t obey her she would be calling CPS to open a case on my family. And before leaving she told me “I better show up there because she was going to call and check and contact CPS if I didn’t”. So because I didn’t want her to cause anymore trauma to the rest of my children we went, where they diagnosed her with mild to moderate depression. The ER staff was actually a little confused as to why we were even there because this didn’t seem to be an emergency situation, until I told them what her dr had said, to which they were quite appalled. And to make matters even worse she repeatedly told me that one of the side effects of the acne medication her dermatologist had prescribed to her was a high risk of suicide. Which turned out to be completely untrue. It was a 20 year old rumor with no evidence to support that claim. The psychiatrist I spoke to at the hospital literally laughed when I told him how her pediatrician reacted to that medication. This dr is completely clueless about how to handle any type of medical need. I am not writing this review out of anger, I am writing it truly out of concern for any other parent or child that goes to her for medical care.

I took my son to Dr. Dombrowski until he was about 3 months old. I had given Dr. Dombrowski the benefit of the doubt on multiple occasions before coming to the conclusion that it was in my son’s best interest to switch pediatricians. I want to start off by saying I work as a registered nurse on a postpartum unit. I am a first time mom who experienced many concerns regarding my son’s health when he was a newborn despite having newborn knowledge from my profession. There were several times that Dr. Dombrowski questioned my concerns and belittled things that I was genuinely worried about and emotional over. When I would raise a concern about my son, she would never put me at ease or address the concern. She would always refer me to some sort of specialist. For example, if I would be concerned about my son’s bowel movements or reflux, she would refer me to GI. If I had a concern about his eyes, how one drifts a little, she wanted to refer me to ophthalmology. I had a concern how one side… of his forehead protruded (a concern that a GI specialist pointed out and stated I should refer to my son’s primary doctor about because he may need a helmet. When I brought this up to her how a GI specialist brought it to my attention, she questioned me by stating, “did he bring it up, or did you bring it up?” She then stated, “I mean if you are concerned, I can refer you to neurology.” When I had a concern about one of his undescended testes, she said, “he has one? which side? let me check.” I found that very important things were getting missed and she wasn’t treating my son as a patient she actually knew or cared about. On another occasion, my son would randomly gasp for air in the middle of the night. It was concerning to my husband and I. When I showed Dr. Dombrowski a video, she said “he doesn’t sound like he’s gasping for air to me, he sounds excited.” When I was concerned and had a second opinion done, it was determined to be laryngomalacia which can be common and goes away with time; however, Dr. Dombrowski belittled the concern. I remember taking my son in one time for a cough he had. She said during his appointment, “well I don’t know, ever since you’ve been here for your appointment, I haven’t heard him cough once. She treated me as a liar who had nothing better to do than to be bringing my son in and out of the doctor’s during a pandemic. Of course this is the last place I wanted to be. There were also multiple times where she told me that she was more concerned about me than she was my son. As a first time mom who struggled with her son having jaundice, colic, reflux, undescended teste, laryngomalacia, etc....of course I was emotional and concerned for him. I was tired of going into appointments just to be referred to some sort of specialty. What was the point of even going in for the appointment to begin with? As a nurse, I can simply listen to lung/heart/bowel sounds and determine that my son is thriving in growth. Whenever there was a small concern, it was as if Dr. Dombrowski couldn’t handle it and I did not want that for my son. I need a pediatrician who looks at my son as her actual patient and not a job that she has to show up for every day. I would highly recommend any parent to seek any other pediatrician for their child. If you are looking for a pediatrician to state “you know what I mean” for the whole duration of the appointment and not actually address any of your concerns, Dr. Dombrowski is the doctor for you. However, if you are looking for a doctor to address your concerns, look at your child as an actual patient and be determined to figure out what is going on, you are doing both yourself and your child a favor by doing your research to make sure your child is in the best hands. That being said, I poured my heart and time into this review because I really want to save other parents their time and disappointment. Your child deserves better.

Never a wait, follows up same day, knowledgable and straightforward!

Seemed confused and unable to diagnose my childs illness. Only performed testing and offered treatments after my insistent prompting.

My 4 children see Dr. Dombroski, and she is an excellent doctor. Very caring and thorough. The kids trust her, too. We never have to wait long. Usually, we sit down and take off our coats, and we're already being called back!Always a great experience.

Takes time to listen carefully and asks pertinent questions.