Dr. Sydney Raphael Brandwein, MD

Dr. Brandwein cares about his patients. He takes time with you, listens, and is very knowledgeable. You may have to wait for your appointment, but he is worth the wait. The long wait is because he is so thorough with each patient. Dr. Brandwein is a doctor you want to see.

As a 66 year old female and breast cancer survivor, I have had many experiences with physicians and their staffs charged with running busy medical practices. I have had two appointments with Dr. Brandwein and waited about five months to get the first one. Despite being overwhelmed with patients, the staff at Dr. Brandwein's office is pleasant, competent and upfront about delays. On the two occasions I saw Dr. Brandwein, he was totally present and took the time to review medical history, current symptoms, test results and potential courses of action. At my last appointment on a Friday afternoon we became engrossed in a discussion of medication options to treat my rheumatoid arthritis. While we had intended to further discuss the results of the bone density test, we never got around to talking about an appropriate medication to treat my osteoporosis. Dr. Brandwein called me at 8:00 p.m. on the evening of that second appointment and left me a message advising that we needed to talk… about the osteoporosis medication. He invited me to call him either over the week end or the following Monday. Be prepared to wait, but know that the wait is worth it. Dr. Brandwein is a gem!

I am a 19 year old Asian female with chronic pain. Last year, my family doctor diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, and I wanted a second opinion just in case. I have had 4 very bad experiences with doctors in the past year, but this was definitely the worst. First of all, I had to wait FOUR MONTHS to get an appointment with him, but I thought it would at least be worth it. When the day finally came, the first nurse who I was with was extremely rude and condescending, when I went in by myself, she sent me back to the waiting room to "go wait with mommy" as she put it. As we were heading back, I saw Brandwein walking around and he seemed nice enough to the rest of his patients (who, incidentally, were all white and much older than me), so I didn't mind going back to wait. It took him about an hour to get to me. When he did, he was just as hauty, if not more so, than his nurse. He spent the entire appointment patronizing me as I described my symptoms to him. He rolled his eyes and chuckled as… I told him about my pain and migraines. He also left in the middle of the appointment to "take a call", but he was just standing outside in the hall for almost 15 minutes, talking about the Blackhawks game with other members of the staff. At the end of the appointment, he said, "It's probably just fibromyalgia, I don't see why you had to come to me. I'll have them run some blood tests, but I doubt I'll have to see you again." Terrible. I would give 0 stars, if possible.

Very nice and thorough doctor.