Any former patients of Dr. Powers out there? Who's your new OB?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for suggestions. Dr. Powers and that whole Bethesda practice is so good. I'm bummed they're not delivering babies anymore.

[Anonymous]

They have Dr. Larsen from GW coming to their office once/week to handle OB for their practice now. I LOVED Dr. Hammond and Dr. Powers and was upset, too when they stopped doing OB. I now go to Foxhall in Spring Valley. It's a bigger set up but I've been impressed that it still feels persoal and the doctors seems very good - down to earth, easy to communicate with, etc (like I felt about Hammond/Powers.) Also closer to my office, which helps a little...
If you talk to Dr. Powers he can give you a list of OB's he personally recommends if it doesn't work out to go to GW/Larsen at their office.

[Anonymous]

Great news! Thanks for the update. I will give them a call.

[Anonymous]

I'm also a former patient of Dr. Powers -- he delivered my son in 2006 -- and was sooo sad to learn that he and Dr. Hammond were no longer delivering babies. For this pregnancy, I started out at the 2141 K Street practice (Drs. Newman, Picco & Bajaj), because a friend told me Dr. Powers' office recommended them to her. I ended up leaving that practice 1/2 way through my pregnancy for reasons discussed at length elsewhere on these boards (absurdly long waits w/ literally not enough chairs in the waiting room, unfriendly and disorganized staff, etc.). I'm now also at the Foxhall practice. It's nowhere near the Powers practice in terms of the support staff, but sooo much better than Newman et al. I'm seeing Dr. Pardo who is a new doctor in the practice and really really like her so far. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Is there anyone who's seen Dr. Larsen and can share her thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I'm seeing Dr. Larsen. He's very competent and reassuring. Not much on personality, except for a very dry sense of humor. He doesn't really give straight answers, which annoys me. However, I had one appointment where I was very distraught, and he took me very seriously. He had me take a blood test, and he then emailed me the results right away, which was amazing. I've never had a doctor have me communicate via email. He's never on time, which is also annoying - I always get either an 8am or 8:15am appointment, and he rarely arrives before 8:45am. I don't like that they don't do any of the bloodwork in the office. I also had one issue where they cancelled my appointment and didn't confirm it with me. So, pros and cons. I'm not one of those people who calls their doctor all the time, or needs a strong personal connection. If you do, Dr. Larsen probably isn't for you. However, I had an upper respiratory infection back in November, and the GW obstetric triage nurses were wonderful. So, the situation isn't perfect, but it works for me for now. In a perfect world, Powers et al. would still be delivering babies.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Larsen did my CVS. As the previous person said, he is a great doc (a specialist) but not much of a warm and fuzzy personality. If you want personal attention (and someone who will make you laught) , try Dr. Richard Footer. He has an office at 25th & M and in Bethesda. He is a solo practitioner. One thing though, he only delivers at Holy Cross- which is an issue for some people - especially if you want Sibley. Also, I think he just stopped accepting MAMSI.

[Anonymous]

It looks like Dr. Powers still does OB, i just called their Bethesda office and they confirmed. Also here is a link to his site: http://www.davidpowersmd.com/

whic states that he does OB

[Anonymous]

One of the Foxhall OBs told me that he's supervising the OB residents at GW, but I'm 95% sure he's not seeing his own patients. (Though I'd be v. interested in hearing if that's wrong.) BTW, I'm the 2/18 poster and I wound up loving the Foxhall practice. Dr. Beckerman was on call when I went into labor, so wound up delivering my daughter & he was great.

[Anonymous]

OP, here. Dr. Powers is delivering babies in a very limited capacity (once a week) at GW in his work with the OB residents. He's routing his OB patients through Dr. Larsen and the GW practice for the monthly visits, but he told me that he'd be happy to talk to me anytime during my pregnancy. There's a chance he can deliver babies for his patients, especially if you have to schedule a C-section, but the office visits are with Dr. Larsen and Co. You can see Dr. Larsen in Dr. Power's office on Tuesdays, though.

Thanks for all the opinions on Dr. Larsen since my original post. I met with Dr. Powers after learning I was pregnant, and decided to go through Dr. Larsen for this pregnancy with the hope of a Powers delivery. As many of you mentioned, Dr. Larsen is very short on words, but he really knows his stuff! I'd probably feel shortchanged by him if this was my first baby, but it's not, so I appreciate his efficiency. I dislike the outsourcing of all the lab work -- someone else mentioned that, and it really is annoying -- but overall I've been very happy with my care.