Palmetto Pediatrics

Despite ALL of the negative post about Palmetto Peds, I have had an amazing experience with them. My daughter is 16 months old and has had multiple health issues since she was born. Her primary doctor is Dr Leonardi, which we absolutely love, the staff is amazing and makes us feel very welcomed and are always there when we need them and are so helpful, we usually see Dr Lowe or Dr Etheridge for sick visits, sometimes Jenn Graves PA or Dr Norby. I never had a great experience with Dr West but the rest of the Drs have been amazing with my child with treating her for her multiple ongoing health issues and have amazing bedside manners. I would not ever second guess bringing my child to the practice nor the care that they provide. They listen to my questions and concerns and I am satisfied by the end of my appointment and if I have questions during the week the actual doctor calls me back so we can discuss it and the doctor calls me back when they receive follow up notes from specialist to discuss procedures and appointments to check on my daughter, I am beyond satisfied with my daughters care at Palmetto Pediatrics, they are awesome on so many levels for me and my daughter :)) more

Sad to say that the negative reviews are true. Dr. Etheridge is the most pompous, disrespectful and unprofessional doctor I have ever known. Quite frankly, he does not know his stuff. I had to question what he was telling me to do (give Pepto-Bismol to a febrile 7-year-old, which is a huge NO per the Amercian Academy of Pediatrics) and ask for Dr. Nordby who is the only one at that practice who has a half a clue and a decent bedside manner. Dr. West is entirely too ""old-school"", and tends to have a very patronizing attitude. Before this last sick visit I had brought my son there for ADHD evaluation. Dr. West said he agreed with me and with the letter from my son's teacher after personally evaluating my son. However, he listed the diagnosis as ""academic underachievement"", and told me I had to take my son to a psychiatric specialist (hello double co-pay) before he would write a prescription for him. My son's grades are fine, he's just all over the place and can't focus. I totally disagree with the way they do pretty much everything there, from forcing you to bring your child in ($$$!) before they will talk to you to charging you $15 every time the doctor gets on the phone with you. THAT is a load. The final straw was this last visit with Dr. Etheridge - that man shouldn't be practicing anywhere. I have an extensive healthcare background and know my children better than anyone yet he chuckles dismissively every time I speak and blows off every concern or suggestion I have. At least Dr. Nordby respects my opinions and concerns enough to discuss them with me instead of treating me like I'm an idiot. I can't tolerate that type of behavior, especially when the health and welfare of my children is at stake. As much as I like her, I can't take the chance that my kids won't get sick when she's not there. As for the office staff, they're usually pretty friendly, but last week my son was violently ill and they made him sit in the waiting room, crying because his head hurt so bad from fever and vomiting, while other kids went ahead of us for well visits. That's no way to run an office. My friend suggested Sweetgrass, and I am hearing good things about Lowcountry so hopefully I can get some decent care for my kids when we leave Palmetto. more

Maybe things have changed since these reviews were written. I have had my daughter there since October 2010 and they are fantastic. We have seen every doctor there and have had great results. There have been two problems....one was with Dr. Etheridge. I had a similar experience to the one listed below. He does not listen....he diagnosed my daughter and said that as long as no one in my family had a cold sore, he wasn't concerned. If someone did, I needed to call back immediately because they are VERY dangerous for babies. So I freaked and called everyone and someone did have one. Called Etheridge back about what to do and he said ""Oh it isn't a big deal"". He sure made it sound like a big deal!!! THe other issue was with a nurse that was rude, but she could have been having a bad day. WE all have them! I love this doctor's office. LOVE Dr. Nordby, Dr. Lowe and Jennifer Graves. THey are amazing, caring doctors! And I never have to wait more than 10 minutes, most of the time they call me back before my appointment time is scheduled to start! So I would definitely recommend them! more

OMG..... Dr. Etheridge and staff are very rude and unprofessional. My daughter was seen by Dr. Etheridge on (2) visits for ADHD (her previous doctor of 11ys retired).After specifically being told that I DID NOT WANT MY DAUGHTERS MEDICATION CHANGED... he changed her medication. Dropping her from 35mg a day to 15 mg a day... Needless to say the month of June was HELL for her, she couldnt concentrate, kept vomiting (from generic medication, that I TOLD HIM MADE HER SICK), very emotional and depressed. I am PISSED because I explained to him, that he interacts with my daughter once a month, I live with her everyday. Dropping her medication was not logical..He did not apologize for making such an avoidable mistake (HAD HE LISTENED TO ME ORIGINALLY) Dr Etheridge has a GOD COMPLEX. When comfronted with his ignorant decision, he wimped out and banned myself and my children from the office, which was totally unjustifiable considering I wasnt rude and was well within my rights to express my opinion on his decision. Basically if YOU ARE A PARENT WITH AN OPINION,PALMETTO PEDIACTRICS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU OR YOUR CHILDREN. They ONLY want clients who DONT LET THEM KNOW HOW UNPROFESSIONAL THEY ARE. Besides my experience with Ms. Priscilla and Ms. Linda. PALMETTO PEDIACTRICS SUCKS... AND DR ETHERIDGE SHOULD NOT PRACTICE MEDICINE....... AS for the nursing manager her attitude sucks as well, she thinks she is smarter than she is. My mother is a registered nurse of 33 years, she went with me on two visits and was very UPSET AT THEIR IGNORANCE. When I called back to have my children seen by another pediatrician in the office I was told NO ONE WOULD SEE MY CHILDREN... I guess DOCTOR ETHERIDGE HAD SLANDERED MY NAME IN THE BUILDING. I was upset at first, then thought to myself ""BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER"" so If ONE DOCTORS IS THAT IGNORANT THEN THEY ALL MUST BE..... Intelligent professional parents need not bring your children to PALMETTO PEDIACTRICS........ or if you dont believe in GOD you are a perfect patient for DR ETHERIDGE BECAUSE HE BELIEVES HE IS A GOD WALKING THIS EARTH . SHAME ON HIM....... I am totally done.. more

The doctor here was a total idiot! I had a visit right after I had delivered my baby by Cesarean. She tried to make me haul my baby to the hospital to get a Jondus test, he was hardly yellow! Plus come back the next day to weigh him again because he was 1 OZ less then when he left the hospital. When she called with the test results, which no shocker they were normal levels, I let her know I was wrong about the baby's weight and he actually weight two oz more, she tried to get me to come in anyways. All she wanted was my insurance money!!! She kept saying ""If what you're telling me is true..."" Like I was lying to her...oh bother... Plus their well kid sick kid is completely unsupervised. This lady had her two year old walking back and forth and she had Croup!!! Nobody said anything...I had to! I went somewhere else. Pros: Central Location Cons: Dirty, Money Hungry Staff more

I do not like palmetto pediatrics. they do not help kids they just say they are fine and send them on there way! go to lowcountry pediatrics they are the best. Pros: nothing is good about this office Cons: everything more

Dr. Lowe and Dr. Leonardi are very nice, thorough, and have good beside manner. But the long waits in the waiting room, the silly practice of having to pay for after hours calls, the one rude doctor (I won't mention his name) who it seems like you unvariably always see, the rude MA's who have no compassion, and the clueless office staff who don't want to schedule an appointment for a sick baby until her temperature is 105 degrees F (what?) made me not want to ever come to Palmetto Pedatrics again. I switched practices when my daughter was only 6 months old. Pros: Dr. Lowe and Dr. Leonardi, Good Location, Cons: Everything else more

I switched to this practice after my 3rd child was born because of my insurance's policies changing and because it was closer. I ended up seeing all the dr's and the only one that remotely had any bedside manner or seemed to know what they were talking about was Dr. Leonardi. BUT he mis-diagnosed my son! I had to push my concerns that my son was not picking up his head at 4mo. and that his head was on the large side. He finally ordered an ultrasound which he said was normal. In the meantime, I switched back to my old pediatrician (Dr. Todd Vasko - LOVE HIM) and he had a neurologist look at the ultrasound and they found ""water on the brain""!! Dr. Vasko got the ball rolling with a pediatric neurologist and then PT set up. My son was behind on his motor skills and is now 21 months and is advanced on his motor skills due to early intervention!! My experience goes alot deeper than explained but that's the jist of it. I live in Summerville and have yet to hear of a good dr in Summerville. West Ashley is well worth the drive for a good dr. more

He has recently retired. There is a new doctor in his place, but I am not sure of his name. There are four doctors in this practice, and I highly recommend them all. Give the practice as a whole a try if you are looking for a pediatrician. I would ask for Dr. Leonardi, and then Dr. West if you want someone in particular, but as I said earlier, all of them are excellent Pros: Thumbs Up! more