Dr. Paul MacKaul

[Anonymous]

Any experiences with Dr. Paul MacKaul for laparoscopy?

Any experiences with Holy Cross Hospital in Rockville? Do they operate out of network with all insurances?

[Anonymous]

Can someone offer some insights here instead of fighting over primary and secondary infertility and taking or not taking children to clinics?
I really need some info here.

[Anonymous]

I went to him for a surgery and another procedure. My spouse is a doctor and he identified him for me. He came highly recommended by other doctors. I really liked him, but some people find his bedside manner difficult. I felt like I was in very skilled hands, and that is what mattered to me. I had excellent results and got pregnant soon thereafter. Had the surgery at Holy Cross. No complaints.

[Anonymous]

I should add - he was willing to do my surgery at another hospital if I wanted (I have always gone to Fairfax for things), but said he preferred Holy Cross because it wasn't as busy, was there the most, etc. So, if you have ins problems, ask him about potentially going to a different hospital. He has privileges elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.. that was very helpful. I have scheduled an appointment with him for looking at endometriosis.

[Anonymous]

He was okay.

I went to him for a lap and like a previous poster, my spouse is also a doctor.

Dr. Mackoul was okay in the office consult and talked to me for about an hour and drew out exactly what he would do during surgery.

However, the day of the surgery I was 100% convinced he had ZERO recollection of ever talking to me before. He introduced himself and
said "okay, today we're doing a lap for xyz". I had to correct him, "no that it's my history at all, we're doing it for abc".

Then in the PACU he poked his head in for maybe a second. Never told me what he found or how things went.

Honestly, it was all really disappointing.

[Anonymous]

I had a lap for endo with his colleague danilyants. She did a decent job, the surgery was scheduled for 45 min and it ended up being 1.5 hrs. She excised most of it with only a couple areas being burned off. She was able to tell me in pacu what was found, though it was brief. I had it done at fairfax as holy cross was not in network for me.

My only complaint was that during the consultation we discussed the possibility of having endo on my bowel yet her assistant was insistent with me that a bowel prep was not needed (its safest to do one if you want to remove it without reading the bowel). I ended up doing one anyway and thats actually where most of my endo was found.

Unfortunately my pain ended up coming back pretty soon after the surgery. I consulted with CEC in Atlanta to see what they had to say. They said that the operative note was pretty thorough and indicated someone who knew what they were doing and weren't sure how much more they could help me. Then I became pregnant the next month so it all seems to have worked out! Good luck op.

[Anonymous]

I can't a myomectomy at Holy Cross and liked the hospital, even though it was not convenient for me at all. They had a separate women's wing, which was nice for recovery. It was several years ago, but I don't recall having any complaints. I can't comment on Dr. MacKaul because I used the surgeons/doctors out of Women's Health Specialists in Rockville (Dr. Barter and Dr. Steren). If you want a second opinion, I recommend them.

[Anonymous]

OP here. All your responses are greatly appreciated. Good to know that he can do the surgery at another hospital as well. I was worried about my insurance coverage as hospital costs are very high.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I wanted to update. I had a lap in 2015 right after this post and Dr. Mackoul found silent endometriosis. I took a break after removing the endo and found success on the first ivf post surgery (my 10th IVF). He is an excellent surgeon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I wanted to update. I had a lap in 2015 right after this post and Dr. Mackoul found silent endometriosis. I took a break after removing the endo and found success on the first ivf post surgery (my 10th IVF). He is an excellent surgeon.

That's great. I was the first PP. So glad you had a great result.