Jonathan D Kivitz, MD

Well, have to say to this very day, as my daughter is about to turn 18, I have NEVER found a pediatrician as wonderful and knowledgeable as Dr. Kivitz. He was a gem! We moved from the LA area when my child was 5, and even long distance, we called the office and either him or his secretary, back then, it was Tracy, would graciously return our call and answer our questions and concerns. It took 5 MD’s to find one that I was somehow pleased with. He was so good whenever an emergency would arise. My daughter suffered 3 asthmatic episodes that required her to go to the ER, they usually occurred early hours of the morning, or early dawn, and he was always ready to see her as soon as possible. And whenever we visited the LA area, if we needed to, we would go see him. My daughter still refers to him as the dear Dr. «Kittis» as she used to call him!

We transferred to Dr. Kivitz about 4 years ago, because I was tired of the long wait time in our previous doc’s practice. We have never waited more than 10 minutes for Dr. Kivitz, and he has always been there when we needed him. He calls me back anytime day or night when needed. He’s reliable and wonderful.
Dr. Kivitz is a fantastic pediatrician, and I have recommended several friends to him. I’m upset by the bad reviews, and have to disagree. We have never had a problem with billing, and regarding vaccines, Dr. Kivitz made sure that my children were always current, without forcing anything on us that I wasn’t comfortable with. Love him. Highly recommend him.

Dr. Kivitz is a FANTASTIC pediatrician and his office staff is great!
My son is now 19 and I still feel comfortable calling with an occasional question, a flu shot, etc… and will always receive a return call within a hour or so! My husband and I trust him and feel he is a competent and caring physician. We especially liked that he was never one of those trying to be the hero via preying upon the fears of most new parents.
That said, our son was born with a very small VSD (hole in his heart). During our first visit to the office (at about one week old) it had yet to close on it’s own so Dr. Kivitz immediately referred us to the most respected pediatric cardiologist in LA. I still remember the anxiety I felt when I was told we could not get in for two weeks. When I called for another referral, without me asking, Dr. Kivitz called on our behalf and my son had an appointment two days later! Moreover, the cardiologist could not believe that he could even hear the tiny VSD. I remember him saying, «that is impressive» But it’s really not, because Dr. Kivitz has always gone above and beyond for our son!

This review is for those two I’m afraid to call «ladies», so let’s call them by their names — BITCHES! Well yeah… I’m sorry. If the only thing you do is bitching at other reviewers, then you are who you are :) (probably though friends of Dr. Kivitz. With 1 and 2 reviews… Really?! … Not cool :))
Anyway…
So, why don’t you both read a little about every vaccine you stick in your poor child?!
Let me give you a couple of examples…
The first one — hepatitis B! How in the hell your newborn baby can get a disease like that if you can get it only through a blood or if you have sex with someone who has hepatitis B! Oh yeah… Let’s imagine the situation that your child gets horribly ill and needed a blood transfer and the blood is infected?! Or maybe he will have sex with infected pedophiles? Oh Mighty!!!
And the second example for those bitches — tetanus! Yes, really scary disease for all of us. Not many people know (I’m sure those two didn’t even hear about it) that the bacteria (or call it a virus) of tetanus lives in moist soil, very afraid of the sun and dry environment. It dies within one minute of being on the sun, but in order to get into your body a wound must be sufficiently severe. So here is how it would happen — in order for your child to get this disease he should at least cut off his hand and dig with what’s left of the arm in a pit at least thirty centimeters deep. And in this case the first thing the ambulance nurse will do with affected child is the injection of tetanus toxoid. Why? If your child was vaccinated already? Just because tetanus vaccine like any other doesn’t give you 100% protection from a disease and doctors know it!
So why don’t you think about those examples (if you have anything to think with?!) or research a little and get your own opinion on the vaccination?! Or to make your life even easier — read the inserts of the vaccinations you are giving to your kids! They will educate you about the risks of the all-​mighty vaccine?!
I’m done. The class can recess! :)

Dr. Kivitz is a wonderful pediatrician.
He’s what I call a non-​alarmist. He is logical, level-​headed & doesn’t stress you out with unwanted/​un-​needed worries. If something is actually wrong or is an issue, he deals with it thoroughly. Otherwise, he gives great words of encouragement & is there to listen & help.
The billing is awesome… yes…awesome billing and medical office in the same review… what?! They’re efficient, timely & always right on the mark. They talk you through any questions you have, which is great.
ANY time I’ve called Dr. Kivitz during off hours — he calls back immediately.
HIGHLY recommend. Intelligent, knowledgable doctor.
ALSO — to the reviewer below… Kivitz RECOMMENDS sticking with the vaccine schedule (If you do ANY research, you will see that EVERY SINGLE STUDY saying that vaccines are harmful was actually fabricated by a whack job of a researcher who did so to get paid by lobbyists…) — HOWEVER, he is really understanding if you DO choose to delay vaccines. He will absolutely give you his professional opinion… but isn’t that WHY you see a doctor in the first place?!
If you’re the type to go online to research everything & think you know better than the actual doctor… NO, you probably will not like Dr. Kivitz. He is honest & very upfront about his recommendations — but for us, that’s the whole point. I want to take my child to a doctor who knows what he is talking about & can advise me accordingly. Don’t buy into the crappy review… that person needs coddling and that’s not what doctors are for. If you want an intelligent, GOOD doctor… he is wonderful.

We were pleased to have Dr. Kivitz be the doctor on call when our son was born and he took great care of him which led us to keep him on as our baby boys pediatrician. We saw Dr. Kivitz up until our son was 10 months old (I might be off a month or two) as the drive to Beverly Hills from North Hollywood was a bit too much for our little one (he hated car rides as an infant). We were sad to switch doctors but we are excited and hopeful that he will be on call when our daughter is born this August. Thanks Dr. Kivitz for taking such good care of our little man and we look forward to seeing you in a few months!
–The Metry Family

Absolutely horrible service, and a stereotypical money grubbing pediatrician. Clearly more interested in «Billing» and playing games with when money was received, and how much is owing, than taking care of your child. Payments you make will be «missing», and you will be ordered to pay again or you will subject to collections.
A STRONG proponent of ALL vaccines despite any objections or hesitations you might have as a parent of your own child. You will constantly be accused of «being behind» in vaccinations, when you have told him in no uncertain terms you do not «WANT» certain vaccinations. He loves to inject those trace amounts of neuro-​toxins into your baby every month, especially since he gets to bill your insurance for it.
Another reviewer calls him «Old School», and I would agree with that. The old-​school «I am right and you are a simpleton parent, leave the doctoring to me, I’m smarter than you» kind of way.
He is not sensitive or concerned with the anxiety or fear your baby has for him. He can’t be bothered to waste time on that.
Stay away from this one. There are too many real pediatricians in LA for you to learn your lessons the hard way with this office.

I almost don’t want to write this review because I don’t want this guy to get busier. But prospective parents or parents with children looking for a pediatrician need to know.
Kivitz is old school and new school at the same time: that is, he’s got the ethos of a physician of fifty years ago: the types of guys who saw medicine as a true «calling.» And long with the old school bit is a very sane and experienced approach (it seems to me) to children’s health. At the same time, as far as I can tell, he keeps up with all the new studies, the journals in his field, and so forth. He’s respected by his peers, and he’ll give you the straight dope on a specialist if you need one.
He’s on staff at Cedar-​Sinai as well. It was just serendipity that he was the doc. who checked out our first born child. Though we «interviewed» or visited some of the better known pediatricians who are patronized by the whole North of Montana HausFrau set, we stuck with this guy.
Other things:
a) If you tend toward hysterics when you’re child is ill, he’s good at calming you down.
b) you can tell this guy ain’t in it for the money. He’s the real deal.
c) his secretary is competent and insurance stuff is sorted easily. If a doc doesn’t have good office staff, the whole thing is worthless: you don’t want bad support staff because then you have some half-​wit who can’t schedule an appointment for you, can’t pass messages on to the doctor (he always calls back by the way), or screws up billing.
d) finally, he’s a useful anecdote to all the silliness of «West Side Parenting». Yeah, he’s in Beverly Hills now, but don’t hold that against him.

Dr. Kivitz is the best pediatrician you will find in the LA area. He moved to BH, despite the traffic, he is worth it. No long waits, and Crystal his assistant is gold! If you’re looking for a caring, down to earth doctor, you should see him. He’s been our pediatrician for the past 10 years (three kids) and I can only say that I’ve never met a more caring doctor! I highly recommend him!