International Pediatrics, PA

I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN...! On February 19th. 2023, my son Matthew (3-1/2 years old) started coughing and showing signs of congestion. The next day, February 20th. 2023, in the morning we noticed Matthew was not getting any better, instead he was getting worse. We thought we would contact his doctor, her name is Dr. Cristina Medina, to see if we can get an appointment hopefully the same day, otherwise we will take him to the hospital. Fortunately, they confirmed the doctor will see my son at 12 noon. My wife took him to the doctor’s office. By that time, my son was having serious difficulty breathing, his chest was 'in and out" too fast and we noticed his heart was beating too fast. Doctor Cristina Medina saw my son and after a "quick" examination, she prescribed an antibiotic and she said he may have signs of asthma, so he could go home. We trusted my son’s doctor and we brought him home and we gave him the antibiotic as prescribed. An hour later, my son started having trouble breathing, the color of his face was turning white, his chase moving in and out so fast and his heart beating very fast as well. We decided to take him to the hospital Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Montgomery County MD. As soon as we got there, he was taken inside, and a group of doctors and nurses administered him oxygen right of way, they did an x-ray…etc, etc. The situation was very serious, and my son was in very bad shape. The doctors kept asking me how long he was liked that, and I explained that he started showing these signs this morning. Also, I explained that we just took him at noon to see his doctor (Dr. Cristina Medina). They were surprised by that… They said “what”…they moved their heads, and they did not say that much (I understand that). In the next hour, my son was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Washington DC by helicopter, one the doctors said (female doctor) my son is not doing fine, and he cannot go to DC hospital in an ambulance. NOW, the question I have is, why Doctor Cristina Medina did not examine my son a little more, like an x-ray or any other type of examination for these cases. Why she said “he can go home”…. My son was in danger, he could die, and here the doctor sent him home to take an antibiotic. Off course, I will never go back to that place again…! My son was 3 days at Children’s Hospital. Now, thanks God, he is doing fine.

I can't say enough good things about this office. My daughter was dealing with a chronic illness for the past 3 years and Dr. Fabiola Costello was super helpful in helping us get access to the right doctors, getting appointments with different doctors at Children's National Hospital in DC and overall helping us understand what could be wrong with our daughter. She would constantly check in with us to see how our daughter was doing and even connected with doctors at Children's Hospital to better understand what their plan of action was for my daughter. When we were dealing with difficult doctors at Children's, Dr. Costello would quickly step in and help navigate difficult conversations with them. She was always advocating for our daughter and without her help, we probably wouldn't have been able to get the life-changing surgery for our daughter. The staff was always super accommodating as well to help us get frequent appointments with Dr. Costello!

I have always had a really good experience at both the Kensington location and Gaithersburg location. At both locations, the front desk staff were always super helpful, very nice and pleasant to talk to. I called to set an appointment for a covid test and they were very quick to answer as well as give me an appointment as soon as possible. The offices are always very clean and the nurses who administered my covid tests were very nice and accommodating. Overall 5/5 and I always recommend family members to take their children to this practice.

Dr. Ortega used to be my pediatrician since I was 8 days old and he is now the pediatrician to my two boys. He and his colleagues are excellent clinicians. His staff have always been courteous and professional more importantly accommodating to our schedules and needs. They are a very busy office and have a lot of patients.

Dr Wissman is terrific! Knowledgeable, great manner with all ages, listens to patients and parents intently. Unfortunately he seems over- scheduled. Our 4 visits have all required waiting 30-46 minutes beyond our scheduled appointment time.