[Dr. Schumacher's] excitement over 2 embryos that resulted was also inappropriate. Only when those embryos were found to be abnormal did she approach the situation with the appropriate gravity...she apologized for not following her standard protocol in advising me to select a donor that had already been used by Shady Grove and that they knew would have good results. She did not know why she had failed to advise me since she said that was her standard protocol with patients.
I never really understood who to contact for what [at Shady Grove Fertility] and at what point the doctor came back into the picture...Working with her [Dr. Schumacher] team felt very impersonal and confusing...being handed off from one person to another with no crossover, essential checks and balances got lost. Ultimately, I lost 30K because of the lack of accurate information and the lack of attention to the process as a whole.
How was your experience with Brianna Schumacher at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
In our initial visit, she made the complex topic of infertility and IVF very clear. She gave me her time, details, and sketched out diagrams, more than the two other fertility centers I had been to previously. With Brianna, I felt I would get the time and care you would expect given the nature and price tag of the treatment. She described how easy it would be to get plenty of healthy embryos with a Shady Grove egg donor. They had excellent and thoroughly evaluated egg donors. Just pick one of their fantastic egg donors and a sperm donor and voila! She was so confident about how easy it was to make healthy embryos with Shady Grove’s expertise and one of their egg donors.
I saw very little of Dr. Schumacher after that appointment. I received a long list of items to complete and a few folks that were supposed to walk me through the process. It took me 6 months. I never really understood who to contact for what and at what point the doctor came back into the picture. One of the times I did see her, she said to work with her team, and they would handle everything and make sure I got what I needed. Working with her team felt very impersonal and confusing, and as it turned out, I was never getting all of the information I needed. And being handed off from one person to another with no crossover, essential checks and balances got lost. Ultimately, I lost 30K because of the lack of accurate information and the lack of attention to the process as a whole.
Here are the details – I went with a 1:1 egg donor cycle with a 25-year-old Shady Grove egg donor. I had insurance for 2 transfers, and I planned on using it. All in all, it cost ~30K. And Shady Grove received about another 30K from my insurance company. The result: Instead of 18+ eggs retrieved, there were only 9. Only 4 were mature eggs. Those eggs resulted in 2 embryos with chromosomal abnormalities. 1 with Downs syndrome and 1 with Klinefelter’s (XXY). I was told to expect 8-12 mature eggs from a 1:1 pairing. This donor was originally a 1:3 that I asked to be converted to a 1:1. From that, they would expect 4-6 healthy embryos, worst case. Ideally, I could expect 6 or more.
Dr. Schumacher was overly excited about the embryo with an AA rating (prior to PGS testing) and wanted me to be excited. She did not tell me the rating of the other one, even though I asked. I was not ready to get excited because most people who can do a simple internet search know that the rating does not correlate to the chromosomal health of the embryo. She should have counseled me to be cautiously optimistic until the results came back. Even in the beginning, she was advising me that I didn't have to do PGT-A testing because there normally weren't any problems with a 25-year old's eggs. I felt that Dr. Schumacher's advice, process, and attitude were reckless. She neglected our discussion that I am 47 years old, maybe had a chance left, and did not have any more money to try again. Had she considered that she would have been involved with the selection of a donor and advised me appropriately.
I was never told that a 1:1 pairing “could go wrong.” They sold it to me as a guarantee. Hence, why I chose to spend the 20K for a 1:1. Nor was I told by the financial department or Dr. Schumacher that there is a guarantee with a 1:3 pairing of 4 mature eggs or your money back. When I asked, "So you can pay 10K and end up with nothing?" Heather’s response was, "Yes." This is incorrect. If you don't receive 4 mature eggs, you get your money back. If anything, the financial department’s job is to make sure you completely understand all the financial aspects of the contract. Prior to payment to secure my donor, I had several back and forth emails with Finance about how their documentation was confusing.
There is no guarantee with a 1:1 pairing. Shady Grove just said - sorry we were wrong about this donor. It happens sometimes. And they accept no responsibility for requiring you to select from the egg donor list that they have hand-picked and evaluated. Shady Grove told me these details only after things went wrong.
It took 2 weeks for Dr. Schumacher to call me with the PGT-A results. For 2 additional weeks, I did what she told me to do – be excited that there were 2 healthy embryos. She sent me an email with multiple exclamation points about how I should go out and enjoy the sun.
“I just checked on your embryos and it looks like we have one BEAUTIFUL embryo frozen for you today (AA - the highest grade!).
We have 2 more that we are still going to watch for 2 more days. :)
Let me know if you have any questions!!!!
Otherwise, have a great day! Enjoy this sunshine and warm weather - it's sooo nice out!”
Finally, we connected so she could confirm that Shady Grove had set fire to my 30K. There were no healthy embryos. The AA rating embryo was found to have Down’s Syndrome.
They have offered that if I pay an additional $38K, we can start over, and Dr. Schumacher will be personally involved this time. To be fair, this does include transfers. However, it means I won’t be able to use my insurance. She will review the donors with me to ensure that we are successful. We will only select from donors that have been used before and have produced healthy results. When I asked Dr. Schumacher why she didn’t review this with me the first time (I am 47, and this was the only 30K I had for treatment. I only had one opportunity with an egg donor.) She said, “ummm to be honest I normally do have this conversation with people .. it’s one of the first conversations we have when it comes down to selecting a donor, um I usually review all the donors and I have patients send them to me so I can go through them specifically, uumm I don’t remember specifically um the conversation that we had and it sounds like we didn’t have that conversation and so I apologize if it wasn’t um you know I mean usually we do have this conversation usually I’m very involved in the donor selection process, I’m not sure what happened um in your case.” In order to come up with that money, it will have to come out of my 401K.
Take-Aways
• DO NOT use an egg donor that is new and untested. With Shady Grove or any fertility center. Or you could end up in my situation. Choose an egg donor that has already been tested and ask what the results were. Know as many details as possible about the health of the eggs and embryos and living children from that donor. Let someone else play the lottery with a new donor.
• Confirm with Finance and your doctor, your understanding of the contract and do it in writing. Make sure they reply back and confirm.
• You are just a number with any center that you go to. It's up to you to make sure your doctor and your center are following an appropriate standard of care.
• The profit margins on fertility treatment are significant. Do not accept a low standard of care.
• Shady Grove is not any different than RMA or Main Line (Tangent – The most wonderful nurses in Dr. Gocial’s office.)
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Brianna Schumacher at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
She will make you feel comfortable and explain everything in a way you will understand. She is very engaging and wants to get you excited about how amazing their treatment is and how easy everything will be in their hands. Unfortunately, to the detriment of the truth and reality. Then she will disappear.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Brianna Schumacher at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
Number: Credit card number. Bank number.
Human: At times, but often with inappropriate excitement. It made everything worse. I had to ask Brianna to stop calling me until she had news of the PGS results.
Dr. Schumacher reached out personally via phone call/email only at the end of the donor egg retrieval process with inappropriate excitement over what we both knew was a poor result. 9 eggs retrieved, only 3-4 were mature. I felt she was trying to gloss over that it was a very poor result, thinking I might not know it was that bad. This is a poor result for a 25 year old egg donor.
Her excitement over 2 embryos that resulted was also inappropriate. Only when those embryos were found to be abnormal did she approach the situation with the appropriate gravity. At that point, she apologized for not following her standard protocol in advising me to select a donor that had already been used by Shady Grove and that they knew would have good results. She did not know why she had failed to advise me since she said that was her standard protocol with patients.
Describe the protocols Brianna Schumacher used in your cycles at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania and their degree of success.
We didn’t get that far since the 1:1 egg donor match from Shady Grove was unable to produce any healthy eggs or embryos.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania. (Assigned nurse: Abbie)
Everyone was nice. But also gave incomplete information. And short email responses. I always felt that they had too many patients on their plate. I never had a clear understanding of what each person was responsible for and who to contact about what.
Describe your experience with Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
I had a very poor experience with Shady Grove. It started well but did not end well. It’s an assembly line, and they have more people on it than they can properly serve. They are so used to success that they are not giving their patients accurate or complete information or making sure that every step of the process is reviewed, discussed, and properly handled. I was very disappointed in the standard of care – they are supposed to be the best.
Everyone was very flip about the whole process as well. Very little information … just give me your money. They are on it about collecting money, less so regarding delivering the service, you're paying for.
When I asked about what I should purchase regarding a sperm donor, the response was, "Just one, the cheapest!" Now that the egg donor cycle failed, I have to start all over again, selecting a sperm donor. The one I found after weeks of researching was no longer available.
When I received the devastating results of the PGT-A testing, the email was signed, "Have a great day!"
Maybe now that COVID has slowed things down for everyone, Shady Grove will have the number of patients that they can adequately handle and deliver the standard of care that they are known for. It's easy for fertility centers to get caught up in the profit margins available to them and move cattle through. But as patients, we want to stay away from these.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Brianna Schumacher at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
21K for a 1:1 egg donor retrieval, 5K PGTA testing. 5K for storage, surgery and sperm.
Describe Brianna Schumacher's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
Dr. Schumacher will not transfer more than 1 embryo at a time to my knowledge. Regardless of patient request.
What specific things went wrong at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
- Inaccurate information from the financial department regarding important specifics of their egg donor programs.
- 2 week delay in knowing the results of PGT-A testing and that there were no healthy embryos.
- Failure of my doctor to give me her standard practice care in selecting an egg donor.
- Flippant and inappropriate responses to situations as things went wrong.
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Clinic
Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania
Chesterbrook