Donald F. Gardner, MD

Before my insurance ran out I wanted to follow-​up with an endocrinologist. I called around Houston by calling the best-​rated endocrinologists — each Doctor was booked before the holidays and the next appointment for each would be early January. I was crossing my fingers to have a positive experience at Dr. Gardner’s office, the only office I reached out to that had an opening– in fact the office had multiple openings for appointments. The first lady who I spoke with on the phone was GREAT– very helpful.
The time of my appointment was 11:15am and I waited with only one other person in the waiting room… until 1pm. Meeting with the NP before the doctor was very beneficial as a pre-​screening of sorts.
When meeting with Dr. Gardner he seemed frustrated when I asked about medical conditions and even bothered by medical treatment questions. When I asked about thyroid issues the entire conversation with Dr. Garder was dealing with cosmetic treatments, and he seemed frustrated when I asked about the actual medical side of having a family history involving thyroid problems. Instead of focusing on endocrinology he kept asking me why one of my eyes is bigger than the other. He kept stating that I need to go see a friend of his who is very interested in eye size. I understand doctors benefit from referrals; however, I made an appointment for thyroid issues. An odd thing during the appointment was that he referred to «other Hispanic women do X to treat this.» It did not help things to have to let the doctor know I, as a patient, was not Hispanic and it would be better to generally speak about treatments.
I understand a doctor is rushed for time and when I started to ask about costs I could not get a word in and he excused himself from the room and that was the end of the appointment. The NP in the room could see that was not an ideal way to handle an appointment and offered her email address if I decided to not come back.

AAA+ Rating
I have been attending the offices of Dr. Gardner now for some 5 years or so. During all my visits I can only congratulate both Dr. Gardner and his entire team for the way I have been treated. My appointments, although sometimes long, can mostly be attributed to the care and attention Dr Gardner gives all his patients. You are never rushed, his diagnosis, and prognosis are always carefully explained to you, any medications and changes to prescriptions are always minutely detailed out and any side effects and problems associated with the drugs are always discussed. Having a life threatening disease is difficult enough as it is, but Dr Gardner’s bedside manner, cheerful demeanor, subject matter knowledge and professionalism shine through… and the dreaded visit to the Doctors office is never an issue.

Dr. Gardner is an endocrinologist. He is someone that my spouse has seen numerous times, because my spouse has no thyroid (that’s what happens when you have thyroid cancer). Dr. Gardner was recommended to us by another doctor. WHY?
A doctor is more than just his clinical skills, which are average for Dr. Gardner. It’s also his bedside manner, professionalism, etc… Recently, my husband had an appointment with this doctor and made sure to get the FIRST appointment of the morning since he just started a new job. He sat there waiting for a long time as the waiting room filled with individuals with later appointment times. After a while he asked what was going on. He was told the doctor was a little late. He continue to wait. After a while a Pharmaceutical rep came in and asked to see the doctor. My husband overheard the office staff tell the rep that the doctor was in a breakfast with other pharmaceutical reps. That angered my husband as he had been waiting well over an hour and a half at this point. Of course, my husband confronted the office staff about this and they admitted that the doctor was at breakfast with salesmen!!! My husband then asked for his records to be made available to him so he could take them to another doctor (because he did NOT plan to continue seeing this doctor). He was then spoken to by a very nice office manager who apologized for the wait. She seemed genuinely contrite and embarrassed by the situation but did admit that the doctor had been at breakfast with drug reps all morning. My husband ended up seeing the doctor about 2+ hours later than his appointment time. He also asked the doctor about this and the doctor just shrugged it off like it was no big deal. My husband asked for a refill on his thyroid medication and the doctor said he should have had a blood test. My husband Very Specifically had called three days in advance to ask if he needed the test and the office staff checked and said no. So, my husband ended up at this office for over 3 hours with no prescription and had to go get a blood test after it was all done (something he could have done while he waited).
Doctors are not gods. Their time is not more valuable than other people’s time. You better be the best and last of your kind to treat people this way, not just an average endocrinologist.
We will NOT be back. You should only go if you love to spend hours in a waiting room and don’t mind that your time is not valued. As I said before, a doctor is more than his clinical skills and this office is MISERABLE.