Oh wow. It's amazing how experiences can be so different..
My problem with Dr. Souci was that she KEPT referring our baby out for this and that, and nothing was ever wrong. She scared us one time too many and even the specialists didn't agree with us being referred. She was always a very nice lady, just kind of hyper...she did spend plenty of time and attention tending to our baby. But she cost us a lot of money on needless specialist referrals. My daughter is now almost 4 and not a thing is, or was, wrong. Dr. Souci was the ONLY doctor who thought she needed to see a specialist at 8 weeks old for her stomach, and again at 6 months old for ....what? We still don't know...Dr. Souci said she should have been sitting up on her own at 6 months old and sent us to a neurologist. It really scared the you know what out of us as first time parents.
Then the neurologist looked the baby over and told us she didn't see a thing that warranted that visit. We were told by others that this doctor tends to be referral happy. This is GOOD if you need one, and don't want to worry about something being missed. But in our case it was just wrong, costly, and there were never any justified reasons fr it in the first place. If we had gotten second opinions from other pediatricians before the referral, we wouldn't have been referred (and in our case, this was right--I would hate for someone not to get referrals when their case really needs one)...I can't tell you how much it worried us.
I do know someone who, last I heard, works at Piedmont Pediatrics as a nurse, I wish she had been there when we went there, she's great. I don't have all bad things to say about Piedmont Pediatrics but I would advise caution on that particular doctor- and I think she may be better with older kids maybe, than newborns...she IS a nice person, though. She was always friendly.
I just felt like putting that out there. I was very impressed with Andrew Gunter at University Pediatrics and he is the one I would go to if I moved back in that area, he was SO good with my daughter from 6 months old to 3 and a half when we moved. He is awesome. Piedmont Pediatrics tried to get an attitude with me when we got a second opinion on our daughter after we'd been sent for all these tests for various reasons, unrelated. Their office manager told me that if I wanted a second opinion, I should have kept it with another doctor in THEIR office, that I should not have gone outside of their office.
This did not sit well with me. They were trying to put my 6 month old baby under general anesthesia for an MRI and she didn't NEED one so of course I got a second opinion, anesthesia can be dangerous! She never had the MRI and she's just fine, at 4. But no matter- I believe patients have the right to get a second opinion outside of an office- they even told me that their doctors back each other up.
So anyway, be forewarned, but I won't tell you that Piedmont Pediatrics is bad,but that situation was. I'm sure for the most part, that they are fine. And certainly, you want a pediatrician who will give you a referral promptly if one is needed. I might check out Tara Gaines if she's still with Piedmont..I knew someone who liked her...
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