Dr. DiMattina

[Anonymous]

Does anyone see him? Thoughts? I've been at Shady Grove for 2 years (3 failed IUI's, 2 failed IVFs, recent IVF converted to IUI with chemical pregnancy)...so we're ready to try something new...just trying to get some opinions.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Dimattina.......


.....is obnoxious. Seriously rude and full of himself.
If you go to dominion, see Dr. Gordon. Dominion has some interesting ideas (mainly natural cycle IVF) so they might be worth a second opinion. Their pregancy rates are a little below Shady Grove's but they do approach things differently so it might be just what you need.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm leaving SG after the same type of results (4 failed IUI, 2 failed IVF).....and need some new scenery. I'm switching to Dr. Sacks with CFA. He's really quirky.....very different from my SG doc. Something new.....

[Anonymous]

We ended up leaving SG and going to Dr. Nancy Durso (metrofertility.com) who has a much better bedside manner (and was an IF patient herself).

[Anonymous]

I LOVED Dr. DiMattina, but will admit he is not for everybody. He is cocky to a fault, but he gets results! If you need handholding, see Dr. Gordon who is just fabulous. If you want a no BS doctor who will tell you like it is, see Dr. DiMattina.

And btw, the practice is FABULOUS. I saw Dr. DiMattina, but when I got pregnant with twins and ended up in the hospital at 24 weeks Dr. Gordon came to see me every week for 10 weeks. Not too many RE's that really follow their patients like that.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I saw Dr D for a couple of appointments early on (during the dx phase) and really did not like him, but I know others who love him. I'd recommend going for a consult - you'll know pretty quickly if his style is for you. Also, while I agree that he is cocky, I'm not sure that confidence is so well-founded. When I was researching RE's I searched on pubmed and he has not published anything in peer-reviewed journals in over 10 years. Nor did he go to such a great med school (call me elitist, but friends who are MDs say that if you have nothing else to go on, look to see where your MD went to med school). I now see Dr. Frankfurter at GW and really like him (although the practice overall has both pluses and minuses). Hope that helps and good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

He is cocky to a fault, but he gets results!

The thing is, he doesn't really get results. His "results" are worse than Shady Grove's. Why go to a doctor who is a jerk when he's not getting better results than other physicians who are a whole lot more decent to their patients? I don't get it.

I would go to him as a second opinion if I had exhausted Shady Grove's options but do say that he "get's results" like he's some superhero in reproductive medicine and worthy of being treated like crap as a patient is misleading. His stats aren't that fabulous.

[Anonymous]

whoops, previous poster here. My second paragraph should have read:

"I would go to him as a second opinion if I had exhausted Shady Grove's options but to say that he "gets results" like he's some superhero in reproductive medicine and worthy of treating patients like crap is misleading. His stats aren't that fabulous.

[Anonymous]

Definitely go for a consult first, and be open to looking for another practice if Dr. D rubs you wrong. I hated him -- and I don't think I'm the kind of patient who needs handholding. At my first visit, they gave me Dr. DiMattina and Dr. Gordon's book. Every time I asked Dr. D. a question, he would dismiss it, saying "It's in the book." I HAD read the book, found it poorly organized, and hadn't found the answers to my questions which is why I asked them. When we learned that our issue was male factor, he said, "Hubby's got a problem," which is not how I feel medical information should be delivered.

I also found their prices to me MUCH higher than SG for the same thing. I ended up switching to Dr. Osborn at SG and was successful with IVF. If you don't like Dr. DiMattina, I've also heard wonderful things about Dr. Sacks, so you might try consultations with both.

[Anonymous]

Just to pile on, if you are out-of-network, they make you pay 50% up front. I later realized that my insurer had been reimbursing them for more than 50% of the costs, so I had been over charged. In the end it wasn't that much money because I stopped seeing him after 2 consults, so I didn't try to get my money back. But be on the look out for that if you do use him.

[Anonymous]

Every time I asked Dr. D. a question, he would dismiss it, saying "It's in the book."

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the worse. Every and I mean every single question we asked was met with "read my book". "Can you tell us a little about natural cycle IVF?" "Read my book". "Should we do IUI or IVF?" "Read my book". "What tests do we need to have done?" "Read my book".

It was astouding.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend Dr. Gordon at Dominion. I've been a patient of his since 2004. He was able to get me pregnant twice through 2 different IVFs. He is kind, sweet and really a great doctor. He cares about you personally and is a good person. I only saw Dr. Dimattina when Dr. Gordon wasn't there for sonograms and bloodwork. But when it came down to the procedures of IUI and IVF I only used Dr. Gordon and requested it that way since he was my primary doctor.

I have heard about Dr. Dimattina's reputation of being arrogant, but it did not bother me at all. The practice (Dominioin Fertility) is wonderful. Their staff of nurses and people who work with your embryos (forget the medical term for this person) are top notch. You will mostly see the nurses anyway and will talk to the nurses mostly over the
phone so I felt is was important to like them and have a great realationship with the nurses.

They are great and open all the time. Even in emergencies, I once was getting ready to take my medication (lupron) one night at 10pm and the bottle fell out of my hand and shattered across my kitchen floor. I can the nurses hotline and someone called me back within 10 minutes and called in a prescription to CVS right that very moment and I went to pick it up. This practice is great and I hightly recommend it. I would give them a try since you don't seem to be getting results at your current clinic.

[Anonymous]

I've been reading this thread with interest as I too am a former patient of Dominion. Dr. Gordon was my doctor, and I can not say enough good things about him and the nurses. As a former poster mentioned, Dr. Gordon did all of my monitoring unless he was on vacation. Those times that Dr. DiMattina did the monitoring, I never experienced any of the arrogance that others have mentioned. He's definitely more talkative, but was always encouraging and supportive. In fact, he did my HSG - my comfort during the procedure was his main concern. Also, the billing staff always worked with me and my insurance. Because of Dominion, I have my DS so I am a bit biased. But I would recommend this practice whole-heartedly.

[Anonymous]

I loved Dr. Sacks and do know people have had success with him. DiMattina is a total jerk. We saw him first and he told me I was do-able and I left the office in tears.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I'm astonished by the comments. Dr. D helped me conceive my kids 11 and 9 years ago, and I really liked his no-nonsense approach. I thought he was terrific. I didn't need any hand-holding. I wonder if I would have felt differently if I had been in a different place emotionally. Or if he has become more arrogant over the years.