need recs for OBGYN downtown (Georgetown practice doesn't insert IUDs!)

[Anonymous]

I'm a Georgetown patient and was offered both a tubal ligation AND the IUD as options by two separate doctors.

Question: How many children have you had and how old are you?

I'm interested to know how, unprompted, two docs thought to offer me things generally not on the menu.

I was offered the surgery in the context of another (that is, not my first) c-section. I'm old enough to be deep into AMA territory, but not so old that pregnancy wouldn't have to be prevented for a few more years (premenopausal).

[Anonymous]

My doctor could not do a tubal at Holy Cross because it's catholic. He did have admitting rights to alternate hospitals and could do the procedure there.

Private practice doctors can perform whatever procedures they want as long as the hospital they use allows it. Most of them have privledges at a few hospitals so they and their patients have options.

If your doctor is employed by the hospital they don't have a choice but to follow the rules of the hospital. Georgetown Hospital is a Catholic Institution.

[Anonymous]

As others have said pro-choice extends to other issues or you are just pro-abortion. Why should the hospital be able to choose? Isn't supporting their right to choose important also?

FYI patients who have been raped do go the Georgetown and get a prescription for the morning after pill but they just dont carry it in their pharmacy It isn't something that has to be taken immediately upon arriving at the hospital. If there were a run on the morning after pill at CVS would you be shocked they didn't have it? No you would just go to another location and have your prescription filled.

[Anonymous]

Why I delivered in 2007 by c-section I had a tubal ligation there. Have things changed?

[Anonymous]

OP here.

My OB (who's Catholic) and my GP (who's also at Georgetown) have told me they don't agree with the hospital's restriction.

I received incredible OB care at Georgetown. (I recently delivered my second child there, a high-risk pregnancy.) I'm 39. DH and I definitely don't want any more children. We researched our options and decided an IUD was the best one for us.

My OB and GP both referred me to Foxhall. But I haven't been able to keep an appointment there because work has been so hectic lately. That's why I'm looking for a practice downtown.

It's unfortunate that I have to go elsewhere for this kind of birth control, but I have been so well cared for otherwise at Georgetown that I will continue to go there.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Dr. Safran. He's downtown between Foggy Bottom and Faragut West Metro stations on K Street.

Wonderful man!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why I delivered in 2007 by c-section I had a tubal ligation there. Have things changed?

I had 2 vaginals at Georgetown (2005 and 2008) so tubal wasn't an option. I was 41 and felt my family was complete when I inquired about tubals last January 2011. I was told they won't do them. They can only hand out the Pill. Maybe because it wasn't in the context of a C-section and would involve independent surgery it is different, but that just doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

I was told by my Gtown OB that they could do a tubal during my third csection because it could be "medically" necessary at that point.

I think the issue with the IUD is that they dont know exactly how it works.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Gtown is Jesuit which means no IUDs (unless for heavy bleeding) or pregnancy terminations. However, they obviously treat ectopic pregnancies! Jeez. And their genetic screenign program is actually great. Please don't jump to crazy conclusions based on the fact that they won't put in IUDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why I delivered in 2007 by c-section I had a tubal ligation there. Have things changed?

Are you sure?

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I think my OB explained it to me this way... IUDs are supposed to keep sperm from meeting egg (of course), but in the very rare cases that conception happens, the IUD almost certainly prevents the cells from attaching to the uterus. so you're basically setting up those rare cases of conception to fail.

that's the thinking behind the no-IUD policy, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

I think my OB explained it to me this way... IUDs are supposed to keep sperm from meeting egg (of course), but in the very rare cases that conception happens, the IUD almost certainly prevents the cells from attaching to the uterus. so you're basically setting up those rare cases of conception to fail.

that's the thinking behind the no-IUD policy, anyway.

That is correct.

IUDs do not prevent ovulation. They make the uterine environment less hospitable to sperm. However, if conception does occur, (which happens an indeterminate number of times), the IUD is supposed to "scrape" the implanting embryo out, or make the uterine lining too irritated for implantation to occur. Of course, sometimes the embryo does implant and continue to grow, but IUDs can continue to threaten the pregnancy as it progresses.

Every birth control besides barrier devices has an anti-implantation element; in other words, they do not just prevent conception, they can also disrupt a new pregnancy. Church teaching is that artificial contraception and sterilization are wrong, and also that life, once begun, must be protected from the moment of conception. Therefore, Catholic institutions cannot participate in such actions without materially cooperating with grave sin.

[Anonymous]

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9804a/blockwomen.html


Read it ladies, it's really disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Fully respect all religions, however, I do have an issue when with a health care provider imposing his/her religious beliefs on their patients who may not share the same view.


Catholic hospitals are taking over many public hospitals in major cities and rural areas, where there is often 1 hospital in a 50 miles radius. Catholic health care facilites form the largest not for profit health service sector in the US.

As a PP stated, Catholic church teaches artificial contraception and sterilization are wrong, so majority if not all hospitals limit or refuse to provide such care.

Go elsewhere, is the common response to posters.

Why I may have the option of choosing a different doctor and facility, because I have insurance and live in an area with multiple hospitals and many doctors to choose from, many women across the US, do not have many options.

Women's right to reproductive health is being trumped by someone else's (organization's) religious beliefs that they impose on their patients.