Dear Oxford Health Plans, Cigna Healthcare, United Healthcare, Healthnet Northeast and any other providers for Dr. Robert Saken at Soho Pediatrics in New York City: Please be aware that, in every encounter my family had with his practice, Dr. Saken seemed to completely ignore key standards of care, as reflected in American Academy of Pediatrics policy. In my opinion, he relies on treating unknowing parents with total arrogance to get away with sub-standard service delivery. In my opinion, Dr. Saken does a poor job of taking care of children and is a malpractice suit waiting to happen. Dear fellow parents: I recommend that you consider taking your kids elsewhere.

We have Dr. Gold as our pediatrician and she is wonderful! She loves Jackson and is always smiling and answers all of our questions and is a pleasure to talk to. We always get seen and immediate calls back for the Dr. on call (even evenings and weekends). The staff (especially Danielle) is friendly and very attentive. We love the location/setting. Very bright cheerful former art gallery so our son loves to play and we enjoy waiting there (we never wait long).

I've used Soho Pediatrrics since 2005 for my two children. The doctors are great -- especially Dr Saken and Dr Keith. They always squeeze me in if I need an emergency appointment and they know my kids' names and history without having their charts in front of them.

PLEASE DON'T TAKE YOUR CHILD TO SOHO PEDIATRICS. My husband and I visited Soho Pediatrics for the first time in winter 2007 in a week when our then-7-month-old son was sick and our regular pediatrician was out of town. The waiting area was incredibly crowded and the receptionist was very rude, but those are not the reasons I am writing this negative review. I'm here because Dr. Wang and Dr. Saken at SoHo Pediatrics turned out to be the single worst doctors that I have encountered in 40 years, and I hope you won't take your chile to them. Here the our details. Per routine (given my child's age at the time), a blood sample was taken on our first visit to SoHo Pediatrics in order to determine whether or not my infant child had been exposed to lead, and to my horror a week later, Soho Pediatrics called to tell me that he had been. Specifically, Dr. Wang at Soho Pediatrics informed me that our son's blood lead level was at a level that dozens of extremely rigorous studies at top medical institutions have shown to be associated with significant cognitive impairment. (See for example, this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071120111526.htm.) The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that when children obtain a lead result like ours that their physician immediately retest to verify the results. However, Dr. Wang did not tell me this when she called with my child's lab results, and when I called her back a little whle later to request the retest, Dr. Wang adamantly refused to provide it! Finally, I insisted that the re-test be performed, and on the day of the re-test, Dr. Wang's partner Dr. Saken who met with us turned out to be a disaster. Specifically, (1) Dr. Saken refused to peform the regular check-up that I had requested be peformed that day--telling me instead that I should come back the next week; (2) he refused to complete my son's yellow vaccine record indicating that he gave our child a vaccine that day--he told me to do so myself, but I don't even know exactly which vaccine was given; and (3) he refused to let me hold my child while he peformed the venous blood draw. Regarding the latter, I told Dr. Saken that I understood that venous blood tests are much less stressful for infants when the chldren are held by their mother, and I pointed out the fact that Dr. Wang had tried hard to convince me not to perform the procedure, to which Dr. Saken sneeringly responded that the reason he and Dr. Wang didn't want to perform the procedure wasn't that it's stresful for the kid but thta insurance companies don't like to pay for "unnecessary" tests! (Recall that the American Academey of Pediatrics doesn't consider my son's re-test unnecessary; it recommends that such retests always be peformed, and that they always be performed immediately!) Needless to say, I have never gone back to SoHo pediatrics. In addition, my regular pediatrician, to whom I have happily returned, claims that SoHo Pediatrics may have purposefully ordered a huge surplus supply of mercury-free flu vaccine last winter, contributing to the difficulty that many New York parents had in obtaining shots last winter. Most pediatricians couldn't get nearly enough of the vaccine to serve their own patients, so a lot of "new" patients ended up being referred to SoHo Pediatrics for flu vaccines. I hate to imagine how many poor families--and especially children--are stuck with SoHo Pediatrics' brand of incompetent, greedy and arrogant medical "care." Drs. Wang and Saken doctor care far more about building their client base, maximizing "capitations" by making families come in for multiple appointments, currying favor with insurance companies, and making money for themselves than they care about your child or mine. There are many better pediatricians out there. Please find one. PLEASE DON'T TAKE YOUR CHILD TO SOHO PEDIATRICS.

They are great -- return calls as soon as they can, and so understanding. everyone there knows & loves our kids!