Gwen Allen, MD

I waited one hour in the waiting room then 1 more hour in the patient room to be seen by the dr. Or I think it was Dr. Allen the lady that walked in, comes through the door saying «Why am I here» so unprofessional then she never introduced her self at all and was done with my pap in less then 5 mins, I timed it and then she was out and I never seen her again. So so bummed about the whole appt. Now I’m gonna have to find another doctor that actually cares about the patients. I’ve never been treated that way at a doctors office.

Dr. Allen was so rude during my labor. She asked me why it was so important for me to deliver vaginally anyways! She insisted on only performing a c/​s On my twins even though an ultrasound confirmed that they were both head down, same size and completely safe to deliver vaginally. I was in active labor and 7 cm dialated when she burst into my room complaining about my birthplan. She had on a filthy lab jacket and horrible bedside manners. She argued with me from the moment she entered my room until she finally agreed to have another doctor deliver my babies. Thank goodness she didn’t touch me or my babies. She made me feel very intimidated and scared to deliver my babies safely. I’m happy to say that another doctor delivered both my babies an hour later, vaginally and without any complications what so ever! It was completely possible, dr. Gwen Allen simply wasn’t the right person for the job. I would never recommend her to anyone, let alone a pregnant woman. In my opinion she failed me completely.

Staff is really friendly and try their best to accommodate you as a patient. When it comes to authorizations they get them done faster than other offices would. Yeah the wait time is ridiculous but that’s what happens when you have a really good OBGYN that actually takes the time to answer your questions so that your not in the dark. I recommend her to anyone but if you don’t want to wait then find another OBGYN.

I see negative post about wait time. or she to late for the delivery… hmm 1 and for most she is an OB/​GYN not just yours everyone who goes there… and she not a rush Dr. Thank God. she takes her time with each patient. so if your having the issue I named above.
My suggestion is go somewhere else where the Dr. rushes you and your his only priority (sike).
I’ve been seeing Dr. Gwen since 1999. when she was in Dr. Thomas office and he was my Dr. But I switched because Dr. Thomas didn’t have time.
So before you leave negative comments take in consideration the type of Dr. She is. Carry on!

Worst place ever! Its always crowded, Dr is NEVER in. I understand she has other patients and other people she has to tend to but come on 3 – 4 hours to be seen? If you have all day to wait and be seen then I recommend her… She is never thorough on her answers and very short and just wants you out. If I wasn’t so far in my pregnancy I would definitely be looking for another Dr and another office, but all I want is for her to safely deliver my son and I will NEVER EVER return to this Dr.

I LOVE Dr. Allen! She is very professional, kind and emphatic. She delivered my baby boy and did his circumcision. Prior to my delivery, she was very hands-​on and thorough with each term of my pregnancy. She even went out of her way and scope of practice with helping me get rid of a cold without causing any issues with my pregnancy. I’ve been seeing Dr. Allen for about 4 years now for other «woman stuff» and she’s always on point and offering different types of solutions. Granted you do have to wait a while to see her but obviously that just shows how good she is! She’s well worth the wait.

I see a lot of negative posts for Dr Allan but I just want to put it out there that I have had nothing but pleasant appointments. Yes, you have to wait but you know what? She’s an OB, she has to deliver babies at any given moment. I just gave birth to my daughter a few hours ago and Dr A was VERY supportive. She (and the hospital) followed my birth plan to the letter. This has been a great pregnancy/​delivery. I would not hesitate to use Dr Allan in the future. I recommend her highly.

AVOID THIS DOCTOR
I had a terrible experience with Dr Allen. I was induced on Monday night… And I did not deliver my baby until Thursday night. I was in agony and pushed for almost 5 hours. She never showed up to see me and my baby and I developed high fever.
After being in pain for almost 4 days, she finally showed up 5 min before delivery… She had to use the vacuum.
I am glad my baby was okay… But I would never go back to this doctor.

Avoid at all costs.
Allen seems to have a nice bedside manner, so– like the other reviewer– you’ll want to overlook the dingy office, unfriendly office staff (you are clearly keeping them from– err– whatever their REAL jobs are-​?), and 1 – 2 ½ hour wait time in her waiting room. (Not a misprint– 2 and a half HOURS! With no apology ever.)
However, after a lot more sessions (followed by a C-​section she did), I can tell you Dr. Allen is not a good person to trust with your pregnancy. She came two hours late to my C-​section and was not in any hurry when she arrived. She actually DAWDLED, even though I was starting to have problems already. After the C-​section, Dr. Allen was two days *late* removing my staples, so the skin was red and irritated. Then I got a horrible C-​based infection that oozed puss and blood for 5 solid weeks, scaring me and my husband both. I had an awful time getting her help to resolve it. She also forgot to prescribe my post-​C-​section antibiotics– seemed surprised she forgot– and told me to take them anyway, long after the infection was at its worst.
I found out 2 months later that my intestines were placed haphazardly back inside my abdomen, and it took a colon hydrotherapist to place things back where they belonged.
Compare this with my second C-​section 3 years later at UCLA, where I had NO infection, stitches were removed promptly, and my recovery was a breeze, relatively speaking (I was 43 at this point– should have, by all rights, been a tougher recovery). My husband said the UCLA staff took about 4 times longer to stitch my uterus and skin back together, and were clearly more specific and painstaking.
What an absolute nightmare that first C had been by comparison. Incredible.
Now cut to 2 years after the birth of my first baby. I go back to Allen, not realizing at that point that my first C-​section was substandard. I suffer a sudden and dramatic miscarriage at 3 months. I call her staff the morning after it happens (when most of the blood & baby has been lost). I’m told Yes, I can come in, and that i ll be seen first if I come a half-​hour early. I show up 45 minutes early, husband and daughter in tow (I have the naïve idea she’d like to see the little girl she delivered earlier). After waiting through the 45 minutes all by ourselves, followed by 1 ½ hours of OTHER, regular patients– so much for staff promises– I m told that Dr. Allen decided she WON’T see me after all! I should just go to a «general practitioner» instead (oh, this sounds like a great idea!). The office is packed; I can only assume she wants to compress her patients’ visit time. But her staff will not tell admit this possibility, & I will never know what happened. I prod them politely– Is it because insurance won’t pay? «we’ll ask,» they say, Then they come back & say Yes, that is the reason. I say, «Great! No problem. I”ll pay cash.» They make me wait another 10 minutes. They call me up again & say «No, Dr. Allen will not see you.» I ask why the change– after all, I was TOLD by her staff to come in. Does she know this? Again, they leave. Then they say Dr. Allen only agreed to answer this question if I wait until she is done with all her patients. «When will that be?» «About 6pm.» HUH? Is she mental? I look at the receptionist & wait for an explanation. There is none. We slink out of the office, over 2 hours after we arrived, & I cry on the way home, still bleeding, & feeling as though I have been shunned by the Baby Doctor for being uncool enough to have lost my baby. What in the world could be wrong with this doctor? She doesn’t care one whit about the medical advice I need on proceeding safely through the rest of my miscarriage & recovery. I end up seeing no one, not having a «general practitioner» because I am «seeing» an ob-​gyn (Haha!).
Thank goodness I’ve found a great, rational ob-​gyn named Dr. Nathana Lurvey. Dr. Allen has far too many patients to have her head on straight. Avoid Dr. Allen & find someone who gives a s***. She doesn’t.

I set up an appointment so I can get back on track with my annual check-​ups, and so I have a primary care physician out here in LA. I go in for my initial evaluation and am seen by a physician assistant, which I’m ok with, but would have appreciated a heads-​up. Back home I was used to them asking me while I was scheduling if I was ok seeing a PA, and often times I would schedule an appointment with a PA myself. I’m not too sure if that’s not the way it works out here, or if they just don’t extend the same courtesy… None the less, not being given the option to choose, or advised of the change, was mildly annoying. She ended up being very nice… although I would NOT want her to do my exam again.
1 week later I go back to get my results. Although I understand privacy laws, not being able to do it over the phone is extremely irritating, especially being that my appointment was set for 4:15, yet I wasn’t taken back until almost 5. To top it off they sat me in the «surgical» room, which I’m assuming isn’t used very often because 3 different women stopped in to ask me why I was there, then I listened to them talking to each other about not knowing where my results were; asking others if they had them. Nice. So much for privacy. I’m not too sure I’m confident in them keeping my stuff private if they don’t even know where they’ve placed my results. I know they’re not checking my ID when they read me the results, nor does the doctor actually know who I am since she had never met me… so give me the courtesy to supply my own personal information over the phone so the results can be read to me by one of the not-​so-​friendly, unprofessional looking nurses working there.
Anywhoo, after waiting just shy of an hour to be told «all your blood work looks fine,» I express the concern I initially had, which is why the blood work was drawn in the first place. Again I’m told to wait. Another 15 minutes go by then I finally get to meet the doctor. How do I know she’s the doctor? Because her white coat says ‘MD’ on it, not because she introduced herself… But hey, who needs introductions anymore, right? I guess bedside manner is no longer discussed in med school.
In the end, I’m on the fence about her.
1. In between rolling her eyes at my being mishandled by other medical professionals before coming to see her, she was able to explain why things should have been done differently before starting me on the BC I was started on. Ok. Fair enough.
2. Aside from her exasperation, she didn’t seem like she was annoyed with answering my questions, or that I was keeping her from getting home a little earlier. Greatly appreciated.
3. It’s a little suspect she seemed angry that I wasn’t able to supply a surgical report from «Mexico City» when she asked me if I had brought it with me. To which I replied, «I said NEW MEXICO. It’s part of the United States. It sits between Arizona and Texas, which are both also in the US. I can easily get you a copy if you need one.»
I understand not all offices are state of the art, but I really felt like this office has long been forgotten by the powers that be. It’s very dark, the linoleum is torn up and patchy in some places, things are held up with tape, and sanitary locations are demarcated with post-​it notes, and the suite just looks dirty. This place is in desperate need of renovation. I really felt like I was in some dank, sketch city trying to get a $ 50.00 abortion.
Bottom line, not that the doctor (so says white coat) is inept in any way, and I can’t hold the condition of the clinic or the nurses against her, but this wouldn’t be a recommendation from me if looking for an OB.