Mildred M Kawachi, MD

Dr. Kawachi did not seem very knowledgeable or organized. During my first visit, she appeared to be a nice person, but I was skeptical of some of her medical explanations. My Google-​searching later confirmed that some of her medical advice and explanations were simply incorrect. It’s not exactly comforting to find out your doctor doesn’t have a firm grasp of the medical topics she’s attempting to reference. Moreover, she seemed to blindly and wildly guess a number of possible explanations for my health issues without really seeming confident in anything.
I wanted a referral to a specialist, which I’d seen prior to switching insurance, but Dr. Kawachi’s receptionist required that I first make an appointment to see Kawachi again. On that second «mandatory» visit, we essentially started from square one (i.e., she apparently had taken no notes about my prescriptions, my medical history, etc.). I left without a referral and without much help for my problems, and when my symptoms didn’t improve, I called the office again to get the referral. There was no answer on the phone despite multiple tries during normal business hours, so I left a voice-​mail. Over two weeks passed and I had not heard back, so when I called again and failed to reach someone, it was clear I had to go there in person in order to get them to just fax the form to the specialist.
If you’re looking for a new doctor, stay away! The office is hard to get a hold of, they’re not helpful in person or on the phone, and Dr. Kawachi doesn’t seem like she really knows what she’s doing.

I was happy to select Dr. Kawachi as my new PCP based on all the positive reviews on Unilocal.
Without taking away from what the positive reviewers said, I would just like to say I was pretty disappointed. It took months to get in for my new patient appointment. The day I arrived I found the receptionist was out. Which is a big deal considering it is a two person office, just her and the doc. I waited a long time to be seen to find that Dr. Kawachi didn’t know who I was and wasn’t expecting me. During that long wait I heard every last detail of conversation coming from her exam room. The exam room is right next to the waiting room, and you hear EVERYTHING. I’m not a privacy fanatic but this detail was disconcerting. Also disconcerting was that the doc spent the whole appointment with her computer screen facing me with patient information on it. Dr. Kawachi was nice. But I didn’t think she was particularly thorough. She didn’t even take my weight, or discuss it. She wasn’t supportive when I mentioned I was still breastfeeding my less than 2 year old. And then, a medication request sat for a week before I called my insurance company to find she had not made contact. All conversation after that was by voicemail with her receptionist who most definitely does not answer the phone during the day or check messages.
So, maybe she is just great for everyone else, or maybe I had an unfortunate series of dings on a bad day, but my experience was poor.

I have been impressed by the reviews of Dr. Kawachi. Perhaps other Unilocalers could explain how they were lucky enough to actually make voice contact with the office? I have called a half dozen times but they never answer the phone, but ask you to leave a voice mail. I do and no one ever calls me back.
Any suggestions?

Dr. Kawachi is a smart and caring doctor with the old style traditional method of taking time to talk to and listen to her patients. She is just what I would hope for in a doctor and I feel so grateful to my chiropractor friend who referred me to her. I have been in the waiting room for long periods at times but it doesn’t bother me as I bring something to do and plan for that being the possible case. I know the quality of attention and care I get when I cross over from the waiting room will be of the highest and most compassionate quality. Dr. Kawachi not only treats me well in the office but has taken time to call me at home to discuss various concerns and test results even on the weekends or later in the evening. When I go for tests or see other professionals who ask who referred me, when I say Dr. Kawachi, her name elicits nothing but high praise and appreciative remarks. I also have met a number people in the waiting room who have told me stories of how far they drive or travel to see Dr. Kawachi because she is their most trusted doctor. One lived out of state and flew in to the bay area to have her check ups rather than change doctors. In a way I would like to keep her wonderfulness a secret but she is so great she deserves high public praise and I wish there were more physicians like her. She really is funny and so very enjoyable to speak with it takes much of the anxiety of visiting a doctor out of the transaction. Thanks, Dr. Kawachi!

Just called office, not accepting new patients and no referral. some help would have been appreciated. thanks, mjh

I just moved back to this area in February and needed a general practitioner. Dr. Kawachi is awesome, has a great sense of humor and is very professional. She pointed out things about certain medications that no other doctor had noticed. Thank you for restoring my faith in the healthcare field!

I left a very sane and courteous message requesting an appointment. I got no response, so I repeated the process a week later, being careful to enunciate my phone number. No response. Repeated the process a month later. No response. According to my insurance company, they are taking new patients… so what gives? I don’t know.

I LOVE Dr. Kawachi. I have been her patient fo rover 30 years, so have my parents and my husband. You cannot find doctors like her anymore, smart, compassionate, caring and detailed. She willspend as much time with you as you need and that is what you don’t see anymore. I hope she doesn’t retire for a longtime so my daughter can get to see her when she turns 18. Gabriella is also a gem and runs the office smoothly and actually returns phone calls!

Dr. Kawachi has been my doctor for 12+ years and I would agree w/​the other reviewers (amazing, personable to a fault, caring, usually late, sometimes distracted). Compared to the MANY other doctors and specialists I’ve seen over the years, all of the positives far outweigh the negatives. If you can get the first or second appointment of the day your chances of the cascading lateness will be lessened. Bring a list of your questions, save the chit-​chat for after the medical exam, be nice to Gabriela, and be thankful there’s an MD who takes the time to *care* for her patients.

Experienced better communication and responses from other MD office’s in the past.

Dr. Kawachi was my doctor when I was in high school, and now that I’ve moved back to Berkeley I made sure to have her as my doctor again. I honestly forgot how amazing of a doctor she is in the interim; I’ve struggled with serious chronic health problems in the last few years and she’s one of the few doctors who makes me feel simultaneously well taken care of and also that I have an active hand in my own health care. She’s just fantastic.
Also, another reviewer mentioned that she mis-​diagnosed an angina, so I thought I’d provide a counter-​example: my mom has heart problems so she sees a cardiologist, but he didn’t catch it when her ventricles stopped beating — she desperately needed a pacemaker and was about to go on a deep-​sea diving trip! She stopped by Dr. Kawachi’s office before the trip, and our beloved doctor caught what my mom’s cardiologist had missed, and she was booked in the ER within days. My mother would certainly be dead by now if it weren’t for her.
In summary, this doctor is wonderful and really knows her trade. I highly recommend her.

I largely concur with the previous positive reviews, so i won’t repeat them. Dr. Kawachi is clearly not interested in money. She is always late, because she spends so much time with her patients. However, a fair portion of that time is social chit-​chat, unrelated to the problem at hand. As a result, on several occasions, she missed important items in annual physicals. Also, she mis-​diagnosed my angina, which could have resulted in my having a heart attack. I was mildly shocked when, presumably to justify her diagnosis, she questioned my cardiologist’s decision to operate.
Since I first wrote this review, I have noticed that her interpretation of out-​of-​range blood test results is more lax than some other doctors, and my cardiologist had to prescribe an antidote for a well-​known side-​effect of one of her prescriptions, that I had been taking for several years. Dr. Kawachi had never even ordered a blood test to check for the problem. She has been my doctor for 25? years, but I no longer trust her implicitly, as I used to.
Her single assistant is excellent, a refreshing change from most doctors’ office personnel.

Agreed. Dr. Kawachi is consistent, compassionate, funny, smart, accommodating, and benefits from an excellent office staff. Dr. Kawachi is what everyone wishes for in a doctor, but rarely gets for one reason or another. I picked her fairly randomly, and I got very lucky. She returns phone inquiries about what immunizations to get, what to do about a stomach sickness picked up while traveling, etc. and puts things in perspective in a very even-​handed way. She is not an ideologue, meaning she is able to chart a moderate, reasonable, informative course for medical intervention. This is my style. I don’t want someone who pushes intervention or denies it. Kawachi seems to understand that the body can, by and large, heal itself, and what kind of medical or therapeutic supports may be helpful in making that healing happen. Highest recommendation.

Most compassionate, yet hilarious, doctor I’ve ever met. She goes above and beyond for her patients. I have had massive paperwork for her to fill out the past month and millions of immunizations and boosters to get. There have been a lot of errors on the lab’s part and missing medical records from my childhood. It’s been hell. But my doctor, the wonderful Dr K, has been a star. My parents have been seeing her for 20 years and recommended her. She is so cool! And very, very bright. Yes, I know all doctors are supposed to be, but this one really is.