James E Eichel, MD

I went to Dr. Eichel and bayside medical group with classic symptoms of testicular cancer almost half a dozen times within a span of a month. Through a shoddy misdiagnosed ultra sound, a round of unnecessary antibiotics, Dr. Eichel and his colleagues failed to identify my cancer. No urologist referral, nothing. This allowed my cancer to spread to a late stage 3C. I am now going through chemo because my doctors were not able to identify it early enough.
While I thought Dr. Eichel was nice and professional, I would be cautious ever going to his practice. After talking to other doctors, I hope that in the future he might be able to better identify testicular cancer so no one has to go through what I’m going through now.

I’ve got to say Dr. Eichel has really come to my aide this past year… He has seen me multiple times due to accident related injuries, and has done nothing but support me on my journey back to wellness!

Can’t ever seem to get prescriptions renewed in an easy or timely fashion. It’s always a hassle; like pulling teeth, pushing jello up a hill, shouting into a void. It takes forever. I am going to have to reevaluate whether or not to continue Bayside Medical Center and Dr. Eichel as my PCP.

I have been going to Bayside for years (usually see the P.A.s there). But Dr. Eichel tends to contact me from time to time anytime I ask for lab work. He recently gave me a hard time because I wanted to have a complete thyroid panel done. The complete thryoid is recommended from time to time to check for antibodies and T3 and T4 as a way to monitor the overall health of your thyroid. I have been following a gluten free diet for the last 3 months and lo and behold my dose for thyroid medication has dropped over the last few months. The latest literature (if he would only read some of it) indicates that following a GF diet, can help the thyroid as gluten mimics the antibodies that attack it. There are very good books out there that discuss the impacts of gluten and how hybridized wheat negatively impacts the human body particularly those that have thyroid disease.
He argued with me over the the need to run the extensive lab work. I only ask for it once a year and really should be asking for each time. He finally agreed when he found out I had a PPO. He wouldn’t hear me out and interuppted me continually during the course of the conversation.
I think it’s time to find a new doctor’s office. If the physician there is not going to support the desires of the patient, it’s time to find a doctor who will. This is not a bad review on the PAs who work there… they are hard working and really listen to patients but Dr. Eichel is another story all together.

I don’t understand the fuss at all.
After the bad reviews, I was choosing other Dr. s as my PCPs, but for some reasons, I never was able to see them. Finally in frustration, with a little trepidation I choose Dr. Eichel as PCP. Called the office and for the first time in my calls to so many Dr. offices around Berkeley, got answered by a human being immediately. Being my first visit, was asked to fill forms with personal and insurance info. Before I finished the forms, was asked to come inside by a nurse. Thats surprisingly quick. The nurse after running few checkups, asked if am OK with talking to an intern first. I had no issues with that and the intern was very patient and spent lot of time with me.
Dr. Eichel took some time to see me. It was OK for me, because I spent more time waiting outside before. He was nice to talk to and took care of my issue. I also took my blood test report that was done few weeks before my visit. They pointed out the troubling areas and gave some suggestions on how to improve health.
Overall I am very satisfied with the visit and will stick to him so long I stay here.

I have shared the same experience as a lot of other Unilocalers With Dr. Eichel. I am always hesitant to leave a poor review because I an a small business owner and know what the repercussions of a bad Unilocal score can bring but in this case, I had to speak my mind. I have seen him several times for different things and more often than not I get a feeling that he he believes that his patience are liars. I have suffered from migraines for 20+ years now and get one a month or so. He would not prescribe me pain killers so many times I was forced to go to the ER and spend way more money to subside the pain. There has been many more but today was the final straw. I went to him because I have had a very sore throat the last 2 days and because I’ve had strep throat before, believed this is what I have. They saw me right away which is great. They has a med student come in first, spent a good 10 minutes with me, asked me questions and was very attentive. His diagnosis was as I thought, Strep. Then about 5 minutes later, Eichel came in. Asked me the same questions and in 2 minutes, said it wasn’t strep. I wasn’t happy with his diagnosis and demanded that he do a strep test. He reluctantly did one, prefacing that it was a waste of time. He did a swab test, came back in a few and sure enough I have strep! He then started making excuses of why he was wrong, and going as far as blaming me for not describing my pain correctly. Not attentive, not compassionate and now add misdiagnosing to the list of his faults. I’m not saying that Bayside as a whole is bad, their staff has always been very nice and great but he is not a primary that you want.

Will not give a star, if Unilocal allows: The negative reviews reported by the gentlemen are spot –on & exact to my experience with the Doc. They validated my experience; I wish I’d read them before this final unfortunate encounter! It’s interesting some of the reviews appear to be polar opposite personalities of the DOC. We HAVE to connect with a professional representing the gravity of OUR well being & health.
Good for you; but NOT for ME… Here is why:
Impatient, annoyed and apathetic — in a rush to ‘get it over’- always saying that’s another appointment, I guess that pays the rent.
Final straw: I was caring for a family member in the final weeks of her life & working. My prescription for synthroid [I have taken the same dosage for 25 years with success & without surgery, yea!] needed a refill from the Doc. It is detrimental as a system regulator to go ‘cold turkey’, causing physical discomfort [hopefully without return of the goose egg sized goiter on my neck]. I called reception explaining my situation requesting an extension for 2 – 4 weeks till I had time for the lab work, no return call & 5 more days, I called again — then a DR., I don’t know, called me & actually argued, then lectured me about MY lack of concern for MY health & finally argued with me about MY symptoms! [I was so upset by her I didn’t get her name, sorry for that — you can probably figure it out], next day at 6pm I received 2 VM’s from Eichel –actually CHEWING ME out for compromising HIM?! No concern for my discomfort or the ramifications of abruptly stopping the synthroid! Which would think a Dr. would be more concerned for his patients and their well-​being. Unbelievable, but true!
I called another Dr. who immediately phoned in my synthroid prescription [without fanfare], I later got the lab work & she reported 2 days later with incredible details of the results with a discussion & suggestions I have never received from Eichel. A blessing in disguise; I was very unhappy — I now have a renewed, upbeat outlook and looking forward to going to a Dr. who has MY best interest professionally & at heart.
You’ve GOT to connect & communicate with your advocate! Good health to you!

Pros:
They make Same Day Appts
They get you in and out fast
Very thorough with follow up calls
Cons:
Can’t think of any
I was shocked how fast, easy, and cheap my visit was. I went in last week with a wound that caused my ankle to get swollen. They not only saw me the very same day I called, but worked with my schedule and saw me after 6pm on a weekday.
I was in to see the doctor within 10 minutes. He gave me an exam and went over things within 15min. He took a sample and covered the wound. I got a prescription on the spot for the antibiotics.
He called me 2 days later to check in on how I was feeling. Turns out I got a staph infection. I got a call 1 day after that from his office confirming the sample was cellulitis.
Overall VERY fast follow up and friendly staff. I would see them again.

I have been Doctor Eichel’s patient for over 15 years now (before he was part of Bay Side Medical). I am reading these reviews and I am shocked what ridiculous standards people set to reveiw their primary physician.
If you want to complain about the Bayside medical Group, review them. This include staff but I would not use that to measure how well a physician does his or her job.
Dr Eichel is hard to see because he takes his time with each patient and he has a busy schedule. I do like the taking time and listening abilities.
Somebody mentioned this before me. He is not the kind of doctor who will take out his prescription pad and write you one for the latest and greatest drug you have seen on TV and have to have now. And no, he will certainly not sweet talk when you get ut of shape and gain too much weight nor should he. Physicians in this country don’t pay enough attention to our overall life to begin with (stress levels, problems in the family, food habits, excercise, etc) so you should be happy if there are doctor’s who actually cares.
If I look at the money he receives from my insurance (Aetna) for services it is no wonder many doctor’s rush patients through their office so they can see more. It is a joke how little family doctor’s get paid.
Would I like to see more technology at bayside like electronic records, blood test results online, etc? Yes. I also know that to set up electronic records for multiple offices cost a lot of money and given how little they make I understand this takes time and is not an easy undertaking. I think they should start to team up with quest and labcorp to at least get blood results online.
As for people being rude. This is certainly not the case for Dr Eichel or his nursing staff. Until a few months ago I would have agreed that the dront desk was very rude and unprofessional at times and showed little interest or compession. But this has changed over the last few months and I don’t see a problem anmore there.
If you want a shiny, modern office where you get a shiny doctor that writes you the prescription and makes you feel better with just the sound of his voice and his perfect white coat this office is not for you.
If you want an excellent diagnostic person then Dr Eichel is your man.

We just moved to the area and chose Dr. Eichel from my employers insurance guide. In 50 years I have never ever had a doctor be not only so incompetent and downright dangerous, not to mention myopic and apathetic. I have arthritis in my back quite bad (and well documented) but a stomach surgery 6 years ago has limited my use of over the counter pain medications to Tylenol. Finally falling down a flight of stairs in our new home made me go see him to figure out if there was damage from the fall and what could be done about the pain. I told him and his PAs that I was taking 7 to 12 thousand mgs of Tylenol daily to deal with the pain not knowing those levels were toxic and they on three occasions said absolutely nothing. They treated me like a drug addict which I found quite offensive. They took no Xrays or any other test to see if there was damage to the spine but also refused to prescribe anything else for pain. When I asked them what I was supposed to do about it the answer was «nothing». Three days later I found out I was showing signs of Tylenol overdose (since Tylenol was all I had and it still left me bed-​ridden). I called their office for advice/​help and to ask what to do about the Tylenol toxicity (that stuff that leads to liver damage and death) and was told to stop taking so much. When I asked what I was supposed to do when my options were so limited (but no pain relief was not an option, sorry folks) they hung up on me and never called back. As of that date we closed our accounts there and have never been back. I did write to their main office complaining about Dr. Eichel but I am sure that went nowhere. I have never had a doctor/​practice be so uncaring, rude and dangerously incompetent.

I do not like this medical office (esp their Berkeley location), ever since my first encounter with them on the phone.
When I fist called up to make an appointment. I was put on hold for literally 15 minutes at a time, twice! Then I get someone who sounded snobby and cold, who eventual put my information in the computer SLOWLY.
It turns out I was closer to their Alameda office, and «appointments must be made with the individual office». So I hung up and call the Alanmeda office. Got another cold and snobby person on the phone, who flatly told me it’ll be THREE weeks before I can see Dr Eichel — that is, without asking for the nature of my visit, nor offering other providers that may be available sooner.
Desperate, I called back to the Berkley office to talk to yet another snobby and cold person, whom eventually told me I could see someone else sooner, and made an appointment for me at the Alameda office. The whole process took more than ONE hour.
On the day of office visit, the office was efficient (although staff all seemed cold and in-​personable): they did all the preliminary vital signs and height/​weight measurement and put me in a room within minutes. The lady doctor who saw me was nice, thorough, and informative.
So here’s the break down of the rating: 4 stars for the doctor, 0 for the office staffs, end result = 2 stars.
I will definitely avoid any office with poor supporting staffs, no mater how good the doctors are. Unfortunately t’s the support people I have to deal with 90% of the time, they could make my life miserable.

Jim Eichel has been my doctor for about ten years. I go to his Berkeley office. He listens carefully to my concerns and takes the time to deal with them completely. I love his gentle sense of humor and his low key way of dealing with things. I can recommend him without reservation to anyone looking for a really good doctor. The office has always been able to work me in on the same day when I felt it was necessary to see someone right away, although I usually wasn’t able to see Dr. Eichel. I really appreciate being able to see someone right away when I need to. There have been a few billing screw-​ups over the years, but that has been true with all of our doctors.

So: I feel very sympathy for people who try to get information about health care from Unilocal,because: People Don’t Know!
It’s like a non-​mechanic trying to evaluate a mechanic: YOU don’t know if they’re good, YOU can’t tell, because YOU don’t know if you are being ripped off or not for un-​necessary work or overcharged on parts.
Same with doctors: what most people evaluate is the efficiency of the clerical people, or the bedside manner of the doctor. But people don’t REALLY know how good the office is, because they’re not in the business!
Just for fun, I checked the Unilocal!reviews on a few doctors that are well known in the MEDICAL community to be horrible, and the reviews were good-​to-​middling …because People Don’t Know! People can get misled by a good bedside manner and are pleased with the care from total idiots!
Patients might come in on a day where we are understaffed because someone calls in sick, and people seem rushed. Or there was an emergency in the morning, asthmatic kids or a heart attack hauled off to the hospital in an ambulance, and we’re running behind. The medical system in this country is confusing, confused and un-​coordinated, there is LOTS of pressure on «primary care,» like family practice and pediatrics.
People who write into Unilocal!might be angry because we refused to refill their codeine. Maybe there was a co-​pay problem, and there was a problem from the business office. Reviews from cranky people MIGHT not accurately reflect reality.
So: I work here. I know that we’re good. We listen, we care, and we have flexible hours (drop-​ins, some weekends and evenings) so we can get you IN when you need. Other medical offices pretend that there is nothing in-​between «call 911» and «we can see you in 3 weeks.» We are not like that.
If you want to know where to go, ASK A PERSON IN THE MEDICAL FIELD… they will have a better idea how to evaluate a practice. I know that we are well-​regarded. Many of our patients are doctors, nurses, social workers, dentists, etc.

I don’t feel that some of these reviewers give Doctor Eichel a fair shake. Yes, the facility of the Bayside Medical Group is not 21^th century, and there is sometimes human error in the administrative end of things, but I would rather have a great doctor and a ho-​hum facility than a ho-​hum doctor and a great facility. I would give the good doctor himself five stars, his staff four stars, and their technology (or lack thereof) three stars, for an average of four stars. Oh, thanks to their hours, one does not have to blow half a work day to see the doctor.
Perhaps Doctor Eichel isn’t for everybody. If you want a doctor who will immediately write a prescription for whatever has been advertised to cure your self-​diagnosed ailment, go elsewhere. If you want a doctor who will tell you that everything is fine and that it isn’t that big a deal whether or not you quit smoking, drinking, and being fat, go elsewhere. But if you want a doctor who will think real hard about you and give you the facts without a lot of fluff, then he just might be the right one for you.
I have thrown Doctor Eichel a couple of curve balls, and while he is smart, he is also a good listener who doesn’t jump to conclusions. He isn’t afraid to say, «I am not going to guess about this lump, so I want you to see a specialist.» In my opinion, a good coach doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, he tells you what you need to hear. If you just aren’t getting it, he will tell you again, perhaps with a louder voice or a bit of drama. This might not work for everybody, but it works for me.
It is possible that Doctor Eichel doesn’t immediately synchronize with everybody (I am a middle-​aged engineer) as he did with me. He doesn’t talk down to me, nor does he explain things such that I cannot understand them. He knows how I like to approach problems, and instead of prescribing an anti-​inflammatory for my arthritis, he referred me to a physical therapist who worked with me such that I attained the knowledge of how to make the problem subside without a lifetime of medication.
Update #1: As time goes by, I like Doctor Eichel even more, but the staff really needs to get in to the modern world. The last visit again saw a case of data sent to them (via fax, they don’t do e-​mail) that didn’t end up in my chart. Fortunately, I also had the data sent to me, so I was able to bring in a copy. I’m told that they are moving everything to a computer, but that that project has had some hiccups.
Update #2: A couple of years ago, I was in an accident, and have been through hell and back with my insurance provider. It has been a horrible experience that has wasted days if not weeks of my time (and money, and health). In the past, I was with an HMO and had none of these issues. Unbeknownst to Doctor Eichel, he is the only reason why I am still with that !@#$ insurance company. If I go back to an HMO, all of the insurance nightmares will eventually become a thing of the past, but there won’t be the same Doctor Eichel waiting for me there.
Update #3: I left the idiotic insurance provider behind, and because Doctor Eichel is so valuable to me, I have paid out of pocket to see him. To my delight, the cost of doing so has been far less than what I had expected, though that changes if one gets something like a vaccination due to their material costs.

Called in on MLK and got a same day appointment for a wrist fracture. That is GREAT according to me!

Now that we’ve got all this new technology — like email, and *gasp* fax machines — I’d expect that I would be able to send the office blood test results for inclusion in my medical record file via email, or *gasp* fax. Not so with this office; I was advised that if I didn’t **walk the records in during business hours**, the gal in charge of records might misplace my test results and not put them in my file.
WTF??? I’m THEES close to finding a new doctor’s office. I truly like Dr. Eichel, but I don’t seem to see him anymore (just his taciturn PA Sabre who enjoys frightening people to within an inch of their lives to ensure they follow her instructions), and HE was the only reason for my putting up with this badly run medical office.

I’ve been Dr. Eichel’s patient for three years now and have been extremely satisfied.
I concur with the previous post’s emphasis that the office itself is not 5-​star; sometimes records get crossed and notes don’t get recorded nor passed. But they’re improving. One great improvement recently is the expansion of office hours, and the ability to drop-​in for right-​now appointments on some mornings.
Bayside Medical Group is a teaching practice, so I’ve never had any problem being seen by a student doctor. They always get the «real» doctor’s signoff anyway.
Back to Dr. Eichel: he has been engaging and responsive. Once I had a very unusual swelling, and he went to great lengths to ensure that I could be treated the same day and followed-​up in person the next. He has always treated me with respect and dignity. He is a solid communicator and does a thorough wrap-​up at the end of the appointment to ensure that all complaints have been handled.
I have recommended Dr. Eichel to several friends, who are now also his patients.

Best Doctor I have ever had, period

I know that Unilocal was originally started to help people find reliable and helpful medical professionals. I myself have been at a loss to find a good doctor, and to be honest, I still am searching, because this doctor, for me, is not someone I would like to have to depend on in an emergency and the not-​such-​an –emergency situations. I found him as a recommendation on the berkeley parents bulletin board as a compassionate and thorough doctor. I have not found this to be true. I am a reasonably healthy man yet everytime I have scheduled an appointment, I have had to wait at least an hour from the actual time I was supposed to see a doctor. I asked for a few xanaxs to fly since I hate to fly and he suggested therapy, which I currently have but for different reasons, and I told him this. He finally relented and asked if I wanted the scrip right then or when I was ready to fly. I was told I could call it in, so i agreed to wait. When i called in and asked for the prescription to be filled, the doctor failed to note this on my records, the front desk suspiciously advised me to make an appointment since xanax was an addictive drug. The doctor called me himself and left a message telling me he could NOT fill the scrip without an appointment. So after 3 more unsuccessful conversations with another doctor and the front desk, I made another appointment, and when I waited the hour in the hot moist cubicle and was asked TWice if I wanted to se the student doctor first, which I declined with gritted teeth. When the doctor came in the door, he sat down, looked at me and asked,;what can we do for you today?” so i told him the story and halfway through, i could see the beginning of a realization dawning on him. I got my xanax that day, but I still had to pay the co-​pay. Another time the doctor had to leave so i got seen by a student doctor and Izzy from Grey’s Anatomy. I couldnt lift my arm above my shoulder and I was going to be out of work for a week since I often have to lift my arms at my job and it was a physical job. She told me that she’s sign me out for tuesday, wednesday and thursday and I would be going back to work on Friday. I told her what my job involved but she didnt even blink as she wrote the 3 dates on the doctors
i told her I’d be back on Friday with FMLA papers and that she’d be signing me out through Friday. She started to tell me how she thought my arm would be okay by Friday but I just took the doctors note and left. Obviously, if Im at a doctors office, then it hurts. Oh, and she told me to take tylenol. I could have looked in the mirror and gotten more empathy and had the same results. I have had really shitty doctors out here since i switched from Kaiser. I know the medical businiess is in it to make moeny but for fucks sake, pretend like you give a shit and that you remember my fucking name. read it on the clip board that is outside the room that Im waiting in. So, I’m dumping Dr. Eichel because I think I deserve better. Why put up with that? Oh, and his office is full of sick babies almost everytime I go there and I feel like i am in some eastern European socialized health clinic. Yes, its THAT bad. So, goodbye Dr. Eichel and bayside