Stinson Nell Lee, MD

I had a test completed on the 26^th. The results came in on the 27^th. I didn’t realize they were in until I received an email from my sutterhealth online. This is a website that allows us to view past exams and results as well as schedule future exams if needed. I received the email last night, 5 days later.
I logged on and to my distress, I find out that I might have cancer! My whole world was shaken. I keep it together though and tell myself, «It’s ok. Just call her tomorrow and get more information.»
The next day, today, I called at 830am. By 1030, I don’t hear from her yet. I know it’s only been two hours but I’m distressed. I wonder to myself, «Why didn’t she call to tell me about the results in the first place?» I call back very apologetically asking to please speak with her again. They say, «We understand and will make sure she or her assistant calls you back by the end of the day.»
At 3pm she emails me! No phone call, just email. She writes, «Don’t worry, just come in so we can do a biopsy at your convenience». I’m perplexed because I have many other questions and I need to talk with her. And what? Did she just tell me not to worry about possibly having cancer?!
I call back at 330. I talk to the same receptionist. I ask her to speak with the doctor. She said, «The doctor emailed you. Did you read it.» I say yes «but I have other questions. I need to talk to her or any other doctor in the office.» She says, «ok. I will let her know before she leaves the office.»
It’s now past their closing time. She never called. I decided to find another doctor, one who doesn’t make me feel like I’m just another number in her books. She doesn’t have a human touch. If you want to be seen by a doctor that hides behind a computer, does not call about results, does not return your calls, and just doesn’t seem to care, go here.
I’m a nurse, I have been for 8 years. I work with doctors. I know what good doctors are like. I didn’t find one here.

I just had a lovely check-​up appointment with Dr. Nell Stinson. She addressed all of my concerns and spent a lot of time explaining all my options to me. I found her to be very knowledgeable and caring. She did not rush me at all. Thanks you Dr. Stinson for your time and expertise.
Arline Larson

I have NO IDEA what the bad reviews are about. It’s quite shocking.
I will admit — I AM that person that wants a warm, compassionate doctor. I had just gone to another ob-​gyn the week before coming to Dr. Stinson and had a terrible experience (she had 4 stars and good reviews btw). She was rude, did not respect my choices, and hinted at depression because I teared up when talking about my medical condition and fears of not being able to conceive.
Dr. Stinson, on the other hand, is AMAZING. She is genuine, caring, respectful, APPROPRIATELY funny, and extremely professional. And she’s WARM. Yes. She is. I worked in hospitals for many years and I can assure you this is one of the good ones.
Specifically, she cared enough to ask me about my personal life without prying, validated my fears and decisions, and thoroughly explained to me what the process would be regarding my treatment and diagnosis. She also gave me hope that I have plenty of time to bear children and can do so naturally, unlike the other doctor who rolled her eyes.
Unilocal deceived me in this case — if I had only gone with reviews I would think the other doctor with more reviews is much more caring but hands down, Dr. Stinson is in the top 3 doctors I’ve ever seen in my life.

I really don’t understand why Dr. Stinson has bad reviews! I’ll admit, I was a bit hesitant when the MA scheduled me for a last minute appointment with Dr. Stinson because of all the negative reviews on Unilocal.I honestly think Dr. Stinson is such a sweetheart and takes the time to answer ALL of your questions. I should know, I asked about a million during my visit! She’s very careful and makes sure that you are comfortable at all times. Additionally, her staff is efficient and the follow up for the results was fast and readily available through their PAMPF website.

Dr. Stinson delivered my baby, after I had been her patient for several years. I even drive an hour each way to still stay with her.
She came in ON HER VACATION TIME to deliver my daughter.
I read these reviews just complaining about the lack of coddling from her. She speaks to her patients in a very friendly way but she is a professional, and a knowlegeable one at that.
I would rather have a doctor who levels with me than a doctor who just says sweet things that are nice to hear.

Well Unilocal is only one side of the story, that’s for sure, and delivering babies is a very difficult practice for someone to be in these days. I am overjoyed with Dr. Stinson and with the high level of care I received. No, she will not treat you like a three year old, she will treat you like an adult. With all of the books out there and every patient thinking they know more than the doctor, it must be very difficult on doctors having to deal with back seat driving all the time.
My situation in a nutshell involved a very large fibroid on the posterior of my uterus that grew with my son during my pregnancy. It was painful, and it was frightening for me to think that it was inside of me at the same time as him. The first meeting I had with Dr. Stinson I didn’t even know about the fibroid yet because of some rushed and extremely inadequate care from St. Luke’s. I pretty much accosted Dr. Stinson with «I want this, I want to do it that way, I want a natural birth… blah blah blah.» Even after that she took me as a patient. Long story short, she let the pregnancy go as long as she could safely, and then she insisted on a c-​section (although my husband and I are calling it a «Buddharian» because Buddha was born this way too!) for a safe delivery. I had plenty of time to prepare myself and make my peace with having a Buddharian since Dr. Stinson had spoken to me about it from the discovery of the fibroid in month five. So, in the midst of the surgery after meeting my son and my husband taking him to the nursery, Dr. Stinson announced very casually that she had removed the fibroid. This is something I thought I would have to go back under the knife for, and something that I was not looking forward to — obviously! The fact that she is such a skilled surgeon that she was able to safely deliver my baby and then get rid of a nasty 10 cm plus growth, actually it was the size of a porterhouse steak I saw it! and have me leave the hospital within four days… well — like I said, I am overjoyed, my husband is at peace, my parents are ecstatic that their baby doesn’t have to have two surgeries back to back, and all of my friends are relieved.
Yes, her bedside manner is not «goo goo ga ga» but I prefer that. I like to be told the situation and treated as a patient, I don’t want to drive — I didn’t dedicate my life to medicine. My son is healthy, I am healthy. I feel that anyone else might not have done such an outstanding job.

I had the unfortunate experience of seeing her once during my pregnancy. She was very abrupt and had zero bedside manner. After taking one of the prenatal screening tests, she thought it would be a good idea to leave me a message on a friday afternoon that my test results said my baby had an increased chance of Downs Syndrome. By the time I got the message after work, there was no one in the office for me to call until Monday morning! Why in the world would you leave that type of message on someone’s answering machine and then not be available to answer their questions?! I have since moved to a different practice and am very happy I won’t run the risk of having to do another appt with her.

I had a very horrible experience with Dr. Stinson. I am pregnant with my first baby and some of my second trimester blood tests came back abnormal. She called me while I was on vacation with my family in Maine (away from my husband) and left a message telling me that I was at high risk for spinal tube defects and that I would need a amnio test. Of course I was freaked out and called back right away to get more information. She wasn’t available so I left her a message to call me back asap. She never did. I called the next day and she was OUT. I left a message for her nurse, but she never called me back either. In fact NO ONE from her office ever called me back. My husband and I decided to switch doctors when I went in for the amnio and they told me that I was in fact NOT at risk for spinal tube defects but for downs syndrome. I switched to a fabulous doctor in SF and was amazed that Dr. Stinson never ever called me during the whole 2 ½ weeks between the time she left me the disturbing message and the time I left her practice. Over all, horrible experience with her and the practice. So glad to be done with them.

While she has not shown herself to be the smiley, cheery type, Stinson has been more of the meat and potatoes, no B.S. kind of doctor. She delivered both my sons in the past 3 years and despite some minor complications (not her fault) she showed efficiency and composure, which was reassuring to my wife and I. I don’t have a good understanding of her bedside manner, and I have not gone deeper into this relationship other than her delivering the babies «right there and then», so I cannot comment on that.
With this said, I would trust her again to deliver any future babies. She simply got the job done and has a perfect record in my book as far as successful deliveries.

I accidently came across this website/​reviews doing a search on births in Burlingame. When I saw Dr. Stinson’s name I found myself reading these reviews about her and felt compelled to write. I absolutely LOVE and ADORE that woman. We wanted her to deliver our son but unfortunately she wasn’t on call when I went into labor. I can’t say enough nice things about her and I think it’s a shame that she’s being bashed on here. Yes, she’s direct and to the point but I don’t mind it at all. I hated that we moved away or I’d still be seeing her. I just couldn’t imagine saying anything bad about her. Perhaps you weren’t the one to give it a chance. Perhaps you had an attitude because you’re «awesome» doctor couldn’t see you. People feed off others and perhaps you went in there with a poor attitude. I don’t know but I found it worth registering on here just to say my peace. Miss you Doc! Hope all is well with you.

I only saw Dr. Stinson once because my regular doc in the same practice recommended I see at least one other doc in case someone else was on call when I gave birth. Dr. Stinson definitely treated me like an «alternate». Just the facts, didn’t get invested in me as a person, very cursory visit. I thought she was adequate but was happy I would only have to use her in an emergency or something as my regular doc, Lisa Dyer, is awesome. Any doc would not be as good as Lisa, so Stinson could not compare. Why have anyone else when you already have the best?
Of course, I ended up having a c-​section and got Stinson on call after all. It was a long, messy and traumatic birth experience ending in a crash c-​section. Stinson did not communicate with me well before hand what was going on. I kept asking questions and she just wanted to be out of the room and not have to deal with me. She said she would come back to answer questions and never did. When I demanded to talk to a doctor before the surgery, she came back reluctantly and was annoyed her scrub in was interrupted. By the time she did come back, I was loopy on the pre-​surgery drugs and had forgot ton a lot of my questions and was completely thrown by her gruff and impatient attitude. I went into that surgery scared to death and not understanding what was going on. Later, one of the nurses told me that Stinson was «upset» from the experience!
I may be a difficult patient because I demand being treated like an individual who makes informed decisions about her own health and body and the doctor’s job is to inform me of their educated opinion. Stinson clearly was uncomfortable with having patients question her and based on her handling a high stressed emergency situation, she is not suited to assist mothers with high risk births. Unless you are under 30 years old and having a perfect pregnancy, AND follow your doctor’s advice without questioning anything keep looking for another doctor. Compassion is not this doctor’s strong suit.

I’m not with her anymore, because I moved across the bay, but I really did toy with the idea of hauling myself to Burlingame from Oakland. Dr. Stinson never pushed anything on me, was knowledgable, and very willing to entertain different points of view. My experience with the staff was really good, all the girls were super friendly and professional.

Horrible attitude towards women who want to get pregnant. Rather than treat a patient she tells them to adopt, even though she has several biological children herself.

I didn’t even get to set up an appointment with this doctor because the scheduling woman said she only does annual exams (which I had done right before I moved to the area) and sees only already pregnant moms. What I wanted was a consultation for pre-​pregnancy. I read and was told that you should always do a consultation and a check up on your health before the pregnancy to make sure everything is okay. The scheduling woman wasn’t rude or anything it’s just that she didn’t know what she was doing so I’m taking my biz somewhere else. I can’t imagine dealing with this kind of incompetence when I’m actually pregnant.

I have a GREAT rapport with her! She makes me feel comfortable talking to her about anything. I have been her patient for the past 5 years!!! One reason I refuse to change health insurance is that I may lose her in the exchange … :) Wonderful doctor!!! Friendly staff!!! Highly recommend her to anyone looking for an ob/​gyn.