Claudette McKenzie-Albin, MD

I absolutely love Dr. McKenzie she has always made me feel confident and even when my insurance changed I was able to see her I called and asked for her advice, she had no problem looking over my file and advising me what to do. she delivered my 1^st baby and I’m hoping she can deliver my next. She also delivered my lil sister. She knows best. She’s been in the field for a very long time and I would take her word over any other dr. no questions asked. Shes AMAZING! Yes shes stern, but that doesn’t bother me, shes genuine.

She’s superficially nice but very Condescending. Her staff echoes her behavior

I used to visit this office back when I had HMO and they told me who I had to see. I really liked seeing Dr. Zoya while she was there, but my last visit about a year ago, I was told she was let go due to budget. I found it strikingly odd that a doctors office had to lay off one doctor, when there’s only one doctor now working in that office. That doesn’t say a lot of them having lots of business.
I hate that this place has pay to park, take a ticket thing, because you really are waiting in the waiting room for a long time here, at least that’s how it was for me. My main pet peeve here, the building is a little run down and they lock up the stair case, therefore, you have to take the elevator. The elevator shakes and is scary, and I really do have a fear of elevators. When I asked if I could use the staircase, I was told that a security guard would have to open it for me and escort me and they didn’t know how long that would take. Sigh. Really? This building has potential for a major fire hazard should anything happen. Good news is is that you can take the stairs down when you want to leave the building, you just can’t use them from the ground floor and go up. The waiting room is also extremely outdated with old victorian style wallpaper that I could most definitely do without. Office personnel are all very nice and polite though. My problem really lies with the location of her office, that it takes forever to be seen, and that when you pay to get her full attention, she acts like she is too busy to help you. The last time I was there all she could do was ask me when I was ready to have babies, maybe that had something to do with money issues and having to let Dr. Zoya go (I really did like her too!).
This doctor had me on birth control that majorly screwed up my hormones and my life. I’m surprised my husband is still with me they were making me that crazy. When I went to her about the problem, she told me that because I was overweight that I needed maximum birth control protection. That’s sort of funny because I did just fine when I was on Yasmin. Needless to say, I was happy to change from HMO to PPO and I am now seeing a wonderful OB/​GYN that I love and highly recommend, Dr. Tamayo in La Canada.

Budget at least 90 minutes for a visit to Dr. McKenzie’s office. You’ll only spend three of those minutes actually seeing her and the other 87 will be spent waiting. I have been in countless times to see her and she is repeatedly dismissive. The last time I went in it was about problems with period. Her words to me were, «Relax and start taking a multivitamin.» Her comment was based on no prior knowledge of my diet, which is outstanding, nor on anything that was going on in my life, which had slowed down greatly and is not very stressful at all.
I would not recommend her to anyone. It gives me nightmares to think about how she handles women with serious problems.

I think Dr. McKenzie is so great. I didn’t have to wait long in the waiting room, she was really friendly, knowledgable, and answered all my questions. The office is nice and small without being packed with a million people like my past gynos. Each time I’ve made an appointment, I’ve been able to get an appointment the next day. Overall I have no complaints or nothing negative to say about Dr. McKenzie!

The whole staff here is great, friendly and very helpful. Dr. McKenzie who delivered both my kids was great and very friendly. I go here for my regular checkup and so on.

Great first experience. Didn’t have to wait long in the waiting room, probably less than 5 minutes and then waited around 5 minutes for Dr. Mckenzie to reach my room. Dr. Mckenzie was very friendly and professional. Asked me the usual questions and made some small talk. Over all, was out of the office within 30 minutes! Hopefully, all my annual check ups will be as fast and efficient as this was. One week later I received a letter from the office indicating my results. I really appreciated this because usually I’ll forget to follow up with my doctors. I would definitely recommend this doctor.

I have seen Dr. McKenzie twice and she has made me feel very comfortable each time. She answered all of my questions and did not seem rushed or bored with my concerns. The wait time was reasonable and her staff was professional. I’m surprised to see such low ratings, but I’m a satisfied customer… so far so good.

I signed up to write a Unilocal!review just to warn women about this doctor. I had similar bad experiences with Dr. McKenzie, who delivered my 1^st child. I was a very young mother (18) and didn’t know much about what to look for in a doctor during my first pregnancy, so I thought Dr. McKenzie’s condescending nature, and my discomfort when it came to asking questions was normal. After going to Dr. McKenzie for my second pregnancy, I realized that she is (as another Unilocaler described) «in the wrong profession». Not only did she deliver disturbing news to me during my preganancy, she sent an assistant to answer any questions and actually deal with my issue. When I went into delivery with my daughter, Dr. McKenzie called my room and informed me that the Dr. on call would deliver me, and that she was not around to come to the hospital. HOWEVER, I walked around the nursery and other areas of Huntington to help dialation, and saw Dr. McKenzie in the nursery. I was FURIOUS. Not only did she lie to me, she didn’t even bother to check in to find out my baby got stuck for over an hour and I was paniced. I would not recommend this doctor to anyone.

Once in a while you encounter someone who just should not be in the profession that they are in. This is one of those doctors. We had a traumatzing experience with this doctor. Went in thinking all was well with the pregnancy only to be told, in only 5 minutes total time with the DR, that it didn’t look good. She ripped the ultrasound copy and walked out the door, telling us to come back in a week. We sat there crying. We walked out and got another Dr asap who could actually explain to us what had happened etc. The other dr was shocked that we weren’t even counseled or told the medical term. To make matters worse, we never called or came back and to this day, 6 months later, I have never received a call from the office or the doctor for a follow-​up. I could be dead or having a baby now for all she knows. She made a painful experience ten times harder. No one should have to go through that and I am astonished that women still go to her. My new doctor is amazing and kind. BEWARE. Wish there was negative 0 stars. :(

I have had very good experiences with this doctor, she has always been polite and explains things to me in a noncondescending manner. When I saw the PA for exams, I felt that I was in proper care. I was really surprised to see such low ratings on this board!

After a traumatizing ER experience (I won’t go into specifics), I had my follow up with Dr. McKenzie, whom I had seen once or twice before. I let her know that I was experiencing pretty serious fevers, up to 103 at some points. She insisted that it was respiratory. Given her specialty, I obviously was not there with a cold. The next day, when my fever had remained high for an entire night, I called her again. She again insisted that it was a respiratory condition.
I had to follow up with my amazing primary care physician, who, through blood tests, confirmed I had an infection in my blood related to the initially mentioned condition and immediately put me on a serious round of antibiotics. I’m glad to say I’m healthy now because of my primary care doctor. Dr. McKenzie should have paid more attention to me, and risked my health by continuing to ignore me. I will never go back to her again and I urge you all to avoid her at all costs.

I gave Dr. McKenzie one star because my wait each time was short. The short wait should have been a clue I visited her office twice. On the first visit the PA saw me instead of the doctor, not cool on a first visit but she was nice. The PA sent me for a test and asked me to make a follow up appointment. When I returned a week from the first visit and after the test I saw Dr McKenzie and she faked looking at my test told me I have to get another test to check if there were changes. I said I just did the test two days ago. She gave me a bull in a china shop treatment option with no alternatives.
I had enough of her and I looked up her reviews afterwards, which I should have done first. DR. MACKENZIE IS NOT BOARD CERTIFIED ACCORDING TO ANTHEM (BLUE CROSS) AND THE MEDICAL BOARD OF CALIFORNIA! Bottom line she’s rotten!
If you want a fab doctor, see Brenda C Smith, MD in South Pasadena. I have a review.

Terrible experience — I echo the condescending — I went in with my 2^nd pregnancy — the picture on the wall showing the before and after tummy tuck — conveniently done by her husband — to the usual 30 – 60 minute wait times… I changed my appt times — only because it fit better with my work schedule — and saw her then associate — and Dr Albin seemed to take it personally — her associate — Dr Hines, delivered my son and then left on a vacation — Dr Albin had to circumcise him and made it very clear to me that the reason it was being done late (my last day in the hospital) was the fault of Dr Hines — it was a nightmare… Thank goodness for the awesome nurses at the Huntington.

I would not recommend anyone to Dr. McKenzie. I completely agree with the first reviewer and will add a few more thoughts.
–She acted like she was busy and had better things to do.
–She did not make me feel comfortable to ask questions.
–She was even condescending in her answers sometimes and made me feel stupid for asking.
–She was not very warm or friendly, which would have been nice, especially with it being my first pregnancy.
–She did not tell me that she only worked every other weekend in the hospital. I happened to go into labor on the weekend she was not there. So I ended up delivering with a doctor I had never met before.
–I went to her after my delivery for a possible breast infection from breastfeeding. She took a few seconds to look at me and tell me my only option was to stop breastfeeding. Thank goodness I didn’t take her advice and instead called up a lactation consultant.

While Dr. McKenzie is quite competent, she is not a good communicator and often does not take the time or make the effort to answer questions. This is particularly critical when you’re looking to her to guide and reassure you through your first pregnancy. She can be dismissive of questions and even occasionally somewhat condescending. If I have another baby, someone else will be my Ob-​Gyn.