Dr. Brown was extremely nice during our phone consult and our first in person appointment. He did not do my monitoring in advance of the ER or my first FET, but was the doctor that performed my transfer. He felt like a completely different doctor at transfer time. We were just a number in the cattle call of patients that day. He wasn't familiar with us or our situation...
The staff at the Orlando clinic are all very caring and helpful! Never had an issue getting an appointment at a time that worked for me...They [nurses] made the experience personal, not the doctor...We paid about $15,000 for our ER and first FET. We've been quoted about $5,000 for our next FET. Those costs include medication...we experienced an insurance coding error which we are still working out over a year later....
How was your experience with Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
Dr. Brown was so optimistic when we first meet him. He gave us an 80% success rate. Now we are post ER and FET which resulted in a chemical pregnancy and frankly his optimism comes off a little like a "used car salesman". If our first FET had resulted in a health pregnancy I may have been able to look past that, or frankly I may not feel the same.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
Do your research and ask questions about who will be managing your care. We live four hours from the main clinic in Jacksonville and do all of our monitoring in the Orlando office, which is still 2 hours from our home. Since Dr. Brown visits the Orlando office, but isn't based out of there I had two doctors managing my care. It may not be a bad thing, but certainly doesn't come off as personal.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
Dr. Brown was extremely nice during our phone consult and our first in person appointment. He did not do my monitoring in advance of the ER or my first FET, but was the doctor that performed my transfer. He felt like a completely different doctor at transfer time. We were just a number in the cattle call of patients that day. He wasn't familiar with us or our situation. I was the last patient that day and I'm sure that attributed to the attitude, but it was definitely disappointing. So much so that when I called for a follow-up a requested we see the doctor that had done our monitoring and ER.
Describe the protocols Samuel Brown used in your cycles at Brown Fertility and their degree of success.
We suffer from male factor infertility and I have an autoimmune disease. With that in mind IVF with ICSI was our only option. Dr. Brown felt confident that at my age, 30, my egg quality and quantity would be great. I responded very well to the medication and he added in Heparin leading up to and post transfer to assist with the autoimmune disease.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Brown Fertility. (Assigned nurse: Mena and Ivie)
My original nurse, Mena, was my saving grace. She went on maternity leave just before our FET and my care was switched to Ivie. She also went above and beyond to ensure swift communication by email and phone. They made the experience personal, not the doctor.
Describe your experience with Brown Fertility.
The staff at the Orlando clinic are all very caring and helpful! Never had an issue getting an appointment at a time that worked for me. The Jacksonville office has a different feel to it. Billing is done out of Jacksonville and we experienced an insurance coding error which we are still working out over a year later.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility.
We paid about $15,000 for our ER and first FET. We've been quoted about $5,000 for our next FET. Those costs include medication.
Describe Samuel Brown's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Brown Fertility.
Dr. Brown felt that it was appropriate to only transfer one when the plan was to do a fresh transfer. I developed signs of OHSS post ER so we switched to a frozen transfer. At that point he would have suggested two be transferred, but we decided against that due to my age and the fact that I have an antibody (from our one and only natural pregnancy which ended in miscarriage) and the risks to the baby are high - two would make it even more of a risker pregnancy.
What specific things went wrong at Brown Fertility?
- Lost paperwork
- Failed to call with results
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Brown Fertility.
I never specifically asked how we would receive info regarding our embryos after ER. I did a lot of research on forums and it sounded like most patients have their ER and often leave knowing the number of eggs harvested. Which I received and was told that within a day or two we would get a call with the number of eggs that fertilized. I received a call two days later letting me know the info and was told that I should call back in a week for the final results since we were doing a freeze all. Unfortunately, the nurse that called that day was then on vacation for the two weeks. And when you're waiting on those kind of results two weeks is a long time to wait, especially when you think you only have to wait five day. I convinced myself to wait to call after the five day period and was told that the information I wanted would be sent to me on a postcard, they couldn't give me that info over the phone. It was heartbreaking and frankly I was very hormonal, I lost it. That's not info one should be receiving in the mail on a postcard. If not a call, the very least an email should be sent out. It took almost two weeks for me to find out how many embryos we had. I felt that we had paid a lot of money and they weren't treating the situation as such. Eventually I convinced a nurse to tell me, but the fact that I felt like I was bothering them just to find out if any of our fertilized eggs had survived was stressful and frankly not fair that it added so much stress to an already stressful situation. I think back now and wonder if my expectations were too high. I never asked when and how that info would be provided. So the morale is, always ask!
7
Clinic
Brown Fertility
Jacksonville