Dr. Patrick Robert Frey, MD

I thought about even writing a review at all for several weeks, ultimately deciding that it would do more good than harm to share this experience. 

My wife and I went to see Dr. Frey about having a vasectomy- a consultation and then the procedure immediately following. 

Let me start by saying that Dr. Frey was very knowledgeable, and as far as I can tell highly skilled. As far as the technical portion of the visit- A+. 

There was a concern about his bedside manner, and the freedom of which he felt comfortable sharing some personal opinions that were…not germane to the topic at hand. We are in no way judgmental of other people’s course of life, their habits, or the decisions or beliefs that they hold, regardless of how we feel about said items. Live and let live, as we say. An infringement on that mentality becomes an issue when other people begin to insert their opinions/beliefs/rhetoric into or onto our lives. 

This was hinted at first in the consultation- rather benignly. One question that was asked (which is common, so no red flag here) was whether or not we had children (we do). That was followed by “Would you like more?”- again, no red flag here. That was followed by a personal story in which Dr. Frey related our situation to another patient/acquaintance that had a vasectomy and ended up with a pregnancy post-operation (still no red flag). He then remarked that God apparently wanted him to have one more child. This, taken by itself was a common comment, but in retrospect- it was a red flag. 

He then asked why we wanted a vasectomy, and we explained our reasoning, and asked why most people were visiting him recently- he had mentioned he had done nearly 400 in the last calendar year, and was on pace to break that number this year. He explained his thoughts on that, touching briefly on the Dobbs decision that has had a profound impact for women’s health rights. (Again, should have been a bit of a red flag)

Once the procedure had begun, he started to banter about other items, as most doctors do. It’s a part of the bedside manner, of course. He even spoke about another doctor being concerned with a one-star review, saying “how far are you booked out? I’m booked out six weeks. I’m not worried about a one star review.” (Somewhat of a red flag…) But he quickly veered into religion, which caught both of us off guard. Again, zero issue with a person’s religion or beliefs, but…this was not necessarily an appropriate topic for a doctor to discuss WHILE doing a procedure. It could be viewed as offensive. 

He proceeded to give his opinions on transgender suicide rates, which was just flat out shocking. I was trying my best to keep the conversation light, as he was mid-process in a very delicate region of my body, but he persisted on “debunking” the idea that gender reassignment surgery helps transgender kids because their suicide rates are similar before and after transitioning. This completely ignores the amount of discrimination and hate that these kids face daily regardless of the stage of transitioning they are in, or even beforehand, which likely results in exacerbating mental health issues, potentially leading to self harm or suicide. (In Texas it is illegal to perform gender reassignment surgery on a minor since February of 2022, so I’m not even sure where this was meant to be going)

Regardless if this was his personal opinion, there is no way to know how his patient feels on this topic, whether or not they have a child who identifies as LGBTQ, or have a relative that does- it seemed way out of bounds for a doctor-patient discussion. 

This continued as he transitioned to his attempt at debunking climate change due to ocean temperatures not rising significantly, which somehow led to him lamenting on how Caucasian children are being taught to hate the color of their skin, fringing on replacement theory. 

My wife and I maintained eye contact through, with increasingly more concerned looks on our faces. This was by orders of magnitude the most awkward moment of my life, with my testicles in the hands of a man who apparently had zero issue sharing his thoughts and opinions on some exceptionally controversial topics as if he was chatting about the weather. 

By this time I was quiet, not wanting to distract him from the procedure at hand, and definitely not wanting to start an argument. As my wife and I discussed immediately after he left the room, we both remarked that it was so out of place that a doctor would share these views, regardless of whether or not they held them. Neither one of us had had any other experience remotely approaching this, and were completely unsure of how to proceed with follow-up visits, or future appointments. 

Again, I would like to reiterate that Dr. Frey is a technically excellent doctor, who is very highly skilled and very qualified and knowledgeable in his field of expertise. In no way would I not recommend seeing him if his bedside manner wouldn’t offend you- he is a very good doctor. 

I would very strongly suggest that Dr. Frey considers improving his patient interactions and curtailing his over sharing of religious or political views in the future. It is highly inappropriate for a professional to engage in topics that most people find highly personal, potentially divisive, and certainly controversial. 

Dr. Frey has been my Urologist for many years.  He was my physican as I fought prostate cancer. He is caring and very knowledgable. I would highly recommend him.