Dr. Tammy Ellen Novak, MD

I was a patient of hers for years and there were times I really liked her and felt her to be helpful, but then a bad health issue I was having caused me to see the truly unkind side of her. She was not empathetic at all and I honestly dreaded going to see her. Was extremely rude when I wanted my mom in the room with me to listen with me and be a good buffer (my mother too is in healthcare so I thought she could be a helpful advocate to me). She kicked her out of the room and told me, "Your mom is nice, but next time leave her at home." This was an extremely emotional and stressful time for me with my health issue and I felt like my wish to have her in the room should have been fulfilled. I've since switched doctors and I love my new doctor. I am still struggling with my issue for almost a year and a half now and I am finally seeing doctors who take it seriously and have put treatment options in place. I am hopeful now that I am not longer a patient.

Run, run far away. Summary: Tammy Novak has TERRIBLE bedside manner and is an all around mean, cold person who will make it clear you are not worth her time. Read the rest of this if you want the facts leading to my conclusion. I went to Tammy Novak because my usually gyno wasn't available. This next part is painful to write and I've waited 3 months to deal with what happened so I can warn you to not make the same mistake. I was looking into an IUD, and she was super confident in how great she is at putting them in. I scheduled an appt to get one a month later. She told me to take 2 advil an hour before the appt. *Red flag* I didn't look too much into what to expect in getting an IUD since she seemed so chill about the whole procedure. I came by myself they took my vitals. Blood pressure was high - which it never is. Nurse said "oh you must be nervous" and walked out. *Red flag* Now I'm sitting here panicking there's something wrong with me. Novak comes in, asked if I took… advil. She sticks the freezing cold speculum in me *Red flag*. I'm ALREADY in pain. She takes such a long time just leaving them up there that I ask her to take them out since I need to calm down and they hurt so bad. Now I'm really freaking out there is something wrong with me, asking her a million questions and she keeps saying that I'm fine, not taking my worry into account and looking pretty annoyed by how freaked out I am. She puts them in again and I'm able to breathe through the discomfort. Please note I've never had a baby before and I'm 27 years old. Then she puts the thing in that opens up my cervix. I am SCREAMING in pain. I only know after the fact that this is the thing that opens my cervix and not the IUD, I thought the IUD was going in and tearing through me it was so painful. After about a minute and a half of me wailing and screaming and her yelling over me "you're fine!" I tell her stop and take it out. I felt like I just fainted and I'm shaking. She takes it out, snaps off her gloves, and says "you're not meant to have an IUD, stick to birth control" and storms out. I can hear her telling the nurse right outside my door that I just can't handle pain and I'm fine. The nurse comes back in. They offer me apple juice since I'm laying down crying and hyperventilating by myself. The nurse says "since you didn't get the IUD, you shouldn't have any discomfort". *NEVER LISTEN TO THE NURSES WITHOUT CONFIRMING WITH THE DOCTOR, THIS WAS INCORRECT* I ask the nurse if Novak can come back in, which they pushed back on relentlessly. I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with me, since it felt like there was something wrong up there. During this waiting period, I call my friend who is a gyno and tell her what just happened, and she said it was very normal to be in that much pain and that they should offer muscle relaxers or a wide variety of other things that could help with the pain. She finally made time to come back in, though you can tell this is extremely inconvenient and I'm not worth her time. I was not giving up on getting an IUD (and still shaking and crying). She told me maybe I could go to a hospital and get sedated to get one inserted (what?) I asked if there was something she could prescribe to help me relax, and her eyes widened like I was insane and said "oh, well I don't believe in that". *The final red flag, I went to a crazy old conservative lady* I finally asked "am I going to be in pain tonight?" And she said yes, since she opened my cervix. I let her know this is the exact opposite of what her nurse just told me and now she's mad again saying "I'm the doctor, you should listen to me". I told her I understand that - the nurses shouldn't be giving advice on things they don't know about. She finally was able to convince me I wasn't dying so I let her leave. They made me calm down in a different room until I was ready to leave. No follow up call.

From the beginning I was not a fan of her. Very unsympathetic to problems, limited availability, and very unflexible. I called about a problem I was having, asked to speak to dr. Novak herself, but all I got was an inexperienced nurse who could not help me. Seeing as I am in college 7 hours away, I was anxious and wanted to speak with the doctor herself, not some nurse who doesn’t know my patient history. I did not even get to speak with dr. Novak about my problem, showing her lack of care for her patients. I definitely would not recommend choosing this gyno for she has a lack of sympathy and clearly lack of care for her patients and their wellbeing’s.

From the beginning I was not a fan of her. Very unsympathetic to problems, limited availability, and very unflexible. I called about a problem I was having, asked to speak to dr. Novak herself, but all I got was an inexperienced nurse who could not help me. Seeing as I am in college 7 hours away, I was anxious and wanted to speak with the doctor herself, not some nurse who doesn’t know my patient history. I did not even get to speak with dr. Novak about my problem, showing her lack of care for her patients. I definitely would not recommend choosing this gyno for she has a lack of sympathy and clearly lack of care for her patients and their wellbeing’s.

I agree with the other comments. I had a lot of trouble making the Apt. The receptionist was a Witch! My daughter is only 19 and Dr. Novak told me to "Get out". She humiliated, intimidated her. We didn't think she was getting a pelvic exam that day. It was her first and I would have liked to be in the room! She also did a lot of tests without my authorization! Yes she's legally an Adult but not experienced enough to be left alone! When my daughter came out she was shaken and flushed. I still can't get her to talk about it! Also she judged my daughter and made her feel like a ----! She's not a judge, a parole officer or a Pastor. She's a professional and should act like one!! We are never, ever going back. And someone at the Hospital needs to know!! Women should support each other!!!

I would never recommend this doctor to anyone I care about. She is very unfriendly, quick to diagnose without truly listening to the patient's concerns and is belittling. When I questioned her "off the cuff" diagnosis which she made without even examining me and which was completely outside of her practice, she stood up and walked out of the office on me. I was left disgraced, baffled and confused. Doctors are supposed to support their patients, not treat them like they don't matter. This doctor needs to do more listening and practice patience, care and concern. She came across to me as not wanting to take the time to truly understand what I was experiencing and try to help me determine possible routes to take in a caring manner. I will never return to her practice again. Very disappointing.

Dr. Novak has been my provider for over 20 years. I have never had cause to question her integrity or the level of care she provides. She is an empathetic and skilled physician who treats me like I'm the most important person she will see all day. I could not ask for a better level of care.

I was repeatedly very disappointed with Dr. Novak, especially the management of her office. Her staff was nice enough, but there were numerous problems with making/keeping appointments and her follow-up was terrible. While I think she is competent as a GYNE, the number of times she has moved her office made me suspicious. Even though I thought she gave me decent care, I would not recommend her to anyone.

When she had her own practice in Glenview, there was absolutely no wait time. She saw you right away, and spent as much time with you as needed. For my first pregnancy, Dr. Novak walked me through everything. I am bummed that she's moving to a larger practice! I will miss her greatly!

I have been seeing Dr Novak for more than 15 years. My daughter is now her patient as well. If you want a doctor that has time for you, that will not rush you in and out, that will look at other aspects of your health, not just that limited to OBG - go see Dr. Novak.I did have issues with billing before but they got resolved to my satisfaction. Great doctor!