Harracksingh, Carol, Md - Hudson Valley Womens Group

I started going to Dr. Harracksingh over ten years ago. They were amazing...very kind, very prompt, and very organized. I don't know what happened in the past three years, but I haven't seen such a decline in a doctor's office in my life. A lot of the doctors and nurses left, so they moved to a smaller space. Now you have to wait at least 1/2 hour after your appointment time until someone will see you, but usually more. And then when you're in the actual office, you will be waiting there. I once waited an hour in the waiting room and 45 minutes in the doctor's office! The woman who answers the phones is curt and rude. She brushes you off and acts like you're ruining her day by calling. When they tell you they're going to phone in your prescription, DON'T BELIEVE THEM!!! I am currently two days late in starting my birth control pills because the curt idiot who answers the phone didn't call the pharmacy, even though she told me she would. I am currently in the process of finding a new doctor. I would rather deal with the stress of seeing a new gynecologist than ever have to deal with these morons again. The only good doctor left was Dr. Wang and she's gone now. Harracksingh herself is rude and impatient. DO NOT GO TO THIS OFFICE. more

Disabled by Lyme disease for 2 years, a physician's assistant recommended I see Dr. Harracksingh because of unresolved medical issues. My eye doctor had me on 3 prescriptions for allergies; another doctor prescribed Adderall for my brain fog, Xanax for insomnia, and Cymbalta for aches & pains and mood swings (anger and depression). Yes, I had to wait a month for an appointment, but it was worth the trip to Yorktown Heights from Stamford, Connecticut. The office was small and friendly and I chatted with two patients while waiting 30 minutes for my appointment. As soon as the doctor saw me, she smiled. She admired my biceps(!) and I told her at 57 I was proud of my strength and being in such good shape. Before I told her my symptoms, she asked me if I had allergies, fatigue and moodswings. I told her I did. She looked at the fat around my middle and asked what I ate. I told her my diet was Impeccable and I couldn't understand why I couldn't lose the fat around my belly. I said I hated being on pharmaceuticals. She said that was going to change fast. She immediately prescribed adrenal supplements and said that after my blood work was back, after I had taken home and completed and submitted a hormone test that required me to spit into glass tubes every 4 hours for 12 hours, that we would know my deficiencies and she would make up bioidentical hormone supplements that would turn my life around. I want to mention that I loved this doctor's attitude, her way of talking and her appreciation for my desperate situation. I told her my mind wasn't sharp anymore and I had retired as a teacher because words woulnd't come to me or I said ""car"" when I thought I was saying ""bird"". She smiled and crisply assured me that was going to change. She talked to me at length about how my body had changed in menopause and that all she wanted to do was replace what was missing in my body. She said after several months of Hormone Replacement Therapy I wouldn't need any more pharamacueticals. She was SO RIGHT! The first week of HRT, I didn't need the 3 allergy prescriptions and have never taken them again, one year later. After a month, I started decreasing Cymbalta, Xanax and Adderall. I started running faster, longer. My brain fog lifted. My speech impairment was gone. Six months later, I do not need any of the drugs I was on which weren't curing my symptoms anyway. I am now in vibrant, happy health, taking HRT and adrenal supplements. I go to a compounding pharmacy in Chappaqua every 60 days to renew my HRT and get more adrenal supplement (which is over the counter). Ethel, the doctor's assistant, is a lovely, wonderful woman who answered my plea to help my sister when she got cancer and needed a nutritional supplement to help her through chemo. My sister came from North Carolina to see the doctor, that's how much I think of Dr. Harracksingh. I might add that Dr. Harracksingh is lively, funny and fun to visit. She reminds me of a Polish doctor I saw for 20 years, until she retired. I tend to like doctors who are not white, male, from the U.S. and sporting an arrogant attitude. Dr. Harracksingh has made me a new woman and I highlly recommend her for anyone seeking treatment for menopause! more

Dr Harracksingh oversaw my pregnancy, attended my (natural, unmedicated) birth, and has taken care of my postpartum care. I would recommend her without hesitation. If you look at the other reviews here, most - but not all - are commenting on the doctor's office and how it's run. They have a point. More on that later. Dr. Harracksingh herself was not raised in the US, so she does miss some of the social norms and can come off as very blunt or abrupt. She doesn't always use the ""softeners"" and disclaimers that American women usually pop into conversation. In my book, this is not the same as being dismissive or disrespectful! She is a deeply kind person with an engaging sense of humor. So many of us have encountered OBs who will charm you, agree to everything you say, promise you the moon - and then completely disregard your wishes, fail to keep you informed about your own care, and generally treat you like a cow in a hospital gown once you've signed on with them. Dr. Harracksingh is the opposite of that. She listened to all of my hopes for how the birth would go and made them her goals as well. She was willing to go much further down the natural birth road than I was, in fact. For example, she has done water births and will let healthy patients go past 42 weeks with close, careful monitoring. However, she comes at medicine from a scientific, evidence-based perspective. She seemed very up to date on research and best practice. Dr. H talked with me about my general health, not just the pregnancy, and really wanted me to be informed and to respect pregnancy and childbirth as something natural that I could do. It was the perfect approach for me. On the day I went into labor, Dr. Harracksingh had just lost one of her own parents, literally hours before. She delayed her flight out of town to see me through the birth, even though I was a relatively new patient. My labor was slow to get started, but we had talked about how I wanted to avoid pitocin, and Dr. H did not even bring it up. (I asked, and she gave me a very careful, balanced view of the options. In the end I didn't need it.) She was warm and kind in a no-nonsense, upbeat way throughout my labor and delivery. I am grateful to her from the bottom of my heart. ....And now for the bad: A good doctor is not always a good manager or a good boss, and Dr. Harracksingh's office has some problems. First, I never waited less than half an hour on any visit. More than once, I waited close to an hour in the waiting room, and then another half-hour in the exam room. The receptionists and staff were very dismissive and borderline rude on my first visit, to the point that they had me on the verge of tears (ah, pregnancy hormones). After a few appointments, I got to know them and they got to know me, and we warmed up to each other. They are actually very lovely women, but seemed like they had distanced themselves emotionally from their jobs. The nurses were also lovely and encouraging and personable in the way that very good nurses are. However, twice I heard Dr. Harracksingh yelling at her nurses - being very harsh - where patients could easily hear. It was unprofessional and awkward. The nurses often seemed demoralized and upset, though they never took it out on patients. In short, the office is disorganized, and there seems to be a lot of bad blood between the doctor and her employees. It can be frustrating and uncomfortable for patients to be in the middle of that environment, and a waste of their time as well. To sum up: Dr. Harracksingh is a great doctor, especially if you want a VBAC or a natural childbirth. However, if you are taking time off in the middle of the work day for regular appointments, her office probably just isn't going to work for you. more

I am very surprised to see these bad reviews for Dr. Harracksingh. I think she is a smart, very professional doctor. I only see her when I go to the practice. She is knowledgeable about women's health issues and is one of the only doctors I know who discusses nutrition and lifestyle changes rather than push medications on you. more

I can't believe I'm reading these horrible reviews of ""Dr."" Harracksingh's practice, although I am not shocked in the least. I randomly chose her as my doctor when I first moved to Yorktown Heights in 2003. BIG MISTAKE! Always go on a reference, not out of the phone book. I agree with ALL of these reviews; totally unprofessional with major attitudes. I've never heard anything good about this office. I hated every minute of going there through my 2nd pregnancy in 2004! When I went for the glucose test they made me fast and drink that orange stuff. I showed up on time and they had me waiting for 20 minutes. By the time the nasty nurse came out to get me, she was shocked that I was doing a glucose test and practically yelled at me that the test wasn't going to work b/c I had been waiting for 20 mins! Well whose fault was THAT??? I was infuriated. I should have switched docs back then. Fast forward to the C-section on the operating table I started yelling in pain during the surgery. She was FRUSTRATED with me and asked me if it was pain or pressure I was feeling. I said it felt like someone was kicking me in the stomach. She shot a look to the other docs and nurses and they stopped the surgery and had to up my epidural. How does that happen??? How does it run out in the middle of surgery? Fast foward to my healthy baby girl being born, but too bad she completely MISDIAGNOSED Postpartum Depression AND Mastitis! I had flu symptoms for over a week; sweating profusely, 104 fever, and one breast in pain. After calling 3 times without getting a call back from the office, I drove myself (delirious w/ 104 fever) to the office and asked her to check me out. She kept telling me I was probably dehydrated and had the FLU and could I please leave before I INFECTED the rest of her patients! Holy hell, no one should ever be treated like that. I ended up walking into a DOCS office in Jefferson Valley and this doc I'd never met before told me right away ""honey, you have mastitis! If you waited another day, you would be in the hospital getting surgery to drain the infection."" I cried right there. She put me on 4000 mg of amoxicillin....this doctor I never met, saved me. How sad and pathetic. It was a nightmare and one that I don't like talking about too much. I'm pretty sure I could have had some kind of lawsuit against them, but I was too upset with the postpartum to deal with it. I've since switched to Mount Kisco Medical Group in Yorktown and I love them all! Amy Fleming is my midwife, and I'm going to have my 3rd baby on 8/9/10 at Northern Westchester Hospital. Looking forward to a good experience this time. I don't know how Dr. Harracksingh is still practicing!!! It disgusts me. Pros: NONE! Cons: TOO MANY...read on..... more

Worst experience ever with a so-called doctor. I had an appointment for 1:30 at Harracksingh's Cold Spring office. Took a half day off of work. On confirming the appointment the day before, the staff told me to come in at 1:45. Four patients were ahead of me. I asked how long would it be and they replied ""A little while"". When I pressed them, specifically: ""How long is a little while?"" she curtly responded, ""A while"". While I was waiting, a patient she was seeing behind the wall complained. I could hear Harracksingh through the wall raising her voice at the patient. Patient with newborn baby left upset. Took staff 45 minutes to even ask me to fill out new patient forms. I walked to the counter and said to them, ""Never mind, this isn't working out for me"". Staff person became extremely defensive and replied ""I just got here!"" Harracksingh came out from behind the office and her behavior was impatient, agitated, stressed and overwhelmed. She raised her voice to me, said she had an ""emergency"" that morning. I asked why no one called me, that I had to work too, that I had ""emergencies"" too (that I had to leave work for in order to keep this appointment). I pointed out how long I was waiting for and that I found it disrespectful. She asked the staff if I was an existing patient (because obviously she doesn't know who her patients are) and when they told her no, she unbelievably said to me ""We don't want your kind of people here anyway."" Harracksingh runs her office as though people are an insurance mill. The more she stacks up the appointments, the less actual health care her patients receive and in her case, her patients health care is the last thing she is working for. She is unfocused, unprofessional and nasty. Some ""doctor"". more