If you are female-presenting, value your time or money, or want a medically-supported diagnosis and…read moretreatment: find another endocrinologist.
Dr. Frank Hsu does not deserve a star. He does not deserve your business. He does not deserve to have a license or be a practicing medical professional of any kind.
In a single session he chastised me for not being on birth control and lectured me on the efficacy of condoms (despite the relief I've experienced since getting off of birth control, and a conflicting response giving hormones play a big role in endocrinology, and as I was not requesting support on the matter or prevention of pregnancy),
... denied the existence of treatment options for Hashimoto's disease (despite synthetic thyroid hormones being one prescribable option),
... and refused to request a full thyroid panel including antibodies (which are used to identify this autoimmune disorder) until I persisted by pointing out that it would at least rule it out as a diagnosis and insisted on getting it,
... made me exceedingly uncomfortable during the physical exam even with a female nurse in the room (who was visibly uncomfortable herself and made it further awkward) by providing a gown that was so small I could not cover my legs, crotch, belly, or part of my breasts (I'm slightly overweight but not obese),
... not wearing gloves during the breast exam,
... instructing me to only pull my underwear half way down my thigh to examine my vulva while standing by my waist (a rather ineffective positioning),
... and by inappropriately pushing my shoulder when he wanted me to lay down or sit up (making me feel like a reclining chair).
In addition to Dr. Frank Hsu's outdated, misogynistic and unscientific practices, his office is run poorly: no voicemail (requiring patients to call multiple times - try a dozen over a few days just to make my initial appointment), hardly any online presence (which would have helped to know what the office hours were and correct address in Castro Valley), poor management of paperwork (my PCP had to resend my referral documents three times and through Stanford Health online), they flat out lied to me (when my bloodwork was returned by Quest Diagnostics and was missing a lipid panel, I called Dr. Frank Hsu's office to ask why and they lied, telling me they never authorized the panel but if I wanted it still I would need to make another appointment and request it), and they try to maximize their profits by seeing multiple patients simultaneously (it was a 15-20 minute wait after I changed into my exam gown, and 15-20 minute wait after I changed back out of it).
I commuted more than an hour each way to see this "specialist" referred to me by my doctor, unfortunately without doing my own research first. Hopefully my review will prevent someone else from having such a poor, and in my case unsettling, experience. I have also let my PCP, Dr. Lilian Tsao know that she should not recommend this man. She is a respectable doctor and thanked me for letting her know, and that he would be removed from their referral lists.
