I really, REALLY, wanted to like Dr. Laursen after I read her reviews on Yelp and I actually do like some things about the process of seeing her (easy to get in and see her, friendly staff, clean waiting room and offices), however, the most important thing (in my opinion) for a doctor to provide is patient care, and, unfortunately, that is lacking by Dr. Laursen.
The first visit was good - I have been having trouble with weight loss despite what she described as good nutrition (high protein, low carb, tracking what I eat, etc.) and regular workouts. She said she would run a full blood panel and see if we could figure out what was going on. I appreciated that - and in order to give her a more complete picture, I had my other tests results for the past year sent to her office. I had to get a blood panel at Quest, but no big deal, not every doctor has lab services in the same building. She also explained to me that for a fee of $125 (that wasn't covered by insurance), I could take a test that would measure my metabolism/BMR. I had been calculating it at 1400 but thought it was a little high given my trouble losing weight, so I agreed.
Two weeks later, I was optimistic. I felt like I had a doctor who "got" it and was really going to help me. I went it, took the test for my BMR (the machine had some trouble, but the staff was super nice about it...). After the results came in, Dr. Laursen came in, told me that my blood work was normal but my metabolism was very low. I asked what can be done about it and she said "It's genetic so very little." Very discouraging - I asked can I see a nutritionist? She said "Sure, but I don't have any recommendations." She's a weight loss doctor, shouldn't she have at least ONE recommendation? She told me to increase my B-12 which was on the low end, but not that low and see if that helped with my energy level. I had mentioned that while I was tired, I didn't feel any more tired than anyone else who works a full day, and works out. I asked if she saw any differences from my blood work results from the past year and she said she had just received them (highly unlikely since my prior doctors confirmed that they sent my records over within two days). She hadn't bothered to look at my previous records to get a more complete picture. When I asked her again if there was ANYTHING I could do, she recommended I eat 1000 calories per day and said since it was genetic there was nothing else that could be done (how could she confirm that? she doesn't know if my parents have a low metabolism, she never asked about that). 1000 calories! As if my metabolism wasn't slow enough. The paperwork she gave me contained the most basic information one would find on any website about losing weight (i.e., eat less calories than you burn) - nothing you would expect from someone who was board certified in weight loss. I got visibly upset and started tearing up - her response? "Ok, well come out of the room when you are ready to pay." No comfort, no understanding, HORRIBLE bedside manner.
Then, today, I called to ask her a follow up question about the B12 recommendation. Her staff told me she was in with patients (completely understandable). However, when I asked if she could call me back when she had a free moment, her staff said she sees patients, completes charts and then leaves. She couldn't even make a 2 minute phone call to answer a question which would clarify her own recommendations? Absolutely ridiculous.
As I said, I wanted to like her and I understand that there is no silver bullet to weight loss but for her to be so dismissive was incredibly unpleasant and disappointing. read more
