Shady Grove vs. George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates for IVF?
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Anonymous
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I went to GW for two kids and at one point got a second opinion at Shady Grove. From a purely medical perspective, Shady Grove didn't offer me any additional insight and in fact, I found them to be less willing to think outside the box. They presented me with a protocol and it was very standard. I felt my consultation with them was mostly them telling me that they had high success rates and so I should use them because their protocols produced high success rates. While that is likely true on some level, it felt like just as much a sales pitch as a medical consultation. (I went to the second opinion when I was having trouble getting pregnant with a second and felt that I needed to go out of due diligence.)
Everyone at Shady Grave was perfectly nice. It's just bigger and more formal. GW is small. You will know everyone pretty fast. I had great relationships with the nurses and they went above and beyond for me more times than I can remember. I saw Dr. Frankfurter for my second and he is an amazing doctor and person. He's a busy man and you will feel that sometimes and it can be tough, but he will think about you and your case and he will be kind and direct and he is incredibly smart and thoughtful. |
Anonymous
| RUN AWAY FROM SHADY GROVE, they are literally THE WORST. |
Anonymous
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The yelp filtered reviews mirrored my experience there.
http://www.yelp.com/not_recommended_reviews/shady-grove-fertility-rockville |
Anonymous
| I am with Shady Grove, and have been happy with my care. I believe they attract the best doctors in this area. Not touchy feely, but I think clinically the most sophisticated. I see Dr. Widra. |
Anonymous
| We used SG to conceive our dd. The Frederick office was great. Dr. Bromer is amazing. Yes I had to ask the nurse some questions especially when dealing with Dr.Esposito. but overall everyone was caring and efficient ..... not mutually exclusive in my opoinion. |
Anonymous
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The one thing I have learned from reading many forums and reviews on infertility is that it is an extremely emotional process and reviews are mostly reflective of the outcome. If you spend 20k or more and come out with nothing you won't be happy. If the outcome was good then you will probably be ok with the clinic regardless if they were warm and fuzzy or cold and clinical.
I liked my clinic and got a child. We went back and it was a bust for the second try. I dont blame the clinic and am disappointed but would still highly recommend them because I was treated well through the whole ordeal including two miscarriages. If you have to pick a clinic go with the one you had a better guy reaction to. |
Anonymous
| Agree with PP. We started at GWU - I love Dr. Frankfurter as a person, think he's super smart and caring & has had a lot of successes overall, but ended up with a very bad outcome. At SG - very mixed feelings about the doctors, although generally liked my main doctor but he was always very rushed, & very factory like, have lots of successes overall, too, but ended up with a good outcome with them. There are some REs with particular specialties, but generally they are all working from the same basic ideas and then doing their best trial-and-error trying to fit an individual's situation. |
Anonymous
| I juts finished my first cycle of egg freezing (not IVF) with Shady Grove with Dr. Doyle and RN Megan. They are a big and its easy to feel like a number. But Megan was great at instantly answering emails (and some days I sent her up to 10 - she certainly has patience). The outcome was more or less what they told me it would be, so I'm happy enough with them. |
Anonymous
Not only are AH about scheduling. Dr Greenhouse seems to care just for his pocket. I have seen him a couple of times and that was enough crap. |
Anonymous
| Actually I was just discharged from Shady Grove Fertility this morning! The location in Rockville, MD. I did not have any issues with the nurses or doctors. I felt I was in the best hands as far as monitoring, and testing/lab experts. The only qualm I had was the turnover of financial counselors and expertise. At a few points, the most stress I had was dealing w/ the financial counselors. I never had any stress with testing/egg retrieval/ embryo transfer. Like I said, I felt like I was in the best hands. They did not sugar coat my Infertility Workup. And I needed these "cold" statistics in order to prepare myself for the next step. I had really bad numbers for my age, diminished ovarian reserve. So, I went ahead and decided to try one round of IVF. I was extremely grateful I produced 6 eggs and was able to come this far with being pregnant with a PGS tested embryo! I also felt the environment was very positive and upbeat. Also, I was always able to get in early before work for monitoring which was very convenient for my schedule. All in all, no one held my hand and sugar coated my infertility results. But when I made the decision to try IVF, I felt a very positive and encouraging vibe from all of the staff. |
Anonymous
Had the opposite experience with dr greenhouse. |
Anonymous
| I liked GWU and was successful. What I liked even before I was successful is that Dr. Lalwani really listened to me when I gave my opinion of what I wanted, which was slightly different than their typical protocol. She asked good questions and had a back and forth and she agreed (I wanted to do PGS on frozen 5-day blasts on the first try). She did say that once we were underway things can change. Things did, and I ended up with a fresh 3-day transfer, but I felt informed about why things were changing based on my response. There were a coupe of minor comm hiccups with nurses but honestly do any practices outside of pricey concierges have perfect staff these days? |
Anonymous
| Which has the better success rates? I'm under 35 with no known problems, other than not getting pregnant. |
Anonymous
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If I were under 35 and no known problems, I will weigh on the finances first (i.e., who gives multi-cycle discount) first. If finance is taken care of and want to pick, then I'd pick the most convenient clinic for all the procedures.
For example, GW is on my way to work, also 15 min from my home, and all procedures done at downtown facility, whereas I'd have to go all the way to SG's main building in Rockville(?) for the retrieval/transfer. Convenience to monitoring/retrieval/transfer was the deciding factor for me (*when I was younger like yourself). But if you are AMA, I'd skip SG all together and go to GW. |
Anonymous
| PP. My bad, success rate. I believe SG wins over GW in your age group. I think because of the total number of patients is far more for SG. |