After years of bizarre complaints, an Upper West Side shrink by the name of Dr. Irene G. Gurvits has had her license revoked by the state, New York Post reports. Dr. Gurvits operated from an office at 102 West 75th Street, according to several websites including ZocDoc and her Google Business Page.
Complaints reportedly began eight years ago, and she’s been called out for some pretty insane behavior.
Patients report that she smoked throughout sessions, was “constantly eating pretzels,” left her office door open during private sessions, talked to patients about her personal life and more.
One former patient told The Post that whenever he mentioned his social anxiety, the doctor would reply with “that’s bullsh*t” and “who cares?!”
Another former patient says Gurvits pressed him to help her with her insurance issues, and to help her mother shred documents.
Two other patients report that Gurvits refused to prescribe their medications until they “helped her move.”
Additional patient reviews from Yelp and Google shed a bit more light on the former doctor’s disturbing behavior.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]“This woman should not have a license to practice medicine. She will tell you more about herself, and her trauma history, than talk about you. Go expecting to give therapy.”
[/perfectpullquote] [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]“This doctor is JUST PLAIN NUTS! She told me that she’s actually a schizophrenic, then denied it, then told me it was true. She started calling me at midnight and asking what I was doing, then sent me bizarre emails talking about drugs that they’d fed her in the hospital to “shut her up.” Frankly, Dr. Gurvits is not just mean and crazy; she’s also dangerous and frightening.”
[/perfectpullquote] [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]“Do not see this doctor she is incredibly rude and unprofessional. Her office is a dump, there’s no receptionist so good luck getting in touch with her, and she lost my medical chart. She also left the door wide open while seeing another patient so I heard the whole session, including Dr. Gurvitz taking a personal phone call in the middle of it. The other patient walked out and verbatim said to me, ‘she is the WORST.'”
[/perfectpullquote]About ten years ago, Gurvits’ lawyer recommended she get psychiatric help herself, but the state recently concluded that she never addressed her own issues.
Documents reveal that Gurvits was evaluated and diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychotic features.
The Department of Health website states that “The Hearing Committee sustained the charges finding the physician guilty of committing professional misconduct by failing to comply with an order; practicing while impaired; having a psychiatric condition which impairs the ability to practice medicine; failing to produce records and failing to maintain accurate patient medical records.”
Here’s the official page which confirms the psychiatrist’s license revocation.
This is bananas. I found a doc on UWS who was, nice, but just a great listener which is ODD for a shrink. Every session she would ask what I “wanted to work on” and I just felt like she just would not listen to what I was saying. She blamed me for not knowing about psychotherapy and not knowing what I wanted. Super weird for someone who is supposed to be there to listen, is just not doing their job. In the end, I took the way out and told her I would “think” about what I needed (even though I was pretty open; she said I wasn’t disclosing at all.) It’s hard to find someone who isn’t in need of some serious training or professional development but obviously Dr. Gurvits is waaaay worse than what I had experienced.
I meant NOT A GREAT LISTENER. *
I’ll listen to you for a half the price
Why on earth would these patients continue to see her if she was so damaged, distracted and utterly unprofessional? And why did it take so long for her to lose her license?
Because with most insurance plans, it’s nearly impossible to find ANY psychiatrist taking new patients. If you need refills of your antidepressant, etc. you just have to do whatever you can to get them.
You can’t even imagine how insane the system is. So that’s why patients continue. Pretty sure if there were any other choice, people would take it.
Because with most insurance plans, it’s nearly impossible to find ANY psychiatrist taking new patients. If you need refills of your antidepressant, etc. you just have to do whatever you can to get them.
You can’t even imagine how insane the system is. So that’s why patients continue. Pretty sure if there were any other choice, people would take it.