Furious with CFA

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure which doctor at CFA you saw, but I can tell you that I saw both Dr. Sacks and Dr. Abbasi and e-mailed them constantly. You really should tell whichever physician you are seeing about the way you are feeling. They cannot fix whatever is broken if they do not know about it. Tell your physician you feel there is a lack of communication and information! Putting your thoughts in DCUM's is great, but this is not the way to get the problems resolved. Sure, venting is good and I did the same thing when I had an issue with another clinic.
I was so peeved and what did I do? Posted here. It felt good to vent, but that's all it did. I finally got up the nerve to confront my physician (and was so frustrated, I cried!). After that, things were remarkably better. not perfect, but lets face it, what in life is? Besides our children.

[Anonymous]

All the issues aside that the PP's have covered already, at the bottom of this you have to decide what to do now. I have to be honest, I haven't been to CFA, but started out with another clinic in the area and ignored the red flags. I was in such a hurry to get going that I totally blew off the horrible treatment of the staff, their inability to explain charges to our credit cards, their attitude, etc.

Then the cycle was a miserable failure - all their fault.

I realized that all the signs were there, and I "took my chances." Don't be me. I would highly consider moving on. You'll get in with another clinic and get going within a couple months. Better that then following a screwy protocol and having it all fall apart.

[Anonymous]

I just completed my 2nd fresh cycle w/ dr Rifka (both were successful) & he sat down & went over the calendar w/ me. I'm cash pay so would be livid re a mix up. This last cycle my nurse seemed distracted so if I had any questions, I always called Rifka directly. If he wasn't available, he always replied shortly. I would make it very clear to your dr what happened & then ask for a new nurse for this cycle (can't imagine it'd be comfortable to be stuck w/ a nurse who is going to get reprimanded for screwing up). They do have some good ones there! Good luck

[Anonymous]

Dr Sacks is undoubtedly VERY nice but the practice, how shall I put it, well, I wouldn't exactly say it is a tight ship. I was VERY on top of things and engaged along the way (at my initiation) and there were at least three staff errors I caught along the way during my cycle. I looked the other way because Dr Sacks is so nice and so knowledgeable, but now that the staff has incorrectly sent a HUGE bill to a collections agency (for money I DO NOT owe them) I am going elsewhere for my next cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes, I think that's essentially what happened 18:20. There are a couple of extenuating circumstances (some mine, some theirs) that caused me to shift dates. According to the nurse, this led to a change in protocol. What's particularly frustrating is that part of the reason I called so persistently before ordering was to confirm that my protocol hadn't changed due to the change in timing. Even now I had to google to figure out a possible reason for why the timing might have caused a change in the protocol.

I know I'm lucky that I have insurance so it's not coming directly out of pocket, but it is coming out of my lifetime coverage limit. And in the end, someone's paying the $3K...an error like this is really infuriating. And a curt "I'm sorry" doesn't come close to cutting it. I've been to autobody shops that are more attentive and personable...and that take more responsibility for their mistakes.

Like I said I'm still really angry and trying to figure out how to proceed. There is no other medical treatment I would get from a medical practice in which I had so little faith...so maybe that's my answer. It just makes me so sad to think it'll probably be months before we can proceed if we switch now. DH is anxious to be a dad, but doesn't feel like it's his place to make decisions since I'm the one who has to endure most of the physical aspects.

I would not stay at a place that did this. IVF is such an emotionally intense process. I am SOOooooo sorry about the $3,000 in drugs. That is going to come out of your lifetime limit.

And if your IVF is unsuccessful there, you are also only going to have so many more chances through your insurance. Do you really want to risk something so important to incompetence? Each stage of IVF is delicate and the more precisely it's executed, the greater the chances for success.

If you make consultation appointments right away, you can have a new doctor before your next cycle.

I went to CFA for my first IUI-more a function of the doctor than anything else but the staff played their role in making it a horrible, even traumatic experience for someone just starting out on ttc. I thought about switching doctors but knew that I could see Butler at procedures and couldn't deal with that. Incompetence in the doctor doing your transfer or retrieval, over which you have no control, can have a huge effect on your success, as can mix ups with meds, instructions from nurses, etc.

I would run, not walk to Shady Grove. At Shady Grove, for whatever other problems you may face, incompetence and lack of organization is not likely to be among them. At least you know that for something this important, you're giving yourself the best chance of success possible. You haven't yet started IVF but for me, every step I had doubts and questions, and it would have sent me over the edge to have to deal with incompetence of those with whom you've entrusted your process. My eggs, and yours, do not need any more strikes against them!

I myself was torn between Shady Grove and GW, and decided on GW, and again, the staff is very competent, there are no such mistakes, and I have faith in each of the doctors in the practice. I know that it's my eggs, not a function of the care, the lab, or the protocol that I'm getting. And at GW they are SO considerate of the fact that I'm paying out of pocket, looking for the cheapest meds, toward the end having me order day by day. . . I can confidently say I'd never have faced the screw up that you did, and I expect the same from Shady Grove--it's a smooth operation over there.

[Anonymous]

But at CFA you always have (unless doctor is on vacation, which is rare) the same doctor (YOUR doctor) for procedures, and I really, really love that...

[Anonymous]

Two women I have talked with through this process had Dr. Sacks but their transfers and retrievals were while he was on vacation and Butler did them. It can happen.

I think having your doctor for procedures is one of CFA's draws that I've seen on these boards, though, and I can see the appeal of that.

I'm ok with different doctors for procedures because that gives me confidence that it's a 24/7 operation and no decisions on timing of retrieval or transfer will be based on my own doctor's schedule, they can do them when the timing is right because they always have cover.

What really, really bothered me was that my first doctor at Shady Grove happened to be on for monitoring, I was so glad to have my OWN doctor, and she didn't know that I was in for a day 3 baseline monitoring, and said the medication wasn't working--I told her I hadn't yet taken any. It was also an ill-advised clomid cycle--I'm over 40 and it produced ONE follicle, which I do on my own. All subsequent doctors with whom I've consulted (three in total) said they wouldn't use clomid on someone with my numbers. I changed doctors after that cycle.

Given the cost/insurance coverage limits, I don't think it's worthwhile to do a cycle with a doctor or clinic you can't trust 100%. I learned the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way, I would also find it very hard to believe that the pharmacy wouldn't take them back and refund you, especially if the doctor called and explained what had happened... That being said, I've never done that with fertility meds so I can't be sure about that.

Unfortunately, I can see returns being a problem with the drugs that have to be refrigerated. The pharmacy may have concerns that they weren't stored at the right temperature after they were sent. Still, there is no harm in asking, and you definitely should. Are there no drugs that can be used between the protocol you thought you were going to have, and the protocol you've ended up with?

I am so sorry this happened to you, OP. I agree with everyone who says to deal directly with your doctor when you can, and tell him or her about this mistake. But I have to say that when I did IVF at another clinic, most of my interaction was with the nurses. They'd be the ones calling to let me know the results of my monitoring, what to change in my injections from day to day, etc. So it's really important for that relationship to be fairly solid. This one clearly is not getting off to a good start.

I once had this happen with refrigerated meds and the pharmacy (out of state) had me ship it back with the same ice pack they used to ship me and refunded my money no problem. Whether or not they reused the meds again I don't know but they can probably write off the loss if not.