Velaska Gonzalez, MEDICAL, DOCTOR, MD

Dr Gonzalez always takes the time with my child and explains to me the situation and care plan. She is the beat in San Antonio.

We have been taking our daughters to PediDocs for almost 8 years now, and the customer service has been excellent up until today. My 7 year old daughter had a blood draw about 2 weeks ago which went much better than expected. We had a follow up blood draw today and this is where everything went downhill. The nurse (who I had never met before) started feeling for a vein on my daughters left arm. I spoke up thinking I was doing her a favor by saying that last time they used her right arm with no problems. The nurse completely ignores me and ties off her arm and says she has a vein. From a customer service stand point I expected her to at least CONSIDER the other arm, especially since I spoke up. Nope. As you can imagine, she couldn't get the needle in my daughters left vein, and repeatedly breached the vein in every direction. After 6 or 7 different changes of direction and my daughter crying forcefully while I physically hold her down I said, "I don't appreciate you… fishing around in my daughters arm, this is your last try." She missed one more time for good measure then didn't even have the backbone to apologize for her mistake. I told her how upset I was that she choose to insist on my daughters left arm even after I told her that they had a good stick on her right arm last time. She shrugged her shoulders and asked if she could try again. I asked for the nurse from last time, but she was off. I asked to reschedule and I would come back in for the other nurse. This is what really put me off. I walk outside and the Doctor, (Gonzalez) who is normally very friendly and talkative, starts talking to my daughter and asking her if she'd like a sticker. Of course, I'm standing there steaming, but I figured the Doc would at least acknowledge me at some point, and then that's when I realized that she had no intention of acknowledging me at all. She walked off to go hide out in her office without apologizing to my daughter or myself. It would have been so easy to de-escalate the situation by just going, "Hey guys, sorry about that." Apparently that is too much to ask for. When you're in charge it's on you to placate your clients, and your employees follow your example on customer service. Seeing the doctor act this way explained so much about why the nurse felt ok to act this way. I drove home and told my wife about it, and being the fans of PediDocs that we are, my wife didn't believe me. Just to make the wife happy, I told her I would go address it with the Doctor directly. My suspicions were confirmed within less than 5 minutes of arriving back at the Doctor's office. The secretary told me the doctor was busy until 2pm (this was at 11am in the morning, and she leaves at 2pm) and that I could sit in the waiting room and she would talk to me when she had some free time. I asked if I could call her, and the secretary told me she would call me back if I left a message. I asked if I could come early at 830am when they open so I know I'm disturbing her when she's busy. The secretary told me she was off all next week. I asked to speak to another doctor there, or someone in the admin staff and the secretary told me there was no other doctor present (this place is owned/operated by 3 doctors) but I could leave my name and number with a message. I wanted to express everything written here in private to the doctor. Maybe I got the wrong vibe? Maybe I was being too emotional after having my daughter bloodied and crying? She could have heard this criticism and talked to her employee about it, but no, admitting fault would bruise their egos too much. Now it's on the internet where it will hopefully deter people from wasting their time and money on this business built upon crumbling customer service.

Dr. Gonzalez is a good doctor, but the staff give you a hard time when scheduling an appointment. Its like a good restaurant that has good food, but you dont go back because of the horrible service. SHE is a great person, but she will loose lots of 'customers' due to her poor staff that lacks of customer service.

Since my sons rough start a birth she has been a caring understanding and genuine doctor. My son has only had to have one sick visit but she was excellent in calming us down and assuring us of what to do and wh to expect. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a young loveable doctor with whom I can see myself going to for a very long time. She truly seems to love her job and her patients you can see it in the way she lights up at the babies cooing and her genuine interest in their lives. I seriously cannot say anything bad about her she has always been great!!

Called to make an appointment. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, I finally got ahold of someone to make an appointment for my baby because she had a fever. I was told they didn't have anything open for 2 weeks unless I wanted to see a nurse rather than a doctor. Well, given that my choice was going to the ER, I decided to make that appointment. The nurse spent less than 5 minutes with me and gave me 3 different meds for my 6 month old. She did not inspire confidence, so I asked to wait for the doctor. I waited for 3 hours, then Dr. Gonzalez came in, listened to me for 1-2 minutes, agreed with her nurse, and left. They told me my kid had roseola, but didn't tell me what that meant. I had to google it!! I found someone better- North Hills.

Can't really rate them, but I'm just as frustrated as the previous person when I say how difficult it is to find a good pediatrician for my daughter. PediDocs are accepting new patients IF they are 3 months or younger. I have been calling and calling a few pediatricians for several months trying to get in with no luck. A wait list would be nice!

My OB gave me the number to set up an appointment here, but when I called they said they wouldn't accept new patients. My OB said that happens a lot.

Dr. Gonzalez is the greatest! She understands what it means to be a parent of a sick child and provides excellent care! She took plenty of extra time to explain in everyday terms what was going on.

She is the best doctor my daughter has ever had!!!