How was your experience with Donald Young at Mid-Iowa Fertility?
He was personable at our initial consult. He and my husband talked candidly about their military experience. Dr. Young talked about his family. He was kind and attentive. After that appointment, I saw him one other time a week later, where he performed an HSG procedure at a different office. He was personable at that time as well, commenting on my nail polish. After that procedure, while I was still laying on the table in my medical gown, he gave me the test results for myself and husband. At that time, he recommended a treatment plan. I would have preferred he set up another appointment in his office to discuss all of that at a later date. It was very unprofessional, and seemed rushed. I did run into him in the hallway after one of my appointments with a nurse at his clinic, and he completely ignored me.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Donald Young at Mid-Iowa Fertility?
Don't even waste your time and money with him. He doesn't give his patients the time of day.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Donald Young at Mid-Iowa Fertility?
My husband and I had our initial consult with Dr. Young, which was a nice one-on-one in his office where he got some personal information from us. Then we had a basic fertility work-up that very same day, which included bloodwork and an ultrasound for myself and a semen analysis for my husband. Dr. Young also scheduled an HSG (x-ray of uterus and tubes with dye) for me, which he performed himself about a week later. After the procedure was finished, while I was still laying on the table with my legs up and extremely uncomfortable, he proceeded to tell me that everything looked good with my work-up but that my husband had a "slight" morphology issue with his sperm. He recommended that my husband start taking vitamin C to help with his morphology issue, and acted like it was not a big deal. He didn't give me a breakdown of the percentage of abnormally shaped sperm or anything. Then he proceeded to hand me a generic flyer, and recommended we try medicated IUI with Clomid. He told me to call his office if we would like to proceed. That was the last time I ever talked to Dr. Young. I had many visits to his office, and the nurses handled everything.
Describe the protocols Donald Young used in your cycles at Mid-Iowa Fertility and their degree of success.
Dr. Young's clinic performed 3 artificial inseminations (IUI) on me. I took Clomid 100 MG, cycle days 3-7. I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. The Clomid was prescribed so that I would release more than one egg, thereby increasing our odds.They recommended using a urine ovulation predictor kit (OPK) starting cycle day 12, and to call once a positive result was received to schedule the IUI for the next morning. There was no monitoring with ultrasound/bloodwork recommended along with it. However, I did request monitoring with ultrasound. I didn't feel comfortable taking Clomid and doing the IUI, without knowing how many follicles could potentially be releasing eggs. That carries way too much risk for higher order multiples in my opinion. I never did get a positive on the ovulation kit by cycle day 15, so they recommended I come to the office for an ultrasound to see where I was that first cycle. The ultrasound showed I had 3-4 follicles ready to ovulate, according to their size. They scheduled the IUI for the next morning, and a nurse performed it in the office. That IUI resulted in a negative urine pregnancy test (UPT). I took Clomid 100 MG cycle days 3-7 again the next cycle, and never received a positive OPK. I had to go to the clinic for another ultrasound on cycle day 15. The nurse performed the ultrasound, and confirmed I had already ovulated and could not do the IUI. The next cycle I did the same protocol, and they had me come in on cycle day 10 for an ultrasound since the OPKs weren't working for me with the Clomid, and I had been ovulating earlier than expected. The ultrasound was performed by a nurse. It showed I had 3 follicles ready to ovulate, according to their size. A nurse performed the IUI the next morning. I was told to take a UPT in 14 days, if I hadn't started my period by then. I got a negative result on the UPT 16 days later. When my period still hadn't started 20 days after the IUI, the clinic performed a beta hcg test. The result was negative for pregnancy. I took a UPT at home 22 days after the IUI, and got a very faint positive result. I went to the clinic 2 days later for an ultrasound. One of the nurses performed the ultrasound, didn't say anything about what she saw or show me the screen, and then left me in the room to go "talk" to Dr. Young. When she came back she told me they didn't know why I wasn't starting my period, especially since ovulation was confirmed with ultrasound and a progesterone blood draw on cycle day 21. They had me take another beta hcg test, and told me that if it was negative again they would have me take some medication to help induce my period. The beta hcg was negative, and the nurse was baffled as to what could be causing my period to be late. She wanted me to take a medication called Provera for 10 days, and said my period should start some time after those 10 days. She even went as far as to say some women take the Provera, and still don't start their periods only to find out later that they were in fact pregnant after all. I told the nurse I would rather just wait for my period to return naturally, and she agreed that would be fine. I had my OB/GYN give me another beta hcg test 2 days later, and the results were higher than they were at Dr. Young's office, but still negative for pregnancy clinically. I finally started my period 28 days after the IUI. I didn't end up taking the Provera, because I wasn't comfortable with that treatment plan. I took the next cycle off, and then started the same Clomid protocol for my 3rd and final IUI with Dr. Young's clinic. I had 2 mature follicles, based on the size with ultrasound on cycle day 12, and a nurse performed the IUI the next day. That resulted in another negative result. I decided at that point to seek a second opinion from another clinic, since I hadn't met with Dr. Young or talked to him a single time through the entire IUI process. I would have liked for him to discuss further treatment options at some point through all of the IUIs.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Mid-Iowa Fertility.
The nurses were quite rude and impersonal most of the time. A couple of them called me "girl", instead of using my name. They were dismissive, and treated me like my questions and concerns were ridiculous. I received conflicting information from the nurse that performed the first ultrasound before my final IUI, and the nurse that performed the IUI 2 days later. The first nurse said they might recommend a different treatment my next cycle, because my endometrial lining was thin from the Clomid. The second nurse said it was fine, and would keep growing after I ovulated. They were not compassionate, and did not consider any suggestions I had for my treatment plan.
Describe your experience with Mid-Iowa Fertility.
The only reason I continued with treatment at this clinic as long as I did is because of logistics. The next closest clinic is 2 hours away. Mid Iowa Fertility was only 10 minutes away from my office. Sarah in the front office was wonderful. She knew my name without having to ask when I would come to the clinic for an appointment. She was very pleasant. Shannon in the front office was not friendly, and never smiled. Jessica, the phlebotomist, was always friendly and is great at her job. It was not painful at all when she would do my blood draws. The clinic is clean. They were like a well-oiled machine. They got you in and out very quickly for appointments, even though it seemed like they were plenty busy with patients coming and going every time I was there. If I called with a question, the nurses would always get back to me that same day. They called with lab results the same day. They come in on weekends and holidays if needed for your treatment. I did not like the fact that I would have to see random nurses, and did not have one particular nurse in charge of my care. They had a very cookie-cutter approach to treatment plans. It was not tailored to each individual patient. I felt like a number. I never saw the doctor for any appointments.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Donald Young at Mid-Iowa Fertility.
The cost of the semen analysis was around $300.00. The cost of the IUI with sperm wash was $525, not including medication.
What specific things went wrong at Mid-Iowa Fertility?
- Provided conflicting information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Mid-Iowa Fertility.
I received conflicting information from 2 nurses regarding the need for a possible change to my treatment plan. Specifically which medication I was using for stimulation. One nurse said my endometrial lining was thin, and the other nurse said it was fine.