She refused to give my grandmother a lung cancer screening for over a year. We pressured her because she had a troubling cough (and smokes) and by the time they caught it she was Stage 4 and died shortly after. Her bedside manner is awful and the wait times ridiculous. As a 15 year old she charged me $50 I couldn't afford for cancelling the day before an appointment . So she's allowed to make you wait for hours but if you need a concession to her extremely strict cancellation policy she's heartless. Despite her always booking way too many patients in a day anyway. It's all about the money for her. If you have Medicaid or Medicare she will treat you like garbage. I've had far better doctors over the years and I will never forget the way she treated me and my family. read more

I've been a patient of Dr. Schwartzburt for over ten years. She's a very caring, knowlegable, and thorough doctor. I've sent many friends to her and they've all had positive experiences. If you're looking for a doctor, I would highly recommend her. read more

Up until recently my experience with Dr. Schwartzburt has been fine. She referred me to decent specialists and seemed thorough in her exams. She is a single practitioner, a rarity in today's medical world. On the downsides is the office, on the lower level of a brownstone, hasn't seen updates in years. The chairs are worn and there is no WiFi or cell service in the waiting area. While some information is available through an online portal (medications, labs, and appointments) other information such as medical records are not. In the past couple of years her long time staff has left, and the overall feeling of welcome and respect has disappeared. No one informs you of longer than typical wait times, and when you inquire they are vague and unhelpful/uncaring. I have found the experience of doctors visits there to be more and more stressful. The icing on the cake was upon my deciding to leave her practice after more than 8 years, she charged me over $100 for copies of my medical records. While allowed by law in NYS, the fact that she is making a huge profit for providing me 164 pages (75 cents per page) is unconscionable. Her front desk person, Kesia, couldn't give me an estimate of cost until she'd actually printed out the pages, and did not have the ability to print to PDF. In today's digital world, doctors should be able to provide an electronic file of records! The care here has been okay, but my recent experience was terrible and stressful. read more

Very professional, courteous, and knowledgable. She answered all my questions and listened extremely well. Full marks!

Had Schwartzburt diagnosed me correctly instead of telling me I had acid reflux I am sure my problem would not have escalated wherein I was hospitalized for a total of 2 weeks. She should have sent me for test of my stomach instead of telling me to stop eating certain foods...I suffered with this horrible pain for years and finally was diagnosed with Mesenteric Artery Stenosis..I may need extensive surgery if this pain increase again to what I experienced ...I am on blood thinners which the doctors think is helping me, they tried to stint my arteries but were unable to do so.. read more

I never like doing this, but I feel that I need to share my experience with the public so you can make an informed decision. I have literally been searching for an integrative medical doctor for 2 years since I moved to BK. Dr. Schwartzburt was on a short list of highly recommended doctors that a family member forwarded to me from her friend. Granted, they had not been to either doc, but since I wanted a more natural leaning MD, this was their suggestion. I called her first and was told that she didn't have an appointment until 6 months from that day. I could not wait that long, so I went to the other doc on the list. Very disappointed with that other docs bedside manner and unnecessary procedures that she racked up on my insurance, I decided to give Dr. Schwartzburt another try and wait the excessive time. A lot can happen in 6 months, and unfortunately I needed to reschedule my appointment. All I needed was 30 minutes later on the same day, but they could not oblige, so I got something the next month (so now this is 7+ months I've had to wait. to see a doc.) Here's where it gets even more awful and unprofessional. A few days before my appointment, I receive a call that Dr. S had a family death and would be out of the office and needed to reschedule. I obliged & had a new appt 2 weeks later. AT 10PM the NIGHT BEFORE my rescheduled appt., Dr. S calls my cell herself saying that she had a death in the family and was going to be at the funeral and needed to reschedule. I am very sorry if this was the truth, but it was just incredibly hard to swallow after waiting SO LONG and having to reschedule TWICE, that this THIRD reschedule was the identical reason given me 2 weeks prior. I didn't even call them back. Something has to change in a practice if you're a medical doctor and you can't see people within a reasonable time frame AND you need to reschedule three times. If it is because you are in such a high demand that you have more patients than appointment times, then add more appointment times or add more doctors. If you're doing so well that you have that kind of waiting list then I think it's safe to say that there should be some space to add another doctor. Very disappointed. read more

This is a tough one since I think that Dr. S is actually a very competent doctor, and though she's not the most touchy-feely person out there, she's very direct and to the point, which I appreciate. However. There IS a problem with how her office is run. I have seen Dr. S three times and here is a summation: Visit #1: Waited 45 minutes to be seen, but then when Dr. S actually came into my room, she spent close to 30 minutes with me, even when I could hear people complaining about waiting too long from the hallway/other rooms, (yep, you can hear them). My irritation melded into gratefulness when she was very thorough. However, hearing the people call out into the hallway made me jumpy and tense because I know how much I hate just sitting in a blank doctor's office on the crinkly paper, totally bored out of your mind. I left that appointment thinking: "didn't love how much time I spent in the office, but this doctor seemed worth the wait." Visit #2: Had massive foot pain and was recommended to "drop on in; don't make an appointment" to see if I needed an X-ray, (I did), so I cut in front of a bunch of people in the waiting room--and yes-- heard at least one person ask when they were going to be seen as they give me the stinkeye for cutting in front of them, (I don't blame them!). This visit lasted a grand total of 5 minutes, so I really was in and out of the door, but I started wondering if this was the reason she is always so backed up if she casually suggests for people to just drop on in between her already scheduled patients? Visit #3: Had a scheduled visit for 11:45am. Was seen at 1:45pm. Completely unacceptable! Heard people asking when they were going to be seen (like the first visit, I could hear them yelling down from various rooms and down the hallway). I mean, seriously--either learn to manage your time better or schedule less patients! As another poster remarked, Francine the N.A. and Lourdes the receptionist are very nice and helpful, but I think they receive the brunt of Dr. S's horrible time management skills/choices. read more

Dr Schwartzburt was my son's doctor. We watched her grown from a Red Cross doctor to her own practice. She treats my entire family now. It's been over 20 years. She has a tremendous following and deserves all the accolades. read more

All the good stuff that I previously wrote is true, but I have to add that the time spent waiting to see Dr. Schwartzburt has been noticeably better, but the amount of time that she spends in the room with you hasn't lessened any. Also, Francine (her assistant) and Lourdes (the office manager) are fantastic, too. Always kind, friendly and helpful. read more

Doctor is good and thorough. But THE WAIT TIME IS RIDICULOUS. Ive been here several times and it's always been an hour and a half each time.

I'm new to the practice, but I'm even in my brief time, I have been treated so much better here than any doctor I've been to in New York. I don't feel like I was sent for tests or given medications just so they can bill my insurance. The staff are knowledgeable and kind. I'm so glad I switched PCPs! read more

Dr Schwartzburt is amazing. The waiting room is an event in and of itself but that is because when you are in an exam room with her she is all yours for as long as you need her. She is incredibly smart and will often refer me to specialist with the phone number dictated from memory. She makes me feel as though I am part of every medical test, diagnosis and treatment strategy, I am never just a patient on the table being worked on. When possible, I am offered (and have always used with great success) alternative medicine. I thought she was as good as doctors get. And then I had a baby and she took him as a patient and I saw a whole new level of greatness. She had such a motherly, soothing way with my son, and a reassuring and encouraging way with me as a new mother. All while being very straight forward, never dropping the doctor role. I will continue to pay skyrocketing insurance rates to remain in her care. Lourdes is wonderful, always smiling and happy to take your call. If the only con is the waiting room, I believe the con is negated with Doctor S's approach to emergency calls. When my son was 3 months old he woke with a fever at 4:30 am. Doctor S took my call and talked me down. When I saw her the next day she remembered my baby's fever to a tenth of a degree. I was impressed and continue to be. I feel lucky to have her as my doctor and even more so that my son has her for a doctor. read more

I've been seeing Dr. Schwartzburt for about a decade, and I'm not dead yet, so she seems to be doing a good job of keeping all my parts in serviceable working condition. She's not too loose with her prescription pad, and I've learned not to "ask my doctor" about nonsense I've seen on TV. She's also an excellent acupuncturist, and I respect her willingness to use alternate methods when appropriate but she'll prescribe the appropriate tests when necessary. I have to agree with Megan M. though, the waiting room scene can get kinda hairy, and emergency appointments can be hard to get, but she will always return calls eventually. read more

Got stuck with a $500 bill even with insurance, for a simple check up where she just asked questions and logged info into the computer. Cant get hold of the doctor to ask why we were billed so much. She will not return phone calls. Pure greed and robery. Money comes before human interaction in this institution unfortunately. I guess the rent is very high in Park Slope. read more

I love Dr.S!!!! She has been my doctor majority of my life. When you go to a doctor office that's always full and the patients are willing to wait to be seen that's speaks volumes. Especially since she offers alternative treatments besides prescriptions. She is very easy to talk to as well accessible for emergencies. read more

I loved Dr. Schwartzburt for myself. I especially appreciated her openness to alternative treatments. When they changed locations, I had to switch doctors. It was too far out and the receptionist/admin at the desk had very poor people skills and no professionalism. I would advise people of color to be cautious here. My significant other's blood pressure was high during that visit and she told him it was because it is typical for African American males. He tried to explain it was not typical on either side of his family. She also refused to give him pain medication for his back problem. The sad thing is that, when people are in excruciating pain, their blood pressure shoots up. It would have been wise for her to explore his back pain. He was walking in a bent over position by that time and it was painful to see in a young man. Fortunately, he found a doctor who saw the problem for what it was and referred him to an amazing surgeon. No doctor is perfect, and I understand that it is difficult to know who just wants drugs and who is truly in pain. I just hope that, with the years of experience since then, Dr. Schwartzburt is better able to discern such situations. I felt so horrible for recommending her to my husband because he was treated in such a cursory fashion. I really thought she was awesome. read more

I was looking for a MD who was open to alternative medicine. After reading good reviews on Dr. Schwartzburt I called to make appointments for my husband and myself. I was told that she didn't have any appts for new patients for 6 months. I thought she would be worth the wait so I went ahead and made an appt. Six months later around the time that the appointments were approaching I called to confirm and was told that there was NO RECORD of the appointments! After explaining my situation i was given an appoitment for a month later. On the day of the appointments husband and I both waited for probably close to an hour (maybe more but this was months ago and I do not remember exactly) to see the Dr. The office is very old and dark and not nice. I filled out lots of paperwork about personal and family medical history while waiting for the appointment. When I was finaly called in they made me take off all my clothes and put on a robe and then I sat in the office on the exam table and waited a while more. Then the Dr. finally came in asked lots more questions (possibly the same?) and entered them into her computer. Then after telling her that I have family history of food allergies and personal history of asthma she diagnosed me with GERD (gastro-esophigal reflux disease)! She said she didn't think I had asthma and asked me to avoid certain acidic foods, tomatoes, wine etc. that cause GERD after telling her I didn't eat them very often but had symptoms regularly. She gave me a prescription for some GERD medicine. She also was trying to get me to have many different vaccinations. She did test me for some food allergies after pleading with her. My husband left the office feeling violated because she didn't explain well enough to him that she was going to do some sort of anal exam or why she did it. After looking it up he realized that it was probably for prostate cancer. Her bedside manner with both of us was a bit gruff. On the positive side she did spend a lot of time with both of us and SEEMED thorough. She followed up through the patient portal and was willing to do more testing for food allergies. She phoned in refills for my asthma med on the spot when I was waiting in the pharmacy. She had a fairly nice personality aside from the abrupt bedside manner. On the negative side- the office does not seem to have it together with scheduling appointments. The dr. has major trouble staying on schedule. Her diagnostic skills are questionable. The office is borderline scary. She did not seem alternative at all and really tried to pump up bill with vaccines and other unnecessary procedures. read more

Direct, curt, and someone I feel safe in the hands of.....

I've never reviewed anyone on Yelp, but I feel compelled to review Dr. Schwartzburt. Where do I start? The office needs a paint job badly. It looks and feels like 1985 in there. The front desk staff was rude and repeatedly hung up on me on the phone or made me wait for 10-20 minutes at a time, eventually coming back to me as if we had never spoken previously. I had to have blood drawn for a routine annual checkup, and was told to fast for an 11 AM appointment. I was not seen until 1PM at which point I was barely able to think. Finally at 1PM she took me. Among other things, she asked me about my tattoos which I had gotten 10 years prior, and asked me if the needle had been clean. She suggested I get tested for AIDS and Hep C,"just in case". This was all very strange to me but the real issues started after the appointment. I never got any results from the lab tests. 2 weeks after my appointment I called the office to find out about the results and was told they hadn't been processed yet. I asked for the Dr. to call me back, which she did not. Another 2 weeks passed, and I called again. Same thing. No results, no call back from the Dr. 5 weeks passed. I called again and the secretary told me that she had a message for me from the Dr.: "Everything is normal." This is not OK. Even if the results had been available on time, the staff had been nice, and the Dr. had called me back, I'm not OK with a secretary telling me "everything is normal". I expect a phone call and some more information from my Doctor. What about my cholesterol levels? What about Calcium? What about all the other tests they did? If the answer is "it's in the portal", that does not help because it's like trying to read Japanese. I am terminating my short relationship with this Doctor due to the above and other reasons which I don't even have time to explain here. This is ridiculous! By the way, I saw NP's for a year before I was even able to meet Dr. Schwartzburt herself. One of them literally prescribed me a quantity of 4 .25 pills of valium for a year of travel for someone who has a fear of flying. Not helpful! read more

I have been a patient of Dr. Schwartzburt for over 10 years. She has always been professional, detailed and expressive. I even had the flu once and she offered to make a house call if I was too sick to come to the office. I'm almost reluctant to post anything good about her because I'm selfish and want to keep her as MY doctor for the rest of my life. Anyone lucky enough to be seen by her should know they will be seeing one of the best doctors in New York, dare I say the country. read more

Dr. Schwartzburt has been my primary care doctor for 12 years and there is good reason for that. She is incredibly smart, kind and thorough. She always goes above and beyond to make sure you get the care you need. I can't say enough good things. read more

I have had a very difficult time with Dr Schwartzburt, She knowledgable, but rigid. Her bedside manner is abysmal. She seems tense, rushed, and lacks basic listening skills; too busy logging things into her computer program. I also do not fully trust her diagnostoc skills and will be finding a different doctor. read more

I've had a great experience with Dr. Schwartzburt. She is extremely thorough and offers very personalized care. She provides information about natural alternatives as well as traditional approaches to addressing health care needs. She's given me several excellent referrals for specialists; she definitely knows the good doctors and health centers in Brooklyn. I also like that her office feels so personal and you get to know the staff, more like something you would experience living in a smaller town than a big city. I remember it took a few months to get in for my initial visit several years ago, but it was worth it because I've felt like I have been in good hands ever since. I've never experienced the long waits that others mention, so perhaps that is something they have worked on in recent years(?). read more

Dr. Schwartzburt and Lindsay Rauch are amazing. I feel so lucky to be treated by them. I tell all of my friends to try to become new patients here because they are truly diamonds in the rough of Brooklyn, who are kind, smart, and open-minded in their approach to medicine. Their support staff is also great! Lourdes at the front desk is always a pleasure to converse with and she has saved my butt many times when I needed a document, appointment, or had a question. She works hard to help you and is always so nice. There is also a nurse (I can't remember her name, sorry) who is a master of blood drawing, so fast and efficient. I don't know what people are talking about with the wait time, its a doctors office, in BROOKLYN! Bring a book! My wait times here are always much shorter than other doc office wait times I've experienced in NYC but I would be willing to wait all day if I had to because the quality of care I get here is something special and unique. read more