Dr David Friedman

I wish I had visited Unilocal and seen the other reviews before becoming a patient of Dr. Friedman’s. The most insulting issue has been the front desk. The woman who answers the phone is rude and utterly unaccommodating. I once spoke up about it and asked her to be more polite and she responded with «I don’t even know who you are» — I would think it’s obvious that I’m a patient of the person she works for and should be treated with respect as I am buying their services. Apart from a continual snarky attitude about all inquiries, I had another incident on the same phone call: Dr. Friedman’s office line is connected to two other doctors and so when I was connected to the front desk I asked if this was Dr. Friedman’s office just to make sure, she responded like it was the stupidest question I could’ve asked. I felt so disrespected and shocked I hung up the phone. Dr. Friedman is also very casual and I’ve had continual issues getting my birth control renewed causing stress and continual back and forths with his office. Please choose a different office and doctor, you will be doing yourself a favor.

I went to Dr. Friedman last year when my regular OBGYN could not fit me in for a pap in time to refill my birth control rx. I have been dealing with the consequences ever since. First, even though we had a 20 minute conversation about how I would rather pay full price for my name brand bc than be put on the generic, when my insurance company called him to ask if it was ok to switch me to the generic he said «sure no problem!» Then, when I received my bill I was billed both for an «annual exam» and an «office visit.» My insurance would only cover an annual exam, so I was told I had to pay for the office visit out of pocket. But I was only there once! After numerous contentious phone calls, I finally convinced Dr. Friedman’s billing staff to remove the charge for the office visit. Later, when my rx insurance changed mid-​year, I had to call the doctor’s office over 10 times to get my rx called in to the new pharmacy. Even though I explicitly asked the office staff to call in the rx for 90 day refills, they failed to do so, and my new insurance refused to cover it. I was then charged $ 109/​month for the generic bc that I did not want in the first place. Going to the OBGYN should be a once-​a-​year hassle, not something you have to deal with consistently for the following 12 months because they can’t do anything right. I wish I had chosen literally any other doctor or just given up on my bc and had a baby. Either one would have been easier than going to Dr. Friedman.

I had to give one star because you can’t give 0 stars. I rate this doctor an F. If you value your health I would urge you to consider ANY other OB-​GYN before visiting this doctor. His offices are shabby and unclean. His staff is unprofessional, unresponsive and clearly takes no pride in their job. That being said Dr. Friedman is the real problem. He is incompetent, it is clear he missed any classes on bedside manner (bordering on unethical) and his is wholly incompetent to be board certified. He is arrogant and self– impressed but there is no substance. He botched my visit so badly that I am having surgery at Mt. Sinai to repair the damage he caused (scar tissue). He is cavalier — I asked if he had done a n HPV test in addition to Pap smear and he answered «sometimes I do and sometimes I din“t». He didn’t even check chart, he did not do the HPV. I won’t go into all the details but suffice it to say If you value your life I implore you to please
think twice before going here. If just for basic exam you might be okay. But do not allow him to do anything more complicated as he is unqualified. Lastly if he gives you an «opinion» the best thing you can do is to get a second opinion.
I do not take Unilocal lightly but my husband and I can both attest to why your biggest mistake would be to visit this doctor. I only went to him because my GYN of 40 years stopped taking insurance, I would gladly pay (I am now doing so to see the best and correct his damage) than ever go through what I went through visiting Dr. Friedman.
Lastly I recommend you check your insurance bill as he submits fraudulent claims to beef up his bill.

I came to Dr. Friedmans office for my annual as a first time patient, he is down the block from me and I was able to get into his office quickly. (1 star)
I spoke to him in his office first, it seemed like we talked about him more than myself, a little more narcissist than the typical doctor. I mentioned I had endometriosis and he took it into his own hands to run additional test/​ultrasound which I was later billed for! He didn’t even mention to me this is something extra, I’m charging you an office visit, absolutely nothing. I went in strictly for an annual!
His staff, specifically the woman who helps you into the room and is on standby during check up was unprofessional and just didn’t seem to belong there (I don’t know how else to put that nicely).
I later went to Dr Seckin, who performed my third endometriosis surgery and found I had stage 4 (dr Friedman made me feel like a complainer when I asked him about the pain /​ultrasound 4 months prior)

0 STARS!!! WORST GYNO EVER!
Dr. David Friedman is not only the worst gynecologist I have even seen, but is frankly the worst doctor too. He humiliated in front of other patients, misdiagnosed & mistreated me, and took advantage of me by charging me for unauthorized tests.
To start, during my first visit to the Dr. Friedman, he asked to me urinate in a cup, as is customary when patients were experiencing a problem. After doing so, I had to carry my urine-​filled cup through a full waiting room of patients, who were not all here to see the gynecologist. I was completely humiliated! When I brought this up to Dr. Friedman later, he said many patients are afraid that their urine sample would get mixed up or stolen by people off the street if not immediately carried back to the waiting room. This seems quite unreasonable to me since 1. All samples are labeled, and 2. Dr. Friedman’s Upper East Side office is located on the 3^rd floor of a building with a doorman, making it difficult for people to enter off the streets simply looking for a «clean sample.»
Even more egregious, Dr. Friedman diagnosed me with a serious disease based on non-​conclusive evidence. I later saw a specialist in this disease as well as another gynecologist, who both said that Dr. Friedman’s diagnosis was unfounded by several different specialties’ guidelines for diagnosis. When I confronted Dr. Friedman about his diagnosis, he said he didn’t make the it, but rather took the diagnosis from a radiologist. However on the results from the radiologist, he simply recommended the diagnosis, but left the final decision up to Dr. Friedman, as the diagnosis requires several elements that the radiologist had no knowledge off. This misdiagnosis caused me severe anxiety, as this disease makes pregnancy difficult and increases your chances of contracting diabetes. Additionally, I had to pay to see a specialist for follow up on this diagnosis.
Thirdly, Dr. Friedman diagnosed me, correctly, with another disease, this one skin-​related, and prescribed a strong cream to treat the problem as well as performed a biopsy. My dermatologist, the real expert in treating this disease, was horrified that Dr. Friedman had prescribed this cream to me, especially for use in such as sensitive area, and was even more appalled by the huge biopsy he took, which will now likely leave me with a scar for the rest of my life. Furthermore, the cream prescribed did not fix the problem and, according to my dermatologist, is not a treatment for this disease at all. I actually got another infection from use of this cream, and had to suffer with this disease for 6 weeks longer than necessary because of his mistreatment.
Lastly, during one of my visits, Dr. Friedman sent away for a test without gaining my consent for the additional test at an outside laboratory, which cost nearly $ 300. Furthermore, he did not even inform me he was performing such a test. At the appointment when he sent the test away, he prescribed me antibiotics, without knowing the results of the test. I used the antibiotic and it did not resolve the problem. Then when I confronted him about this charge, he finally, one month later, informed me that in fact the test came back negative, making the antibiotics he treated me with obviously ineffective because they were for a disease I didn’t have! He never called me to inform me of this once he got the results and never thought twice about prescribing me antibiotics for something that it turned out I never had. I instead had to call him to ask about the results of this unauthorized test only after I surprisingly received the bill. He claimed I gave implied consent when I came to see him, but at all my other doctors, they not only inform me if they are doing an additional test, but also ask for my consent, especially since I am the one required to pay the additional money. He was not willing to compromise or work with me to reduce this bill from the laboratory and instead told me to find another doctor. This last experience was the final straw for me and I have since found a new doctor. I was horrified that Dr. Friedman had performed additional tests without my consent, never shared those test results with me, and had no problem allowing me to continue using a useless antibiotic! On top of all of that, he wasn’t even willing to work with me to resolve the situation, but instead gave excuses and reasons for his behavior instead of making it right.
With any doctor but especially with a gynecologist, you want to be able to trust them and have full transparency with them. Dr. Friedman was deceitful, dishonest, inaccurate, and not respectful of me as a patient. I highly recommend you DO NOT go to Dr. Friedman EVER!!!

Dr. Friedman, while a serviceable doctor, has the most difficult office staff I have ever worked with. I have been a patient of Dr. Friedman’s for over a year and every interaction I have had, whether that be questions regarding booking an appointment, asking about office wait times, or drawing tests (basically anything not involving him directly) has been a huge challenge.
The final straw has been when I wanted to pay for my last bill. Reaching the number provided on the bill took days — their number would always lead to the answering machine. After leaving a message, they returned my phone call, only to inform me that they do not accept anything other than check through the phone service, and that I should call the office.
Calling the office, I was met with a rude woman who cut me off mid-​question to ask what doctor I was a patient of. Immediately following this, she stated that he was in surgery today and that no one in the office could help me pay my bill. I told her that I had the account number and payment information all ready, but what I should have done was ask to speak to her supervisor. She forcefully said that no one could help and that I would have to «call back later». I told her that they were a difficult office to work with, and she hung up the phone on me. Next.
There are a lot of good doctors in New York, who have offices that respect their patients. I will be opting for them instead of Dr. Friedman’s.