Anonymous wrote:Another former Columbia Fertility patient here (treated by Dr. Sacks). He has a nice bedside manner but in the 6 months I was a patient, he never even considered checking for male factor. I was just prescribed a course of treatment covered by insurance and after several failed attempts and many medications, etc., we switched to another practice. They immediately determined it was male factor and we successfully conceived within 1 month. Beyond the lack of diagnosis, I echo others comments that office operations at CF could stand to be improved.

Otherwise, best of luck and wishing you the greatest success !

I'm surprised to hear this. Everyone I know who has gone through CFA has had a SA done before anything else (8 couples).

Another former Columbia Fertility patient here (treated by Dr. Sacks). He has a nice bedside manner but in the 6 months I was a patient, he never even considered checking for male factor. I was just prescribed a course of treatment covered by insurance and after several failed attempts and many medications, etc., we switched to another practice. They immediately determined it was male factor and we successfully conceived within 1 month. Beyond the lack of diagnosis, I echo others comments that office operations at CF could stand to be improved.

Otherwise, best of luck and wishing you the greatest success !

Hi all - I am sooo appreciative of all of your comments on Dr. Abassi. This is really helpful information for thinking about how to move forward. Wishing you success in this difficult journey!

15:32 here, just wanted to add that my experience with her staff on my first meeting was great. Thereafter, they were totally unorganized and clueless and sometimes even rude. It was disappointing because on my first visit they were soooo nice.

I am currently a patient of Dr. Abbasi. She knows her stuff, is pretty honest and open, but as the other posts have mentioned, she doesn't have the greatest "bedside manner." She has always been really nice to me, but I can see how some women would need more of a comforting presence from their RE. I personally like her, enjoyed being a patient of hers and got pregnant on the third attempt/cycle (in April). I would absolutely use her again, BUT with that office and her staff, you definitely have to be pro-active. If you want something or have questions, you have to be on top of them because they can be fairly disorganized. I will say that Dr. Abbasi always responded to my phone calls and emails very quickly. She took my questions and concerns seriously and was never dismissive. She seemed to be looking out for my best interests and doing all she could to help us achieve a pregnancy, which is what you should expect and receive from your RE.

Good luck in your decision and journey!

i was treated by her. she was dismissive, oh and ALWAYS ON VACATION! so she was harldy available for questions. the waits were terribly long, and the nurses were always confused, and the staff - even more confused. seemed very disorganized. i ended up miscarrying, and had to go in to their office to get my records and the receptionist asked how was my baby...i was like, "uh i miscarried?". it was akward needless to say. i don't recommend.
also i feel like if she wouldn't have turned me over to my regular ob at 6 weeks (after seeing hb), that we could have caught the m/c much earlier - we didn't find out until 12 weeks and after the D&C my ob told me we had m/c around 7 weeks...never went back...

I met with her and thought she was plenty friendly and took time to answer our questions. But then she failed to mention that she was going on vacation for a month. So when I called, as instructed, to set my next appt, I was told she was out for vacation. I thought that was pretty crappy considering I'd been in her office one week earlier for over an hour.

I see Dr. Abbasi - she helped me get pregnant several years ago. She isn't terribly friendly, doesn't offr up a lot of info, but she is the only one I have used so I can't compare to anyone else. Her nursing staff are flaky, but usually nice. I am using her again because the bethesda office is most convenient and that is a huge factor when you are going in for monitoring several times a month. I think she knows her stuff, she is generally nice to me, but I really wish she would talk to me more about what is going on. Almost all of the communication with her includes one of the nurses as a middle man, which isn't a bad thing. I just wish she would give me her opinion as she is wanding me!

OP- if location doesn't make a difference to you, and you need someone who is more conversant, you might want to go elsewhere. Otherwise, in my case, I am not sure what another doctor would do differently than she does. Plus, I don't ask many questions because a lot of this is good fortune so an opinion won't mean much.

I don't know anything about Abassi, but I saw Dr. Sacks at CFA and thought he was excellent. If you are able to see an RE in DC, I recommend Dr. Sacks. I never saw Dr. Rifka, but I did observe him interacting with patients, and he really seemed genuinely caring as well. I know his patients really like him too. For me, a bit of compassion goes a long way, especially with issues of infertility. Sacks and Rifka really seem to get that, and it shows.

I saw dr. Abassi for secondary infertility. I never felt she was rude or dismissive. She was however always direct and to the point. Like most of you- this process has been truly painful for my DH and I - and as fraught with emotion as this process can be -I found it soothing to have straightforward and objective discussion with her regarding our options, protocols, etc. That is not to say I found her cold either- while she wasn't much of a hand holder - I did feel that she genuinely cared and wanted to help us have another child. I suppose RE's are like any other dr. - sometimes personalities fit sometimes they don't fit. And while she was not quick to offer tons of information- she seemed happy to discuss any questions, issues I brought up.

PP, funny that you say that she was was sweet to someone's husband. She was sweet with mine too, but totally cold and dismissive of me. I wonder why Dr. Abbasi is even in this business when she despises women so much.

i'm a former rifka patient, abassi did one of my ultrasounds. i found her to be cold and unfriendly. she seemed really annoyed and rammed the ultrasound wand up me really hard and pressed down on my abdomen with a closed fist. however, when i was waiting for an appt she came out to speak to a patient's husband about his wife's procedure and she was very sweet and kind. so maybe she's nicer to her own patients. PP, that's such a great typical Rifka experience. I wasn't able to get my miracle through him, but i missed his wonderful bedside manner when i had moved on to an out of state clinic. Not too many docs out there with his personality.

I have never seen Dr. Abbasi. I actually go to Dr. Rifka at the CF office in DC. I do like him a lot. He is direct and to the point, but gets the job done. I have to say, when I've had questions he answered them. And during my 2nd M/C, we discovered it during my 8week US with him...I was upset, so he moved his next appointment to sit with me and my husband to talk out next steps and how to get pregnant again. If you can do DC...I say see Dr. Rifka or Dr. Sacks(I hear he's good too!)

I have and was not impressed at all. She was cold, rude, dismissive and hard to talk to or to ask questions (she was VERY annoyed when I challenged her). I had to suggest to her to do a clomid challenge (my mother had an early menopause and you would think a specialist of her caliber would check my FSH). Our only issue is my husband's poor sperm quality and when I asked whether that was a reason why we had a blighted ovum, she almost started screaming at me: "In such cases, a woman's egg is the problem, so it was probably you." And at the end of the appointment she put us into a separate room (kitchen, I believe) to wait for the nurse and she never returned to say good bye. Needless to say, we never went back to see her again.

I just made an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Rafat Abbasi at Columbia Fertility in Bethesda. Has anyone had her as a doctor? If so, what was your experience?

Thanks in advance!!