I am so glad to read the reviews from others who had a negative experience at AALFA. I went here initially because it was supposed to be a pro-life clinic, which led me to believe it would not be a “vax-pushing” clinic. I didn’t know it was Catholic. I gave it 1 star because I liked Dr. Duncan overall, he was respectful, prompt, and listened to my concerns. A couple of months ago, Dr. Duncan was on leave and my daughter needed to be seen for a health concern she was very worried about. The front desk offered an appointments with Dr. Koberman. My daughter said she was rude, cold, dismissive, and shamed her for certain lifestyle choices. The doctor also refused to sign a vaccine exemption and told my daughter she needed to “go somewhere else to get it.” I felt badly but thought maybe my daughter was exaggerating. A few weeks later, I needed to see a doctor for several things that had been going on for a couple of months, things that had been persisting for a few months. I was offered an appointment with Dr. Koberman and went in with an open mind. First of all, she was 30 mins late, so late that I went to the front desk to ask if they had forgotten about me. She then asked what I came in for, and at first I described ovarian pain and told her I had a history of polycystic ovaries and that my previous doctor had suggested maybe taking them out. When I suggested this to Dr. Kobberman, her eyes flew open as if I had stated that aborted babies go to hell. “Why would you want to do THAT?” She exclaimed. And it just went downhill from there. Instead of listening to my concerns for coming in (pelvic pain, lower back pain, hormonal fluctuations) she chose to focus on my past history of alcohol abuse (I’ve been sober 22 years) and suggested I might have other addictive tendencies I should be more focused on - and then said maybe I should “seek help for my mental health.” When I told her she was making me feel shamed, she said, “feeling shame is normal.” I said “NO, YOU are making me feel shamed.” She also tried to backpedal by telling me “the Holy Spirit tells me what to say,” and then went into a long history lesson about how me coming in with “all these problems” was overwhelming, and in the past the DOCTOR would determine what was wrong with the patient, not the other way around. I also asked for a Pap smear, and said I had not had one for 4 years. She said that was fine and they were good for five years if the past had always been normal. It was the strangest thing, aren’t doctors at least supposed to PRETEND they’re doing something? You know, listen to your heart, tap your knees with the little hammer, look into your ears, etc. This was just her sitting there giving me an interrogation, and then me resisting and correcting what she had said - back and forth. If she had any interpersonal skills she would have picked up on my resistance and changed her approach. We are about the same age, there was no reason for her condescension and treating me like a naive imbecile. This was the most horrible experience I’ve ever had with a doctor. Terrible bedside manner, dismissive, condescending, rude, complete lack of empathy, passive aggressive. I was going to this clinic because I thought it would be warm, friendly, Christian, and welcoming. Everyone was a disappointment except for Dr. Duncan, the medical assistants, and one front desk person. Rest of front desk is rude, ignores you when you walk in, and cold, act like you’re inconveniencing them with your very presence. When I tried to get the results of the ultrasound on my ovaries, I was told “Dr Koberman reviews her reports at the end of the day” that was 3 weeks ago and she never called me.. I found out the place who did the ultrasound had a patient portal - glad for that because hell would’ve frozen over before Dr. Koberman called me back. I am not going to drive 45 minutes for this kind of treatment, I might as well go back into the machine of the big hospital system I was trying to avoid…there’s a HealthPartners clinic less than a mile from me.
