Just getting started, tell me how you choose a doctor
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Anonymous
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I have the same question as OP.
But in our case we aren't infertile, I just can't carry 
If you were using a gestational surrogate, how would you pick a clinic? What questions should we ask? |
Anonymous
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My process:
(1) I took the list of Washingtonian Magazine's best doctors for infertility. (Who know what the criteria is for that list, but it was a starting point.). (2) I crossed off anyone who didn't take my insurance, per my insurance company. (Though it turns out that list for Aetna is not correct.) (3) I looked for on-line reviews and crossed of any doc with a lot of unhappy patients. I may have crossed out docs who only had offices in Virginia, Rockville, etc. (I live in NE DC and work downtown.). (4) I sent the final list of about 6-8 REs to my OB. In the end I think he just chose the doc at the top alphabetically: Abbasi.) I've been very happy with Abbasi. I lucked out that she has a downtown DC office. I agree with other posters that the office location could make a big difference to you sanity, as you could be going in 3-4 times some weeks. Nurses are important, but that may be harder to control for. I've had a wonderful, responsive nurse, Crystal, but I almost lost my mind when she was working at another office during one of my cycles and her replacement was a disorganized mess. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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OP, I personally would have consults with your doc of choice at Shady Grove and with one of the docs at Dominion (personally I would stay away from Dimattina there. The rest are all great, with Gordon being the best IMO). Shady Grove is much more of a get-it-done, baby factory and Dominion is a smaller, more personable practice. I think these are the best two in the area and neither seem to have billing/staff issues or growing pains. Ask yourself what you are really after in a clinic and I bet one of these two will feel right.
Good luck, its a tough road but worth it in the end! |
Anonymous
| Not OP, but in a similar situation, and this thread is so helpful. I find this process completely confusing and overwhelming. We went to SG first but had a terrible experience with incompetent finance staff, and were turned off by the doctor's pronouncement on our first visit, with no testing beyond the day 3 testing, that we should do donor egg. Then I went to GW, where they cancelled my appointment because I was 10 minutes late (couldn't find their office.) These bad experiences have been discouraging, to say the least. |
Anonymous
Why? I had a wonderful experience there and two successful pregnancies as a result. |
Anonymous
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PP, this is 22:38. I also did not like SG, where I only has a consult...they seem to get results but their style is just not for me. I started at CFA, which was a financial and bad nursing staff train wreck, and landed at Dominion, where I have been very happy. The office runs as it should, nurses and financial are good and nice, and I felt like I was in good hands with care, etc. Now pregnant so obviously that helps, too!
(If you check their stats online, note that something like 65% of their IVF cycles natural cycle, which has an imp. NC didn't work for me sadly, but it was nice to have the option!) Good luck. Once you find the right office/doc it will run better. They should help your stress, not add to it. |
Anonymous
| ^ sorry for the typos! |
Anonymous
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I think the quality of the lab is very important, and that volume and experience correspond to quality. Therefore, I would always favor a big clinic.
I was very happy with SG, Dr. O'Brien in particular. One IVF and pregnant with twins (which we had hoped for). I think the individual doctor becomes more important when it turns out that standard protocols don't work for you, which is something you won't know until after your first try. Unless maybe you start out with particular challenges such as high FSH or immune issues - then you want a doctor who is experienced in dealing with that. Good luck! (The most important factor.) Oh, and the prices are not the same everywhere. SG is much more affordable than Dominion. |
Anonymous
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So after a quick look through doctors/IVF stats in DC that came up on sart.org it looks like CFA has BY FAR the best numbers. 45% pregnancy rate, compared to just 15% for GW. It didn't appear SG came up in my search which is also strange as I know they are in Foggy Bottom with the other two clinics.
What's with the huge discrepancy? Any thoughts? |
Anonymous
Beware of placing too much emphasis on SART statistics. The numbers can be strongly influenced by a given clinic's clientele. Some clinics accept more difficult cases. From what I've heard, GW gets a lot of the high-FSH clients who are rejected by the bigger clinics like Shady Grove. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
You have to look at Maryland for Shady Grove. The SART statistics are by IVF laboratory. SG has a DC office where you can do office visits, blood draws, monitoring, and most procedures. But the IVF lab (where retrieval, fertilization, and transfer happen) is in Rockville. Re-posting because I accidentally "quoted" the whole thing including my answer. |
Anonymous
| I didn't really "vet" the individual doctor. I went with Shady Grove because they have the most consistent success rates and their office is a block from my office which makes appointments easy. I am with Dr. Widra and I love him. The front desk help has been awesome too. My nurse - meh, but I don't care at this point. Good luck, OP. |
Anonymous
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I'm 13:10 from above, thanks for all your replies. I'm not the OP, but I am just starting my IVF research. I've been doing IUIs at CFA and I like them, but want to look into other places before I commit to IVF with them. Also good to know that Shady Grove's IVF lab is in Rockville, because that takes them out of the running for me. No way would I want to fight traffic up there for retrieval and transfer! I'd much rather have that done closer to my downtown home.
Right now I think I'm deciding between CFA (Sacks) and GWU... |