Dominion Fertility vs. Shady Grove Fertility

[Anonymous]

I don't know how to answer this question, because it didn't end up being my experience...Dr. G was there every time.

I do know, based upon his blog, that Dr. G is going through some difficult family issues right now. So maybe his availability is a little less 'regular' than is his typical style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how to answer this question, because it didn't end up being my experience...Dr. G was there every time.

I do know, based upon his blog, that Dr. G is going through some difficult family issues right now. So maybe his availability is a little less 'regular' than is his typical style.

Oh, no, I hope he is OK. Dr. G. is such a wonderful person and a great doctor. I wish him and his family the best outcome from whatever they are going through.

[Anonymous]

I would just like to share that my husband and I had an awful experience with Dominion Fertility. We had Dr. D and found him to be unavailable frequently. Most of my test results were usually reported by one of the nurses, which allowed for limited answers to questions. We also found that being insured penalizes you. We ended up paying more for our two cycles of natural IVF than patients who pay cash up front, which I think is highly questionable and we did point this out to the staff.

We decided to take a year off and save for egg donor, we were going to go to Shady Grove because we had heard better things regarding their services. However, we are now expecting a baby in one month! I guess you were wrong Dr. D! We also know other individuals with similar bad experiences at dominion fertility.

[Anonymous]

PP, so how did you end up getting pregnant? And I agree re: charging for natural IVF at the same rate as a regular one. We are in the same situation. Their explanation was that insurance companies do not have billing codes for the natural cycle, that's why they are charging the price of the regular one.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have been TTC for 3 years. We have been to both SG and DF. We are still on our infertility journey and have not had a successful pregnancy at either clinic (yet). That said, we did NOT enjoy our experience at SG. I definitely felt like a number - not a patient - and felt that our valid questions about my ectopic pregnancy were simply dismissed. I felt that procedures were made more difficult at SG b/c you may see any number of different doctors who don't know your personal medical history. I actually had the same medical procedure performed at both SG and DF and I was AMAZED at how much more simple and less painful the procedure was at DF.

We are now continuing our journey with DF. We have found BOTH Dr. G and Dr. D to be professional, respectful, and kind. When our first IVF failed, Dr. G called me personally to relay the sad news (not the case at SG when our IUIs failed or resulted in m/c). DF does not participate with our insurance - and we could be covered 100% at SG - but the additional expense of receiving kind and thoughtful care is more than well worth it.

Regardless of whether we do actually have a succesfull pregnancy, I would highly recommend DF to any one of friends without hestitation.

[Anonymous]

We are still on our IVF journey..

Been to SGF and DF

SGF - Not sure if we got the best in terms of treatment, but in terms of care, they were very good. We liked Dr.Levy, Dr.Chang, Dr.Nair. Didn't like Dr.Greenhouse.


Dominion - We really liked Dr. Gordon (he was our doctor) since he explains everything to patients and we can easily discuss our concerns with him. He returned our call right away when a cycle got cancelled.

But we hated Dr. Dimattina. He saw us when Dr.G was out of town. He didn't like that we asked questions, didn't address our concerns or answer them, and walked out while we were still talking to him. He kept talking about how many years of experience he has and he knows best, when we were trying to get our concerns across. Finally he walked out as we were still talking. Rudest person ever.

[Anonymous]

I just posted above..also wanted to add that DF staff was friendly and we would recommend Dr. Gordon there because of his kindness and genuine concern for patients, but not that rude Dr.Dimattina.

I don't care if he Dimattina has 25 years of medical experience, there's a way to treat patients and that man talked down at us and acted arrogant. Its his way or no way. And infertility doesn't work like that. When you've had 8 IVF's already without succcess, patients will know something about treatment and will surely ask questions and say their concerns, but this man acted like his word was everything and we should not share our concerns and blindly follow whatever he says without asking questions.

[Anonymous]

I've cycled at both SG and DF, and DF is definitely easier and friendlier, and the docs seem more invested in you. But I have been frustrated with some of the DF nurses - they give very little information when they call duirng your cycle and sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get information out of them. I've seen Dr. D a few times for monitoring and he was fine.

To answer PP's question, the weekend doc does do retrievals and transfers if he is working that weekend (I think Drs. D and G each do one weekend and the weekend doc does the other two). They are also getting a new female doc who starts next week.

[Anonymous]

I too agree with the poster above. Its difficult to get info out of the nurses at DF. They don't like it if we ask too many questions and it really is like pulling teeth to get information. We liked to document each days' BW readings so that we could refer to previous cycles and be aware of what is going on. But just to get the E2, P2 and LH levels out of them was like asking for something beyond imaginable.

At SGR, the nurses were definitely more friendly and gave us all the readings we wanted, even printed the stim sheets for us without acting like we were being annoying just because we asked for these.

[Anonymous]

Funny...I went through 3 IVFs at DF and LOVED the nurses. But then, I didn't ask for too much info...just let them tell me the next day's directions. If I wanted any additional info, I would usually ask at the next day's monitoring.

But then again...the tact we used (with Dr. G helping the entire way) was to purposefully try to just let go and try to relax in the cycle. I just let DF staff do all the worrying.

My first cycle was really stressful and we just decided that it wasn't worth it to be so 'informed' about everything going on. In the next two cycles, Dr. G would just let me know that things were looking healthy, and I was stimming just as well as previously, I would glance at the U/S, but I tried to let go.

The one time I did find out my E2, was when Dr. G wasn't there and it was real high...Dr. Payson was making decisions about my meds, and I begged to be allowed to continue, business as usual. Dr. G later agreed that this was a good call...for MY CASE.

But all in all...I think that 'letting go' and letting the docs make the call...well it was certainly better and healthier (mentally) for me.

[Anonymous]

So far so good with DF! I had an unexpected result on a blood screening test a few weeks ago (came back positive for one of the Hepatitises) and Dr. G called personally to share the scary news and ask me to have it retested (turned out to be a false +). I would have been fine if a nurse had called, but thought it was very thoughtful that he called himself.

[Anonymous]

Interesting series of posts. I've done 3 IUI and 1 IVF unsuccessfully with SG. Removing personalities from the picture, SG were an operation that were big city style. The facts of what we went through included a lack of attention to detail (kept adding a drug to the cycle that I was allergic to) by the SG Dr and Nurse, and the Dr wanted to push us straight to DE when the ivf failed ie. 7 ER, 4 ET's none higher than 5 cell. Given like all of us we do our research, I had asked what about other treatments / mixes of drugs. This resulted in a frustrated Dr giving us another cycle trying a new mix of drugs. I've not been back only due to illness of another nature, but either way I don't think that if parties are not willing to work with you to explain / weigh up the pros and cons, then you need to go elsewhere.

What I believe now - it takes 90 days for a follicle to develop correctly and I'd been stimulated with the IUI's prior. I wonder what are the cause and effects of the production activities that we went through on not achieving the pregnancy.

I will probably try DF over GIVF next cycle...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far so good with DF! I had an unexpected result on a blood screening test a few weeks ago (came back positive for one of the Hepatitises) and Dr. G called personally to share the scary news and ask me to have it retested (turned out to be a false +). I would have been fine if a nurse had called, but thought it was very thoughtful that he called himself.

This is my post above. I can now share the happy news that last month's NCIVF cycle at Dominion worked, and I'm pregnant!

Along the way, I worked with three of the four doctors in the practice. I started with Dr. G for the counseling/testing, and then had Dr. DiMattina for the egg retrieval and Dr. Payson for the egg transfer because Dr. G. just happened to be on vacation for the week of my retrieval/transer.

I was absolutely comfortable and impressed with all three doctors. While they have somewhat different interpersonal styles, all three were open and engaging, and all three helped me feel relaxed, comfortable and secure at every stage of the process.

I had similarly positive experiences with the nursing staff at DF. The nurses were both professional and friendly, and I felt like they guided me through each stage with minimum stress. The practice seemed to operate as a team, with everyone on my side, rooting for a pregnancy. Great experience all-around!

[Anonymous]

PP thanks for posting your experience with Df, I was referred to them by my OB/GYn and I hesitated to make an appt after reading some of the posts on here, but my Dh and I have been very happy with Dr. D and Dr G thus far, we are starting natural cycle IVF this month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP thanks for posting your experience with Df, I was referred to them by my OB/GYn and I hesitated to make an appt after reading some of the posts on here, but my Dh and I have been very happy with Dr. D and Dr G thus far, we are starting natural cycle IVF this month.

Good luck!! I hope everything goes well!