MIchael Hartung's Online Review Report Card

Dr. Koch has been my doctor for several years. He has been very attentive and has always been very patient explaining things to me. His staff are very nice . I would recommend Dr. Koch to anyone. I trust him completely.

I love Dr. Koch he has been my doctor for 23 years. Wonderful manners and cares about his patients.

I have been seeing Dr. Michael H. Koch for over 20 years. He specializes in the Endocrine system. On a scale from 1 to 10, this guy is a 15. I rate him as one of the top in the USA. He knows his specialty. I was in terrible shape before I started seeing him, but now I can function. He really cares about his patience. Love this Dr. as a physician and a person. 5 starsI rate him.

I was started seeing Dr. Koch about two years ago with hypothyroidism that turned into hypothyroidism (very rare, said he'd only seen that once in all his years of experience). I have a severe medical history of cancers requiring bone marrow transplant, so my case with any doctor is typically very rare. The first couple of appointments with Dr. Koch went well. He was promt with diagnoses and testing, as well as a treatment plan. Once my syptoms started getting worse, I realized Dr. Koch may not be the doctor for me. I know it is a very busy practice, but you are lucky to get 5 minutes with him, and he is always obviously hurrying you out of the room. His lack of empathy and bedside manner are appalling. At times, he pretended I didnt mention them at all. He never offered any solutions for the side effects of my SEVER hyperthyroidism. Nothing for anxiety, depression, concentration issues, joint pain, insomnia. He never even suggested someone who may be able to help me with these issues. When I would mention how hard these side effects had been on me, he would accuse me of not taking my medication. Are you serious?! Every time I visit, he accuses me of not taking my medication. It is doubled every month, and obviously not taking care of my condition. Does that not ring any bells? Maybe a different treatment option would be more effective? After 31 years of practice, a patient not seeing ANY results after 8 months of increasing the medication should be a red flag. When I expressed my frustration with Dr. Koch, he sarcastically said he could have me sent to Roanoke Memorial to have my thyroid cut out of my throat today if I wanted. Way to be empathetic! Sarcastic remarks are not necessary, especially not with a very sick patient. Have I mentioned that he once had his nurse call me to tell me he was mad at me for missing an appointment? How unprofessional can you be?? The only redeming quality about Dr. Koch is his nurse, Monica. She is a wonderful nurse, filled with empathy and a willingness to help and get things done. She is always prompt with returning phone calls. All I can say is that if you want to be treated like a number, not a person, you can go to Dr. Koch. If you want to feel degraded and patronized, he's your man! I will not be going back to Dr. Koch. Back to Duke for me.

My mother was referred to Dr. Koch, let me say, we were not impressed. He rushed through the visit with her and then told her he would send her a letter in a week after he reviewed her blood work. A week and a half later she called and left a message as to his course of action and was told her call would be returned by the end of the day. The next around 3PM I called and around 5 my mother receive a call from the nurse who was very rude, and said the doctor had to review the bloodwork and then he would send a letter. Yesterday, after almost one month, she gets a letter from Dr. Koch stating he is not changing her medicine and that he wants her to check her blood every morning for one week and send him the results! My mother is not even diabetic she does not check her blood. He has her confused with another patient. My mother was sent to him because she has a large mass in her chest! Not impressed at all with this Dr.