Shlafer, Stephen J, Md - North Sound Pediatrics

Dr. Shlafer is the best! He was my pediatrician as a child and has been my son's pediatrician since he was born 5 1/2 years ago. As many reviews have already stated he goes above and beyond your average doctor. As a child I had a lot of medical problems and so does my son and doctor Shlafer has been there every step of the way, advocating for us, taking his personal time to do whatever needs to be done. He is the best by far and believe me I have seen more than my share of doctors in my life. My 5 year old, who has been seen in multiple clinics at Children's and other specialist, will only willing go to the doctor if we are going to see Dr. Shlafer. He trusts him and that is huge! We were there just last week and I had called ahead of time to discuss my concerns with, April, Dr. Shlafer's fabulous nurse. I told her my son was worried about what is going on and asked if we could be extra cautious of what was discussed in front of him. They were great about the whole thing! Dr. Shlafer and April discussed what was going on outside of the room and when the doctor came in he sat down and sang silly songs with my son and made him laugh while he did his exam and gave me instructions on what to do next. This not only distracted my son but put him totally at ease. When we left he said to me, ""You know mom, Dr. Shlafer's not like other doctors, I think he really loves me"" \r \r I could go on and on telling you about all of the great things Dr. Shlafer has done to help us but he's been with our family for so many many years it could take me a very long time. The bottom line is Dr. Shlafer is our favorite doctor ever, we love him dearly and don't know what we would ever do without him! more

If you're going to go on here and attempt to repudiate a well-respected pediatrician, at least take the time to spell his name correctly. I know this is a country full of illiterate half-wits, but come on. It's on the top of the page, right on your god damn screen.\r \r Dr. Shlafer is one of the most competent, well-respected, and kindhearted doctors in the region. A ""quack""? The man is absolutely brilliant, excelled in medical school, and has been practicing for nearly 20 years. Criticism of his medical expertise is patently ridiculous and insulting, especially to the thousands of children and families he's helped. \r \r These negative reviews all seem to be based on highly questionable anecdotes from pugnacious morons (most of whom have the writing skills of a 10-year-old) who know absolutely nothing about medicine.\r \r As for Nunya B's comment about his ""offensive"" and ""inappropriate"" remarks? I have known Dr. Shlafer for a long time, and he's one of the most empathetic human beings imaginable. He goes far above and beyond what any normal pediatrician would do for his patients; he constantly works on-call during his own free time, provides emotional support to families of especially sick children, and charges nothing to families without money/insurance. The ""inappropriate"" remark mentioned below was completely benign and an obvious lighthearted joke. Sounds to me, Nunya, like you wouldn't be a whole lot of fun at parties. \r \r You should be deeply ashamed of yourselves. And if you don't believe me, just ask one of his 3,000-something patients; they LOVE him, as do I. more

Been with Dr. Slafer since my first was born 16 years ago. Have had nothing but positive experiences with him. My kids are healthy and they think he's great, as do I. more

Keep looking for another Dr. \r I wouldn't take my kids here even if the visits were free. We were very happy with this doctor for two years, then my son hurt his arm and I went to the ER where they took an x-ray of it. They said it wasn't broken, sent him home with a sling, then I went to see Dr. Schlafer and he said it was broken just by looking at it. I said we had just gone to the ER and had x-rays taken and I could get them and show them to him to see what he thought and he said: VERBATUM: ""If you do not trust my judgement, you can find yourself another pediatrician"" \r So, I did. \r Best decision I ever made. Oh, and my sister has a child with Autism who could have been diagnosed earlier by someone who knew what signs to look for. He said my nephew didn't have Autism and after taking him to the Austim Research Center at Children's Hospital he now has the diagnosis. more

TEN STARS FOR THIS DOC!!!! OH MY WORD to all YOU SHAME SHAME!!! Dr. Shlafer is a profoundly honest professional. I met Dr. Shlafer for the first time prior to my oldest daughter being born. We had a great consult. He also gave me his home number for any emergencies. He has treated both my daughters since they were first born minus a few years when we had moved away, but he was my first choice when we moved back. I am sorry if you cannot handle a medical professional doing their job in content in which they are instructed to by the Washington State LAW. The LAW states that we in the medical or any field that involves interacting with children are mandated by the state to report to CPS for any and all suspected abuse or neglect we are not to wait till there is proof. Would you rather have a physician that just didn't care. Furthermore, maybe if had been treating my daughter than a real QUACK was last year we could have caught my Diabetes sooner. It takes a special and talented person to do what Dr. Shlafter does and this man has been nothing but TOP NOTCH to me and my girls. He lets us know what is and what isn't acceptable by medical professionals. Dr. Shlafer you are the VERY BEST!!! more

NO STARS!!!!! Shlafer is rude, predujiced, egotistical and completely incompetent....remove your children from his care!! \r \r Dr Shlafer is an incompetent, inappropriate douchebag. Both of my children were patients, about 10 years now, and even though they BOTH asked MORE than 1 time, against my better judgement, I chose to allow them to see him.... examples: Many times he didn't even fully enter the room to properly evaluate my children before writing a script for an antibiotic AND Shlafer has put my son on ""the Z-pak"" so many times he is now allergic to it and much, much stronger antibiotics need to be used on him when he needs them..........Also........My son is 6'2'' football player, last 3 visits the ""dr"" asked him what position he plays and when he said he plays 'wide receiver and tight end' this ""educated Dr.'' replied to my son, ""You do realize that you're WHITE, right?? My son was sooo embarrassed........all 3 times it happened!!\r \r Soo...\r I realized this morning that my 16 1/2 yr old son had a well-child visit that we had missed, having NEVER recieved any type of reminder, including a card the day we were in the office and made the well-child appt, no reminder card given to us.........\r \r Upon realizing this I called to find out when the appt was, schedule a new one and ask why I never received a reminder call. His extremely rude staff interuptted me several times on the phone going on and on about how it has NEVER been their policy to make reminder calls!! ! (This is ridiculous!! I understand no reminder for someone who scheduled a day before but no call about a ONCE A YEAR appt that was made over a month earlier is a very LAZY and selfish policy!!) Then she put me on hold and ANOTHER person came on and told me that if I didn't like the ""Dr's"" policies, I should seek care for him elsewhere!!!!!\r \r WTF!!! I told her if she and her colleauge would shut up long enough, I only wanted to schedule my sons well child appt and even apologized that I was unaware of 'THEIR"" policies and I thought they should at least hear my opinion about it......was put on hold AGAIN!! and that incompetent, rude excuse of a ""Doctor"" told his staff to tell me he would not see my son, unless he was sick and only the next 30 days, and refused to perform my child's well-check, telling my to find a new provider!!!\r \r I will tell anyone who will listen about the poor care and service received under Dr Shlafer's care........\r \r I will add that I'm ashamed of myself for not listening to my kids and my own heart, should have parted ways with his incompetent practice YEARS AGO!!!!! more

WELL IM NOT GONNA HIDE MY I DENTITY MY NAME IS RON BERRY AND MY DAUGHTERS NAME IS ZOEY M BERRY ON OR ABOUT THE 15TH OF APRIL OF 2010 MY DAUGHTER WAS DUE TO BE RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL SHE WAS BORN FEBURY 3RD 2010 SHE IS NOW 2 YRS OLD I TOOK MY DAUGHTER ZOEY TO GO SEE THIS QUACK DOCTOR SHE HAD SEEM HER FOR LIKE 3 MONTHS AFTER BEING REFERRED BY SOMEONE BECAUSE I COULDNT FIND A DOCTOR THAT WOULD TAKE MEDICAID AFTER A WHILE I STARTED TO FEEL TOTALLY UNCOMFORTABLE AS FAR AS HIM BEING A PEDS DOCTOR NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE WAY THAT HE TREATED ME BUT ALSO BECAUSE WHEN MY DAUGHTER WAS ABOY 10 MOS OLD SHE HAD AND X-RAY DONE AS WELL AS A CT SCAN AND IT REVEILED THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY DAUGHTER LATER MY DAUGHTERS EYE DOCTOR CALLED ME TO TELL ME THAT MY DAUGHTER HAD CHIARI TYP1 MALFORMATION HOW EVER THIS QUACK ENDED UP CALLING CPS SAYING THAT MY DAUGHTER HAD A SUPPOSED BROKEN NECK SHE WAS TAKEN FROM ME FOR 5 DAYS AND ALL 5 DAYS WERE NOTHING BUT HELL FOR ME LATER ON WE HAD MORE TESTS DONE AT CHILDRENDS HOSPITAL IN SEATTLE AND AFTER SEEING DR KRINGLE AN ORTHAPEDIST AS WELL AS DR BROWD A SPPIN DOCTOR AND IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT MY DAUGHTER DID INDEED HAVE THIS CHIARI TYPE 1 NOT ONLY THAT BUT THIS QUACK WOULD TELL ME TO MY FACE THAT MY DAUGHTER WAS DOING WELL THEN NEXT THING I KNOW HE IS ON THE PHONE CALLING CPS ON ME I SEARCHED AND SEARCHED FOR A DOC FOR MY DAUGHTER AFTER CALLING SOMEONE WITH THE STATE I FOUND MY DAUGHTERS CURRENT DOCTOR DR RUNYON WHO IS VERRY GOOD AS WELL AS A DOCTOR FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS SHE TAKES THE TIME A SHOWS ME ALL THE WEIGHT SCALES BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER WAS BORN AT 29 WEEKS AND WEIGHED 2 POUNDS 9 OUNCES THIS QUACK DR SHLAFER SHOULD HAVE HIS LICENSE PULLED AND TO EVERYONE THAT IS WRITING GOOD REVIEWS ABOUT HIM HOW MUCH IS HE PAYING YOU AND HOW FAR DOWN THE LINIAGE ARE YOU OR BETTER YETT WTF KIND OF DRUGS ARE YOU ON GET A GRIP WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE THIS GUY IS A SERIOUS QUACK more

Why do I have to give you 1star to post this? If there is a scale, he should be the F grade for patients treatment. Patients do not come to you when everything is wonderful. They come to you when something went terribly wrong and they are confused, that is why you have your job in the first place. Dr. Shlafer, you should stop practicing right now. This job of being pediatrician is NOT for you. Do not returning phone calls and scold at your patients is NOT the way to do business. Yes, it is business! We pay you for your work so SHUT UP, BEND OVER and DO YOUR JOB. I will never see you again in this life time. My sons, Tobias and Timon Nguyen, are no longer your patients. more

It makes me feel bad to see these bad reviews! Our family has had nothing but excellent care provided by Dr. Schlaffer. This doctor has gone beyond the norm to help our family. \r My daughter was in a terrible car accident 5 years ago, with my two little granddaughters in the car. The youngest was gravely injured. She was taken to Harbor view trauma center along with my daughter and other granddaughter. The minute Dr. Schlaffer was informed he was contacting the hospital. He even went as far as to call my mother the little ones greatmother to get a better hold of what was going on. My granddaughter was transferred to COH where she stayed for 4 months. She is now a vent-dependent quad and has been since she was 18 months old. He went to Childrens to see the baby and kept advised of her condition. He also took excellent care of the 7 year old she had a broken pelvis.\r He offered moral support to their mother, my daughter anytime she needed it. He even has gone as far as come to their house to see my granddaughter when they couldn't get her to him. Tell me how many doctors would do that these days? He has been immense support to this family and has taken such good care of my granddaughters I have even transfered my 14 year old daughter from here life long pediatrician over to Dr. Schlaffer.\r Sure he doesn""t beat around the bush and if he feels strongly about something he is the first to tell you. But after seeing the care that he has given our family I would never go anywhere else! more

I started seeing Dr. Shlafer when I was around 6 years old. After my parents tried and tried, to find a doctor that listened, they stumbled across Dr. Shlafer. I ended up seeing him until I was around 16. I'm 26 years old now, and I just had my first baby about 2 months ago. I'm taking him to Dr. Shlafer on Monday, and I wouldn't trust him to anybody else. He listens to parents and the advice of the parents, since they are the ones who observe the child and know the child more than any doctor could. more

We switched to Dr. Shlafer in 2001 and all of our three children (ages 3,4 and 13 love him)...He is an exceptional pediatrician, very understanding, trustworthy, cares about his patients and parent's concerns. One reason why he says parents know their children best is, because that's the truth; we spend more time with our children and doctors are there to help us...My son was diagnosed at Children's Hospital for ADHD and had learning and speech delays due to ear infections he referred us to a specialist for ear tubes and they were very helpful, he never got infections again. Dr. Shlafer did not medicate him, instead he was very supportive with our decision with helping our son cope through his condition through counseling, social and speech therapy. We parents have a choice to say no to medication if you are opposed to it. What some people lack is knowledge, there are alternatives and Dr. Shlafer will support your decisions. \r \r Regardless of the negative feedbacks that are posted here, Dr. Shlafer is a wonderful pediatrician. \r more

I am an RN and switched to Shlafer on the recommendation of our birth class leader. My first impression of him was awesome and I thought he was the best doctor around. I also really liked that I could always get in the same day and that Shlafer answered his own phones after hours. My impression of him changed however when my youngest child was ill and needed help. My infant was constantly vomiting and was not gaining weight. He wouldn't eat any solid food even though he was almost a year he was also Failure to Thrive at this point. My son also kept breaking out in hives when I did try to feed him food and I would call Shalfer's office and tell them and he wouldn't give me any suggestions. It all got quite involved and basically he wouldn't give any referral my son needed other than a GI doc ( who just wanted to do really invasive testing). Shlafer also refused to talk to me or give me any advice. We switched docs to Providence Pediatrics and immediately my son got the help he needed; like a referral to allergist and a speech therapy referral. We found out from the allergist that my son was severally allergic to eggs. Once this was figured out my son was able to get the help he needed but it took him my son a long time to get to a normal weight and learn to like eating regular food. Very glad we are not with him now and I would never trust my child's health to him again. more

Dr Shlafer is very rude and condensing. I was completely appalled by his bed side manner. He was not reassuring to my child who was in for flu like symptoms and ear infection. He basically said take some Motrin and go back school, This man should not be working with kids or anyone for that matter. more

When I brought my son to see him he never even talked to my son and diagnosed him as adhd and put him on Medicine for it (which turned him into a zombie). He simply said ""what do you think is wrong"" I said I think he has add or something he said ""ok you him mom you know best"" and wrote me out a prescription What? I know best? Ok so who went to medical school? It turns out my son is autistic and not only did he give him medication for something he did not have but according to another doctor he gave him a overdose of the medication. It was three times as much as recommended for his height and weight!. So be warned! more

Could these reviews be anymore rigged? I can't believe that this is the same place I went to. \r \r And whenever you start spouting off about your ""Dad's former patient in a review and then get the lawyer involved to discredit a patient- well that's a direct HIPAA violation - you cannot discuss patient confidentiality with anyone that does not have a medical need to know this information. Using YELP or CITY SEARCH as a way to discuss someone that you have had as a patient (or your dad or his lawyer) is absolutely unprofessional and a violation of federal law. \r more

Dr. Shlafer is an excellent pediatrician that a parent can find in the area. He is trustworthy, kind, and extremely knowledgeable. Both of my kids have been with him since we came to the area 4 years ago and we have been very happy with him and his service. We put our kids 100% to his hand and trust his sound judgments on all occasions. He is a very cool doctor with exceptional experience. He always make the right diagnoses and provide thoughtful and educational information to us so that we understand what is going on and what we should be expecting during any treatments. He is willing to take/make calls from/to us out of his office hours to discuss any situations that we have concerns over our kids' health. In comparison with other doctors who always treat their patients in a hurry, he is very patient to listen to our concerns and address them timely. Obviously all medicines have some side effects and it is better to not take any unless it is absolutely necessary. He would not hesitate to tell you that your child does not need to take any at some situations. We should have had many more such doctors as Dr. Shlafer in the region and the country. Like others I do feel sorry for Brandy Young and her loss of her child. I am not in a position to make any judgment over her case but our experience with Dr Shlafer has been exceptional. The only drawback is that some of his nurses are not so professional in some cases and I hope that they can also live up to the high standard that Dr. Shlafer has for his patients. Pros: Cares about his patient without boundary Cons: Some of his nurses are not so professional sometimes more

Dr. Stephen Shlafer is an amazing pediatrician. We were referred to him 5 years ago when my daughter was clearly sick, but her pediatrician at the time was just chalking it up to her just being a ""small"" baby. Even though we had only met him during our initial appointment (In which he recommended that I bring her into Children's Hospital right away) he called to check up on her 2-3 times, each day, for the week that we were there. He even went over with me what I should expect from the hospital before I even drove down there.\r \r Where most Dr’s seem to want to get you in and out of their offices as fast as possible, Dr. Shlafer takes his time with his patients, always thoroughly explains EXACTLY what is going on with your child, and answers any questions you may have. Throughout our years with him we have unfortunately had some financial setbacks and he has still never turned us away. He truly cares about each one of his patients.\r I am not sure exactly what happened in the case of Brandy Young, but none of what Dr Shlafer is accused of sounds like his way of practicing at all. My heart aches for her loss, but there has got to be part of the story that is missing.\r \r I highly recommend Dr. Shlafer! There should be more Dr’s out there just like him...In fact I wish I could find a Dr that cared about my health as he does his patients!\r \r Nikki Blockhan\r more

Dr. Stephen Shlafer was recommended to me by another parent when I voiced my unhappiness with the passive care my then-1 y/o son was receiving from his pediatrician. We switched to Dr. Shlafer, and I am SO glad we did (my son is now 10, and my daughter is 7). With my background as an emergency room nurse and as the mother of two children who have had health problems, I believe I am qualified to recommend Dr. Shlafer.\r \r Dr. Shlafer is an example of what physicians used to be more like before managed care turned the vast majority of them into employees who are forced to see an unreasonable number of patients (spending only a few minutes with each) and who feel pressured to limit referrals and treatment. Unlike most physicians these days, Dr. Shlafer never hesitates to refer to a specialist when needed and never hesitates to order important tests to assist in his diagnosis. He is hands-on and accessible nights and weekends. He rarely takes time away from his work, and (the last time I checked) he is in his office 5 1/2 days/week as a sole practitioner.\r \r Even if Dr. Shlafer had a less-than-ideal ""bedside manner,"" I would take my children to him because of his genuine care and concern for them and because of his high level of medical competence. Fortunately, Dr. Shlafer is also highly-personable, funny, and great with kids and parents! :) \r \r I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Shlafer! Pros: Highly Competent, Personable, Genuinely Caring & Concerned About Children more

My baby girl loves Dr. shlafer. He is a very nice doctor and super good in his job. Whatever I have any questions, he will listen to me and explein in detail. He did outstanding~~~~ We will continue to be his pt until my little one think she needs a female doc. hehe~~~~~ more

Our 3 children have always gone to Dr. Shlafer - he was there the minute my son Collin was born and stayed with him for 3 weeks at Steven's Hospital - checking on him 3/4 times a day. Our children are 18, 12 and 11. Our 18 year old daughter Casey has been a patient of Dr. Shlafer's since she was 2 years old - I was heart broken when she turned 18 and could no longer go there. He definately yields on the side of caution and has always provided thorough care for our children. All three had terrible bouts with asthma in their younger days in which he worked side by side with an Asthma specialist to treat them. I was saddened to read the feedback by Brandy Young - I'm sure everyone's heart goes out to that family. I must say though - we have been very pleased with the care he has provided to our children for the past 16 years - between asthma, colds, flu's, ADHD, physicals, ear troubles - he has handled them all with professional integrity. Pros: they accept every form of insurance from medical coupons to Premera to Blue Cross more