Shady Grove vs. George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates for IVF?

[Anonymous]

I've had consults with both, and my initial impression was GWU seemed a bit more hands-on, and less factory-like. But I'd be very interested in hearing either positive or negative experiences anyone on this forum has had with either. Or important things i should be considering when choosing between the two?

[Anonymous]

I should add that I've read the thread below about shopping for clinics and it was useful. It mentions a lot about issues with SG, but not so much on GWU.

[Anonymous]

I was a patient of both. Shady grove got me pregnant on my second ivf. When I go back for number 2 I'm going to GWU. My doc at GWU was gindoff. When I go back I'm going to Frankfruter.

[Anonymous]

As I am sure PP knows already, Gindoff is long gone. I am a current patient of Dr. Frankfurter. Extremely hands out. Sometimes I feel like they are short staffed on nurses, but I think everywhere might be. I would highly recommend GWU! For SG, I have heard that the Annandale location is great and that the rest are not fabulous.

[Anonymous]

Whoops, PP here! That was supposed to be "hands on" not "hands out."

[Anonymous]

Would suggest Columbia Fertility as it is smaller and less of a factory feel to it. More personal attention.

[Anonymous]

Shady Grove are absolute assholes about scheduling. It's completely insane. On my last nerve...

[Anonymous]

I would be weary of Columbia Fertility, check the thread about a woman who was lied to about test results by her doctor at CF.

[Anonymous]

Shady Grove is horrible unless you are an easy case, I wish I had read more about them before listening to my ob.

[Anonymous]

There are millions of previous threads on the differences between the two on this forum if you do some keyword searching.

[Anonymous]

Hated Shady - LOVED GW!!!!

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp who was a gindoff patient at GWU. Yes I know he's gone. I left GWU because I wasn't happy with him. Despite getting pregnant at sgfc I wouldn't recommend it and plan to go back to GWU for number 2.

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends how difficult or easy your case is.

in my case we had male factor, I don't have any known issues. I had 2 natural IUI cycles with GWU with dr. Frankfurter, my nurse sucked there, not sure what is she is even doing there, she has serious memory issues. Still feeling angry for not requesting to switch her after the first failed cycle. I had to deal with the nurse probably 95% of a time that is why it is important to have a good nurse (even caught her on a lie) that made me visit SG to see how they would deal/treat us. at GWU through sono's n monitoring i met Kathryn Humm and really liked her, she seems to be more detail oriented, outspoken and gave a lot of info where Frankfurter is more quite one (meaning if you wont ask a questions he wont say anything, he is very knowledgeable though; IMO he seems to be using more conservative methods like tries to avoid using meds unless it is really necessary, some people it) I was very neutral about Dr.Lalwani.... First impression of SG they are more organized in paper work for sure! Loved my nurse there, very quick in follow ups where at GWU i had to call n email to get my questions, simple question could take a week for my nurse to reply. Another big thing initially we waited almost 3months to see Dr at GWU. even now after 2 failed cycles I wanted to see my doc and I have to wait till May, crazy! he himself said see me at the end of Feb but how your reception would not let me schedule anything till May. where are SG we waited only week. We didn't start any cycle with SG yet but i am more enthusiastic than i was at GWU.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I would echo what others say - also, read the reviews that Yelp does not automatically show as "trusted reviewers" - i.e. the ones that do not automatically pop up on yelp. They are detailed enough that I believe they are legit, but are uniformly negative.

Shady Grove has been a very unpleasant experience. My nurse Megan forgot (and never apologized for forgetting) to include all required blood tests on the lab slip so I had to go back (and pay) several times. She also left twice for a week each time during my cycle, but gave no warning and left no out of office information so I was told she would "get back to me" but never told she was gone when I had questions.

I only met my doctor once (all dealing were with the nurse.) I'm not even sure if he did the retrieval as I was old cold by the time the I went into the medical procedure. My impression was that he was very hurried, spoke extremely quickly, and seemed to be watching to clock.

When I tried to switch to another clinic, Shady Grove told me it would be up to 15 days to transfer my records. Also, it costs between .50 and .80 cents per page to retrieve your records (of tests you have already paid for) and with 50+ pages or records, a very expensive to retrieve all records.

Other things they did not tell me when I signed on with them is that the downtown clinic doesn't do monitoring, so you have to go to Rockville for weekend monitoring. And when you go for retrieval, unlike other clinics, Shady Grove requires someone to drop you off, wait for you for 3 hours and pick you up. This proved to be extremely difficult as a single person as I didn't know when I would be going for retrieval until two days before. Other clinics I spoke with only required that you have someone there to check you out and make sure you get home ok.

In short, I would absolutely not recommend Shady Grove. I read reviews prior to selecting them and came in with very low expectations, knowing it would be like a factory, but preparing to advocate for myself. What I found out is that doesn't matter. Avoid at all costs.

[Anonymous]

I had a great experience at Shady Grove - though not a recent one (my twins will be 6 next month).

I had Dr. Paulette Brown and I thought she was great. I never had an issue with scheduling (I went to the Fairfax office for the lab work and only went to their facility for the egg removal and embryo transfer.) Part of my issue was that one of my fallopian tubes was closed. Dr. Brown took care of that at Shady Grove Hospital. We started with IUIs - and IIRC did 3 of those. We moved to IVF to just to get it done. Any given month I have, at best 1/2 the chance of getting pregnant and some months, no chance at all if the ovary ovulating was on the side without a fallopian tube. It took the first round and I have two lovely girls to show for it. I had some spotting early on. I called their number and got a call back in minutes. Ended up just being implantation spotting but the doc I spoke to was great and reassuring.

All that being said, I much prefer my medical experiences to be very quick and to the point. I don't expect emotional support or hand patting from my doctors and nurses. I want to get in, get out and have it done right. I think you have to go somewhere that fits your personality as well as your needs. With that in mind, I highly recommend Dr. Brown and SGF.