Dr. Esta L Kronberg, MD

Would you spend $600 for a straightforward 20-minute appointment with your dermatologist? If you go to Esta Kronberg, ex...pect to pay from $110 to $170 procedure fees for *each* and every 5-minute simple procedure, expect to pay over $200 in lab fees to slip snips of tissue under a microscope, and expect to pay a $100 'new patient fee' that doesn't involve any kind of new patient workup beyond the specific issue that brought you to her office. Do not, however, expect to be informed of any of these prices or fee practices ahead of time. Should you object to her outrageous fees after the fact, expect to be confronted by an office manager with the demeanor of an attack dog, and expect to be told by the doctor herself in a chilly tone, "I can't help you." This was my experience of Dr. Kronberg. This is the only doctor's review I have ever written. I know firsthand what a demanding, self-sacrificing profession medicine is. I am from a medical family myself, am married to a doctor, and have the highest regard for physicians. That said, not all doctors should be in the profession, and in my book, Esta Kronberg is one of those. I experience this doctor as, first and foremost, all about money. In my over fifty years of living in Houston, I have visited many first-class dermatologists and not one has charged me one-fifth of what Kronberg charged me, and all of those doctors treated me with respect and warmth. My first thoughts were to just chalk up this unhappy incident as one of the bee stings of life. But in discussing my experience of her, I have since then encountered three other women in the community who have had similar episodes with Esta Kronberg. My impression is that she takes advantage of patients she assumes can afford being taken advantage of. I am posting this review that others may be forewarned. I should probably report her and may well yet do that. In particular I feel the suspiciously high lab fees need to be investigated for possible kickbacks to the doctor. I do not hate this woman as a person but I am deeply offended by her attitude and ethics. In a word, she has become greedy. It's time for Dr. Kronberg to rethink her ways. Or retire. more details