Dr. DiMattina

[Anonymous]

Dr. D is an overconfident, belligerent, narcissistic, prick.

This pretty much sums him up. My husband and I are both doctors and couldn't believe his obnoxious attitude. I was SO tempted to write him a nasty letter but it turns out we have a few friends in common (which I know because of all the name-dropping he did during the appointment).

We also RAN to SG, got pregnant and couldn't have been happier.

And "the book" went into the trash in the lobby.

[Anonymous]

It's funny, I thought all REs offices are plastered with baby photos- it was exactly what I had expected...
I wish I would have found this website earlier, I had only read positive things about Dr. DiMattina before... and so far I am one of the people who is not really experiencing that... he's very short and brusque and shot down all questions with either the "it's not relevant" or the "i'm too busy for this" attitude. This whole "bedside manners are not taught in med school and don't matter that much" is total BS! Doctors are humans with personalities just like everyone else. Bedside manners really don't have to be taught - they already come with a person! Maybe he was different many years ago...
Has anyone ever switched doctors within the same practice? The nurses in that practice are great - like another poster wrote - they call back promptly at all hours and are very friendly.

[Anonymous]

GW and Shady Grove do not have pictures of babies up in the offices. I have never tried to switch doctors in the same practice, so I can't help there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dr. D is an overconfident, belligerent, narcissistic, prick.

This pretty much sums him up. My husband and I are both doctors and couldn't believe his obnoxious attitude. I was SO tempted to write him a nasty letter but it turns out we have a few friends in common (which I know because of all the name-dropping he did during the appointment).
We also RAN to SG, got pregnant and couldn't have been happier.
And "the book" went into the trash in the lobby.

It is very comforting to know that I am not the only physician colleague who had that impression.

[Anonymous]

so who is best to go to?!? i'll never see dr. douche-bag (my new name for him) again, but could possibly consider dr. gordon (after reading these posts).
i hear despite shady grove's stats - they are a "conveyor belt"....i live in nova - and wouldn't know which doctor to choose for shady grove.
also we seriously hope to be accepted into a shared risk program....we don't have benefits covering any fertility treatments.

after 4 failed iui's 2 failed ivf's my husband and i want someone who will do more testing.
we've been to dr. abbasi, and dr. durso and ready for a set of fresh of eyes.

are there any other discussion forums for nova/dc/md about infertility????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so who is best to go to?!? i'll never see dr. douche-bag (my new name for him) again, but could possibly consider dr. gordon (after reading these posts).
i hear despite shady grove's stats - they are a "conveyor belt"....i live in nova - and wouldn't know which doctor to choose for shady grove.
also we seriously hope to be accepted into a shared risk program....we don't have benefits covering any fertility treatments.

after 4 failed iui's 2 failed ivf's my husband and i want someone who will do more testing.
we've been to dr. abbasi, and dr. durso and ready for a set of fresh of eyes.

are there any other discussion forums for nova/dc/md about infertility????

After seeing Dr. Gordon at Dominion (I liked him a lot...nothing like Dr. D) I switched to SG because of their better shared risk program. I am seeing Dr. Greenhouse and I think he is great. Very easy to talk with, personable, great bed side manner with zero ego. I'm a very sensitive person and I feel 100% comfortable talking with him both in person and via email. He works out of the Fair Oaks and Annandale offices. I agree that SG is a conveyor belt but Dr. Greenhouse does his best to give you personalized attention.

[Anonymous]

I would go to SG in a heartbeat. They have the best stats in the area and they have the best shared risk program by far. Yes, they are an extremely busy practice (3800 IVF cycles a year I think!) but what they do they do extremely well. You can avoid some of "factory" feeling by seeing a doctor at one of their tertiary clinics as opposed to Rockville.

However, even then I think with any infertility clinic/doctor, you are one patient out of many and you really don't see the doctor enough during an IVF cycle to get to know him/her that well because it ultimately goes by so quickly and much of your contact is with the nurse. The only way to reallly connect with your physician at any practice (meaning be someone that he/she knows well, recognizes on sight, recalls your entire history immediately) is to have a a prolonged treatment course including a failed cycle or two. We saw a SG doctor at one of their satellite clinics for 4 years, 3 IVF cycles, (including one failed) and 3 babies. By the end of this course, I felt like I was leaving a bunch of good friends when we finally left the doctor and the office staff. However, this relationship took a long time (years) to establish and for a long time I felt a bit like a number too.

As to who you should see at SG--I think all their physicians are essentially about equal. The function in pairs when making any major IVF decisions and most of their IVF cycles use a set of standardized protocols (as does any IVF clinic). Unless you have multiple failed cycles elsewhere there's not much individulaized decision making that any doctor will need to make about your case. Most importantly, there's none of them who are major jerks, etc. All I've met (probably close to the entire staff over time) are normal professionals--some warmer than others but all completely appropriate.

[Anonymous]

agreed, honestly it is the nurses you see mostly.
i fear that seeing too many people, nurses and doctors - they end up not reading your files and your history and making mistakes with medications. i also hated explaining my history to someone new each week.
this happened quite often at dr. abbasi's clinic.

so as long as they are thorough, careful, and have a decent bedside manner - i will go to a larger practice.

and yes - have had multipled failed cycles - and wish to find doctors who would agree to do further investigating.

[Anonymous]

I go to the DC office at SG and it really doesn't feel like a factry to me. There are only three doctors at that office, so at this point I feel like I know all of them. I also feel like my doctor (Widra) has given me individual attention and it has been easy to talk to him by phone. When he was out of the office during key times (he was on vacation during one of my transfers) he called the next day to check in and spent a lot of time discussing my cycle, what he'd change for next time, etc. There are always a lot of people there for morning monitoring, but I think that is pretty standard. If you want a smaller clinic with more individual attention, you might want to also consider GW. Dr Frankfurter there is very well respected and widely published. He is also a really nice guy and spent a lot of time getting to know me and my husband. Their shared risk plan is pretty similar to SG's. Although I have to say, even though GW is smaller, the stims/monitoring phase still felt factory-like there.

[Anonymous]

Am I one of the only people who didn't think Dr. Gordon was that great? I met with him after two failed IUI cycles at SG. He bashed SG a couple of times when talking to him, as well as questioned why my OBGYN stopped sending him patients, when I guess she used to all the time. Even though the Gordon/DiMattina office is small, I wonder if they are stretched too thin, being the only 2 docs in an office open 365 days a year in 3 locations? I felt that SG had a more "professional" feel to the office, even though it can feel factory-like at times, I also get the sense that they really know their stuff. I went to the Annandale office for monitoring, even though my doctor was in the DC office. I did think that office made it seem like I was getting more personalized attention, everyone was really nice there.

[Anonymous]

Where else in Arlington/Alexandria could someone go? As everyone here who's been thru the process knows, early morning monitoring is quite time consuming especially if you go and then head to work. I'm a former dominion patient and considering other practices for additional testing too but driving to Annandale would absolutely not work with my work schedule since I work in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I one of the only people who didn't think Dr. Gordon was that great? I met with him after two failed IUI cycles at SG. He bashed SG a couple of times when talking to him, as well as questioned why my OBGYN stopped sending him patients, when I guess she used to all the time.

OMG...I LOL when I read this! Dr. Gordon said the EXACT same things to me and my husband during our first consult with him! Wow! And here I thought the man had some originality. I still enjoyed being his patient (he didn't get me pregnant but at least he was very attentive to me and made me laugh, which I needed at the time because I was new to all this infertility garbage and completely freaked out) I switched to SG because of their shared risk program and hope to have luck there with stimulated IVF.

And I totally agree that Dominion is stretched too thin. I just spent over $8000 for two failed cycles of NCIVF...I'm sure they could bring on another FT Dr at least to do the monitoring. Maybe then Dr. D wouldn't be such a p*ick and Dr. G would come up with something new to say during his consultations.

[Anonymous]

I'm on the fence whether to stay with Dominion and Dr. DiMattina or not... the practice location is ideal for us and the staff/nurses seems very nice.
I LOL also when I read about the referrals with Dr. Gordon - Dr. D. also seemed most interested in how I found his practice- I think he asked me twice! I'd rather he'd spend a little more time with my history instead, but he seemed pretty rushed. If I don't agree with something he wants to do- he might just refuse to see us anyhow...?
The comment from another poster how Dr. D was most concerned about her comfort during the HSG - I just can't picture that at present.

[Anonymous]

To poster 19:21: Dr D said he would only treat me if I did ICSI. He said that he was the doctor and so I had to do what he said. I then switched to SG and my eggs fertilized just fine sans ICSI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where else in Arlington/Alexandria could someone go? As everyone here who's been thru the process knows, early morning monitoring is quite time consuming especially if you go and then head to work. I'm a former dominion patient and considering other practices for additional testing too but driving to Annandale would absolutely not work with my work schedule since I work in DC.

i went to dr. durso in springfield for almost a year. we unfortunately didn't have any luck, so i am getting a second (technically a third) opinion. i really loved her and her staff. she just merged with washington fertility - and they have a shared risk program. s'field is prolly too far if you work in dc however the washington fertility practice has offices elsewhere.

have you checked out columbia fertility associates? they have an office in DC. i have seen dr. abbasi there, but i do not believe they have a shared risk program (although i have not called myself to inquire - there's just no information about that on her website - and when i saw her i was not interested in IVF yet).....

there is also a dr. simon in DC that i have heard of - but he is stand alone, doesn't take insurance, and his SART stats seem to indicate that he does not do many cases - but i honestly don't know, have never had a consult with him....

good luck! we are looking for a new doctor too, and we live in south arlington - dominion is out of the question after a really bad consult with dimattina....