Brown Fertility

I’d like to prelude this to say I’m a Nurse practitioner and my husband is a physician, so this review is coming from a place of two people who practice medicine currently and deal with the patient communication as well as staying up-to-date on latest evidence-based practice for our jobs daily, this is in no way coming from an ignorant perspective about how patient care works behind the scenes. I'm 29 years old and we deal with male factor infertility, so in theory this facility told me the IVF process should be a straight forward fix. I realize now if you are young and in such a situation they will do zero investigation into other factors and essentially just follow their own not evidence based protocols, change them during course depending on the doc that shows up at your visit, (of course while taking your cash) until something just by chance works and repeat randomly until it does. Not only that, even the competent physicians here like Dr. Waldman you may initially consult with will not in any way be following up with you, you will see different physicians every time for every procedure, they will change your plans and protocols constantly. And god forbid you have a failed transfer or any negative outcome- you won’t be in touch with your physician, a random nurse will give you your fate and it’s in your hands to decide the next step. Truly I emphasize to anyone considering starting treatment here to research and reconsider. Having moved on to an amazing clinic with physicians that care and you consistently see and that are there to ensure you have the best outcomes and troubleshooting after a failure to strive again for success. Dr. Brown and his office are beyond poorly run, convey no emotional support or empathy and do not care about success for you- only about taking your business. Read the CDC success rates and see for yourself, they do not advertise the truth and I hope this can help prevent someone from wasting their time, money and soul at this clinic.

Research- read these reviews and look at CDC IVF success rates as they are accurate and truly reflect this clinics low success. Having now moved on to a clinic in a bigger city with higher reported to the CDC success rates, insanely good customer service and only the latest evidence based medicine practices do I realize how absolutely horrible Brown fertility really is. Even as healthcare providers, we were fooled by their overly confident attitude during consultation we had, trusting their expertise and being failed as patients and human beings by them.

Consulted for IVF with Dr. Waldman (who I believe should absolutely run for his life from this place) being im under 30 and it’s male factor was advised how breezy this was supposed to be. During my IVF egg retrieval process I saw a different provider every visit until the actual retrieval. Had Dr. Brown change my trigger protocol the day before, later realizing this was not evidence based decision making. Then I was told to have a fresh transfer vs. frozen which aside from certain circumstances is no longer recommended as the most successful means of embryo transfer and also limit how many eggs they can harvest during the retrieval. I gave the nurse I spoke to credit because she did inform me of this and was surprised that they were trying to push a fresh transfer on me but of course I figured I would trust the physician. So they took 14 eggs, six or seven fertilized and only three made it to five day blastocysts. Being under 30 they don’t say it’s Necessary to genetically test the embryos however having gone through such a heart ache and three embryo transfers and talking with my new RE specialist, I realize regardless of the age of reason it is worth putting aside the money or taking out whatever is needed in order to obtain those genetic results so that you can fully understand what you were going to have transferred into you and the true likelihood of success. I was told I would be mailed paperwork on the embryos that reflected their grades and was only given the grading on the day of my transfers on a piece of paper and told by Dr. Brown, who happened to be the one there on the days of both my transfers, that they were “perfect embryos .“ After transferring our last embryo to a new clinic I discovered that was never true. The fresh transfer failed with the “best embryo.” No physician reached out to me after, I had to beg these people to schedule me a consult for a frozen transfer of our second embryo. One of the biggest things that I am just so heartbroken and angry about include during my second transfer Dr. Brown having trouble getting through to my cervix, rather than be prepared for an obstacle before sending the embryo through the catheter he had already begun transferring the embryo before even entering my uterus, having to send the embryo back through the catheter to the embryologist before getting a metal style catheter to get into my uterus. In the moment I was very shocked and scared that this would have damage the embryo and after telling the story to my new RE the shock on her face that he had done that I realize I am confident that altered the embryo and thus the success. Not only that but after reviewing my records from this clinic she was surprised that he did not chart or document any of what occurred during that transfer about having to change plans in order to get through my cervix so that no other physician or person the future would be prepared or informed of this. This transfer was of course a failure as well. Prior to having all of my records and specimen sent to a new and competent facility, I attempted to have a consultation about why I have sustained two failures. Their suggestion was changing the transfer day 24 hours later, adding an extra day of progesterone. Nobody had discussed with me that this was blindly guessing that my uterine lining was not receptive on the initial day and that it may be after 24 hours of additional progesterone. No one mentioned or discussed the option to do an ERA procedure which essentially test the receptivity, I went and had this done at the clinic I transfer to which confirmed that I was receptive on the original day I had been exposed to progesterone and so had I blindly agreed to their plan it would have ensured a failure.

As I mentioned earlier in my review, they lost my 500$ for several weeks and poorly manage the financial department. In comparison to other clinics that have significantly higher success rates reported by the CDC and that have significantly more evidence-based practicing physicians that are empathetic and caring with office staff that actually respond to you immediately and almost no wait times (which ladies is part of what you pay for with this service you deserve all of that and more when it’s a cash run business) I would say that their prices were not really any cheaper than the significantly better clinics that I later looked into.

These people don’t give an actual inkling of care to how many embryos you transfer at any point. Each time I had a transfer the days before the procedure I was asked by nurses not even the physicians how many I wanted transferred and asked what they recommend and was told “it’s whatever I want.”

He is very friendly and seems to care about you as a person. He always was the only person to ask what we didn’t like about the clinic and what needed to be fix. He is very good about calling you back once he gets the message from the nurse (which can take awhile).

Ask him for the data and let that control what he thinks is the best plan for your cycle.

Thankfully our insurance covers a big chunk of the cost so we have been able to do multiple rounds.

He was always willing and so is the clinic to let us transfer many embryos. The clinic let us do 3 for 2 of our cycles

I assume they ask about sexual assault and rape so they can be extra sensitive to the patient and be very aware of explaining what is happening and why. But I got a procedure done to check my uterus and with no warning or anything close to a warning he gave me a shot of lidocaine in my cervix and pushed the tube of dye into my cervix, not a word said except “yeah it hurts” when I cussed from the sudden excruciating pain. I told them I was raped years ago so that this exact thing wouldn’t happen. So that my doctor would be gentle and aware and take care of my body properly. It sucked and was super emotional afterwards.

If you don’t have a lot of road blocks, meaning different issues, then this place is fine. It’s cheaper and quick. If you have diagnosed fertility issues, go somewhere else, cause they couldn’t care less about what to do except do the hormones, get the treatment done and it works or it didn’t.

I did letrozole for 3 cycles. I did the injections for ovulation as well, but only got to ovulate in one cycle and it was a negative. We upped the hormones with each cycle which I really appreciated, it felt aggressive and like something was changing each time.

$500 per IUI cycle and about $300 in drugs per cycle

He didn't remember who I was whenever I saw him. He asked me questions which I thought his team should have prepped him on. He seemed clueless to my treatment or where I was in the cycle. It felt like the doctor was being pulled In alot of different directions. Probably has too much on his plate than he can handle.

Don't go to Brown Fertility. Find another doctor.

The doctor never talked to me about strategies.

I believe it was around $15k for the IVF cycle of which I paid $5k for deductible, meds, and copay. The rest was covered by insurance.

The doctor transferred 2 embryos cause that is all I had and it was an unsuccessful pregnancy.

Samuel Brown was great! The one time I saw him that is, at our consult. I do feel as though he provided false hope for a "quick" pregnancy. He told us we were an "easy" case and would be pregnant in no longer than 4 months. What a joke.

Go somewhere else if you want quality care and attentive doctors because that is not the service provided here.

Dr. Brown, in our consult, told me to stop taking all my vitamins and metformin ( I have PCOS). I was hesitant but wanted to trust my doctor, so I did. He said he would prescribe me the exact same dosage of Femera as my OBGYN (5 mg) and told me in our consult I would be prescribed dexamethasone as well after I mentioned it. When I came in for my first cycle day 3 ultrasound, no one knew what I was talking about and the physicians assistant I saw prescribed me a lower dose of Femera and said there were "no notes" in my chart about dexamethasone so she wouldn't prescribe it. I never saw Dr. Brown again.

Well we have Tricare which covers anything having to do with natural conception. However, we were told IUI would be $500 which doesn't include the cost of cycle day scans ( $250 each scan ) or medication that would no longer be covered.

I found this doctor to be pessimistic, and did not show much compassion as he delivered what was the hardest medical diagnosis I have ever received to date. He did not give me any hope and told me that my only chance was with donor eggs. (My second opinion dr disagreed completely, especially since Age is on my side still). I would have appreciated more compassion and a better bed side manner.

I would recommend going somewhere else and see someone who is willing to fight for your case and for you to have a child. There are many doctors who specialize in DOR, and who are hopeful and don’t put you in a box. Find that dr!

We didn’t get that far into treatment but once he reviewed my amh and fsh he immediately said donor eggs was my best option and that IvF would be unsuccessful. I ended up leaving this clinic to get a second opinion.

I had to pay out of pocket for my consultation, blood work, genetic testing (approx $200), and HSG. I’d say in all I spent around $500-700.

N/a

I think Dr. Cabrera is compassionate but I do feel that the entire office is not open to exploring immune protocols or really anything other than what is considered very basic and standard. Dr. Cabrera is very friendly and kind, he has a great bedside manner but at the end of the day I still am not pregnant and don’t know why.

Advocate for yourself and ask upfront before beginning treatment, if there is a protocol you are interested in trying, ask if they are willing to implement such things if things aren’t working otherwise. After failure I asked about adding some things that are geared toward possible immune problems and though they were aware of such things they wouldn’t even discuss implementing them.

They use a cookie cutter protocol for everyone it seems.

IVF 8,995 ICSI 4-500 Assisted Hatching 4-500 Anesthesia 450 Endo Scratch 250 Hcg test 125 Genetic prescribing maternal 2-500 (can’t remember exactly) IVF meds 5500 Prescreening bloodwork female 1200 Male bloodwork 400

We ended up doing a double embryo transfer but only because I pushed in our fresh cycle. When I did my FET I only had 2 embryos left and didn’t want to waste them so I suggested only doing 1 but at that point Dr. Cabrera recommended both and since they were both thawed that’s what we ended up doing.

A big downside to his office is their scheduling. They schedule multiple patients for the same time slots so the wait is often long, even with an appointment time. You do not see Dr. Brown on a regular basis either. It was devastating to miscarry but also to have a doctor we had never seen before perform the ultrasound and confirm the miscarriage for us. It was very uncomfortable.

Only patients with easy cases seem to succeed at Dr. Brown's office. He is very money hungry and there is a huge lack of personalization. I would not suggest going to this office.

For our IVM cycle, we were given femara for 5 days and then retrieved the eggs in an immature state, allowing the embryologist to mature them in the lab pre-fertilization. I was put on oral estrogen and progesterone in oil injections the month leading up to transfer and post transfer. For our IVF cycle, I used gonal f injections along with lo dose hcg, estrogen and progesterone.

Dr. Brown charges around $9,000 for an IVF cycle plus the medicine, which is paid directly to the pharmacy. Anesthesia and other things can be separate costs.

Dr. Brown was very nice and positive. Everything was "we will have you pregnant by the end of the year." This wasn't realistic and ended up being such a disappointment. Anytime we had a question or wanted to speak with him we had to pay our co pay of 60 dollars. When he did my HSG he was rough and very quick. I have a high pain tolerance and had to speak up about pain. He did not comment on this and then said "ok right tube blocked. Remember that for our next appointment. We can work with that ." This was as he was rushing out of the room. I was beyond confused and devastated. Also I think he should remember and not ask the patient to. When we did the Laparoscopy both tubes were actually open. We had a five minute appointment with him and that was it. For IVF I saw him once for one ultrasound. It was about 2 mins after waiting 45. They had done 38 IVF in one cycle.

I would say it's a cattle call and to look elsewhere if possible.

For my IUIs I was on low dose Femara. I would have 2 ultrasounds. One baseline. One to check progress. Trigger with Ovidrel. Then IUI 36 hours later. For IVF I was on the lowest doses of Gonal F and HCG after a Baseline ultrasound. Next ultrasound to check progress I was cancelled due to over response. I had to go back on birth control again and be scheduled the next month. He lowered the dose of Gonal F. I did Cetrotide for 3 days until I triggered with Ovidrel. Also baby aspirin whole cycle. Then after retrieval progesterone and estridol.

60 co pay to see doctor or ask a question 250 per ultrasound 500 per IUI 9k for IVF not including medication. Not including mock transfer. Not including blood work. Not including storing frozen embryos. Not including anesthesia

When we First met Dr. Brown we were very impressed with his knowledge in bed. He told us that we would have a 90%-100% chance of getting pregnant if we went straight to IVF. We are experiencing secondary fertility at that time 32 years old. We decided to go ahead with IVF process and win had all my labs drawn as well as my husband. We ended up doing a retrieval with a 5 day fresh transfer with one embryo and also a frozen transfer with our last two embryos a few months later ( there were four eggs for trade total, three of them made it to five day embryos). Neither were successful and after our cycle, I was doing my research and looking at my labs for a reason why at 32 years old, we were unable to retrieve any more than four eggs and found out that my AMH levels are extremely low. This was never relayed to me by Dr. Brown which made me think that he either never reviewed my ($5000) labs or did and didn’t tell me. We have started with another Infertility clinic and will not be returning back to Brown Fertility for this reason.

Do not get your hopes up if he promises you the moon. Do your own research and be your own advocate. You have to ask questions and not be afraid to speak up for yourself.

He used the protocol that he uses for all of his patients. I don’t feel like I was treated as an individual at all.

It was around $9000 for the retrieval and fresh transfer. We also paid $4000 for the second frozen transfer.

For our frozen transfer, we transferred two embryos mainly because they were our last two.

I really like Dr. Brown. However I did not feel like his treatment process best met my needs. I did not feel like an individual patient at this clinic I felt like I was just a number. I rarely saw Dr. Brown. I saw Dr. Rose a few times and really liked him as well. However there was never any communication about when I would not be seeing Dr. Brown. What upset me the most was how I felt like we were herded like cattle through the IVF and FET process. Waiting times were often delayed and the waiting times to complete the IVF and FET procedures were usually delayed way over an hour. In my opinion this is unacceptable and unprofessional. It was also not communicated well when a doctor other than Dr. Brown would be doing a procedure. I walked into an FET procedure meeting a doctor I had never met before for the first time. I, along with many other patients that were waiting as well we’re very upset about this. I also feel that there were several things that were not communicated to me a precaution that I could have taken. I did not know that I should not be taking allergy medicine while doing IUIs. Additionally I have an MTHR factor that could have easily tested for however was not. I only found out that I had this factor because I pulled up previous test results that I had with my primary care physician. This is something that is important to know when trying to conveive. I finally had had enough and switched to a new doctor.

Do your research. Ask a lot of questions and make them answer them and take the time to answer them. Verify who your doctor will be for all of your procedures. Expect to wait a long time. Appointments are rarely ever on time.

We did IUI several times. They were unmedicated except for the trigger shot. We did not see a doctor for these but an NP performed all of them. We then moved on to IVF. During a scan they found cells in my uterus and we were scheduled to do a hyperoscopy. We had a fresh transfer that was successful but ended in a miscarriage. We then had one FET.

Our insurance does not cover any fertility treatments. Below are the estimated costs that I remember. Appointment visit $250 - $500, IUI $3000, IVF $10,000, all medications for IVF and FET $20,000

I wanted to transfer two embryos and Dr. Brown and Dr. Rose were OK with this

Dr.Brown was always rushed and never remembered me or my history. I feel the practice got too big and he was always rushing from patient to patient. He never got specific with my treatment plans and I felt like he gave me a "one size fits all" protocol.

Go to a different doctor.

He did a donor egg cycle. It was pretty basic and no special protocols were used.

The cycles were s but more expensive than the other clinics in the area.

Dr Brown was always happy to see me even though I got the feeling that he didn't really remember me. He constantly seemed rushed or like I was keeping him from something he would rather be doing. One time, he was so eager to get in and out of an exam with me that he opened the door while I was still changing and rather than close the door and wait he held it mostly closed and impatiently stood outside it asking "Ready yet?"

Go somewhere else.

He was very helpful very early - explained things clearly but we have not seen him since HSG. He gave so much early on insight but I would love so much to reconnect once our first two IUIs did not work. I would appreciated a short meeting to reconnect or go over thoroughly our yearly timelines

I would tell them to slow him down a bit - he’s very zealous and gets excited but we (the patient) is usually not as intelligent as him

IUI - he explained them thoroughly IVF we haven’t gone over it yetx

Consultations are very pricey - I am totally fine paying for the services as I know they’re expensive but a consultation with a nurse (in my opinion) should not be 250$

Dr. Brown is a Sales person. He keep talking about how he was the cheapest and and how other facility will charge me more without results. Never about my issues and how he was going to help my husband and I

Try to look for a different specialist. infertility is hard enough, don't go to a practice that will make it harder

I didn't get any treatment plan because it took them 3 month just to all my results from blood work and almost a month just to get an appointment to get those results

10,500.00 per cycle . I remember that because he keep bragging on how they are the cheapest

N/A

He is a very intelligent man. I realize he's helped many people, so he must be doing something right, I just never felt that. I felt like I wasn't given a full picture. I feel like he never explored another option. His bedside manner leaves a little to be desired.

Get options. Make him give you straight answers. He told me he could get me pregnant in 2 rounds of IVF. I'm still not.

I really liked Dr. Brown at first but then I kept getting conflicting information from him. He just kept telling us we would get pregnant but then kept the same protocol, which was frustrating. Whenever we did finally change something, it was only because of the research and second opinions I had obtained myself.

Do you research beforehand and don't be afraid to ask questions and question him. And keep your own records.

Second round with this facility. Wasn’t thrilled after the first round so when we finally decided to go back again we were very happy to meet a new doctor. He spoke confidently and we felt comfortable. He highly recommended transferring one embryo not the two that they did the first time. After that meeting we never spoke with him again. Hard to get ahold of anyone for questions. Only after emailing asking about why my meds were different this time were they changed. More added and raised dosage. Fast forward to transfer day after being “strapped in” (if you have been through this you know how uncomfortable this is), did I get told the doctor that we DIDN'T want was coming in. I started crying saying we weren’t using Dr Brown we were using Dr Waldman they said Dr Waldman wasn’t there today. The nurse left, I cried and in the end we still decided to move forward, my one egg that we wanted to transfer and we signed for was thawed. The doctor, two nurses, and embryologist come back in doctor asks how many we are transferring I say one, doctor asks embryologist how many he thawed, “two, they are mediocre” Doctor asks my age, three times in a minute. (I’m still in tears). He says I suggest doing both, (these are my last two), as I’m crying and ALL eyes are on me. He has everyone leave the room so we can decide. What were we going to do? We were there after all the emotions all the meds, all the time. My husband gets them back in, doctor pats my still strapped in legs and tells me how he transferred four into his wife and he now has a fat boy from it and this would be better financially for us. HE ACTUALLY SAID THIS WOULD BE BETTER FINANCIALLY FOR US! Humiliated, scared, confused, and heart broken we moved forward. Unsuccessfully.

Do research and go somewhere else

The second round he wasn’t involved at all until the eggs were thawed and I was on the table.

I think Dr. Brown is good at what he does and cares for his patients, but he often was a bit clumsy in the consultations we had with us. He is good at explaining his research and the science behind what he does, although he often contradicted himself and delivered information in ways that weren't careful and didn't seem to reflect his compassion for his patients.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and keep asking questions.

He did not individualize my care, therefore my chances for success were decreased. Specifically, during my first IVF cycle the gonal f was at max dose and he never adjusted it despite each visit saying my follicles were growing very fast. As a result, my follicles grew too big, too fast and although we still retrieved 6, I could have had over 12 retrieved and would not have needed to do another IVF cycle for more follicles if the medication was adjusted during my visits prior to retrieval. He told me after the chemical pregnancy that it must be my embryos. When I said the grading from the embryologist showed good embryos he said "that grading does not mean anything" He also said what is important is what is inside the embryo and said "there is no way to tell what happening inside" I now know that PGT-A testing would have allowed me to know which embryos to transfer but they don't offer that test and as a result you can see the stats that show very, very poor success with women over 37 treated at Brown fertility. He did not communicate with Dr Bruce Rose who did my transfer. The first transfer he only transferred 2 embryos even though we agreed to do 3. The second IVF cycle Dr Rose said 2 minutes before the transfer that he did not agree with transferring 3 and he strongly recommended against it. He also said "I can get any woman pregnant" The cycle resulted in a negative pregnancy test. Dr Cabrera lost his temper with me when talking to me the day the nurse called to tell me the results were negative. He was extremely arrogant and never once said I'm sorry. Instead he said " I did not do anything wrong and I did not guarantee you anything" I was shocked. At that point I knew I would never return and no matter how much they charge me to transfer my embryos I would do that rather than work with Brown fertility doctors again.

For the reasons I detailed above, I would say do not go here. Even if you have to wait for a few months for an appointment somewhere else. There is a reason for that. He says what you want to hear and once that payment is received there are no refunds. After the cycle ends you will never hear from them again.

He used the same protocol he uses for all IVF patients at this clinic. I had concerns about implantation success and was always wondering if my progesterone levels were ok but I got no answers on that. Also, I think the most important thing I learned after doing my own research after the 2nd failed fresh IVF cycle is that a frozen cycle would have allowed him to make sure my lining was optimal for implantation. I also found out that the other clinics in my area rarely do fresh cycles anymore especially after a failed fresh cycle. That type of change in protocol is a critical change that based on everything I have read including this fertility site would have increased my chance for success dramatically.

I spent about 35,000 dollars here over 4 months. This included 2 IVF cycles and the over priced medications from SMP pharmacy in Miami for each of those cycles. It also includes the anesthesia costs and hotel costs because the procedures are done in Jacksonville not Orlando.

Dr Cabrera said I could have 3 transferred but he did not communicate that to his partner doing the transfer so only 2 were transferred. During my second IVF cycle it was made clear we would do 3 and again 2 were transferred. No apology and no explanation was given.

He treated us as we were wasting our time discouraged us to even try as to no hope ivf would work for us had no problem crushing my dreams and made me unhopeful that no one else would help us .. put me in depression for a long time until people in ivf groups suggested i look into CNY

Dont see him

I had genectics testing all blood work a Hsg done and more blood work.

Co pays of 35 dollars rest billed to cigna

He is not a good doctor if your looking to be a human and not a number. I feel at this point in his career that he doesn't have time to really review your file and personalize your treatment because he is so busy.

Do not book appointments around work. They are never on time. A couple before us sat in the waiting for for hours and couldn't wait any longer and finally they scheduled another appointment. There was no compassion!

None. We left and never went back after the consult.

12k