Althea O'Shaughnessy

My experience as a patient of Dr. O'Shaughnessy has not been ideal. The entire group / Clinic is very cold when it comes to their doctors. I feel like it's missing a personal element. I'm thinking about finding a new doctor.

I would go into any consultation or interaction with her knowing that it's going to be straight and to the point. There isn't really any comfort or hand-holding. Not a ton of compassion. She comes off just very direct and a little bit brass.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy is extremely blunt. From our very first meeting she seemed extremely annoyed with any questions that myself or my husband had. I felt like my previous treatment and diagnosis from my first fertility doctor in California, was brushed aside and my medical history didn't really matter to her. She made a comment during our consultation that alluded to do my PCOS diagnosis as false and that she didn't trust my first doctor's diagnosis and would be coming to her own conclusions. I have only seen her in person three times in almost a year.all of my correspondence regarding my treatment is done through a nurse. My ultrasounds are all done by an ultrasound tech. Dr. O'Shaughnessy immediately wanted to jump into IVF without trying any other options and I had to be the one to ask for other options first. When we last met with her she thought that I had asked if I could try another round of time to intercourse and slightly chuckled at that idea because she said my only options are IVF at this point. It just felt like we were in annoyance to her and she had better things you could be doing with her time.

after my consultation I did blood work and found out that I had a chemical pregnancy, it was not a result of anything to do with conceptions. They induced a menstrual cycle when my HCG levels dropped below 5, which means you're no longer pregnant. After that I did several rounds of timed intercourse with letrozole and clomid. During each of those Cycles I was on estrogen and prometrium. Everything was monitored via ultrasound. Trigger injections (ovidrel) were done it home. They all resulted in negative pregnancy tests. Dr. O'Shaughnessy wanted to try an IUI because my endometrial lining was so thin, but that never happened. We tried to grow my eggs with injectables instead of an oral medication and my eggs never grew past 9 mm, but my estrogen levels were through the roof so Dr. O'Shaughnessy said that it was unsafe to proceed or up the dosage of injectables because I would grow too many eggs at once and she wouldn't be able to trigger me. During the course of the injectables my lining was the perfect thickness. After that my husband and I took a 2 month break of trying and we regrouped was Dr. O'Shaughnessy and she suggested IVF. We have yet to pull the trigger on that because the cost is so high.

The nursing staff at conceptions Littleton is amazing. They've all shown compassion and understanding. They respond to phone calls and emails within a few hours or at least by the end of the day. They never hesitate to answer any questions and if they can't provide an immediate answer they reach out to the doctor. The nursing / ultrasound staff has been what has kept me at the clinic.

The clinic strength is its nursing staff and coordinators. The phlebotomist are amazing. The receptionists are wonderful and prompt. The IVF Financial Consultants are extremely helpful. The weaknesses would be the billing department. It took us calling them five times for them to get back to us. I am not into the fact that there are ultrasound techs. I would prefer that my doctor be the one doing my ultrasounds because then they could immediately decide my course of action instead of me needing to wait to hear from a nurse and then possibly having to start the next day because I usually need to go pick up a prescription. I just wish that the doctors were a little bit more Hands-On. it seems like the clinic is run on everybody but the doctors and the doctors can't be bothered with you unless you're going to be doing IVF.

My insurance only covers $1,200 of diagnostic tests. Everything else is Bill to insurance and then I am given a bill when I show up for my next appointment for it comes in the mail. Basically, we're paying for everything out of pocket. Insurance doesn't cover a whole lot. My average visit is $200 and sometimes that several times a week.

In our meeting where we discussed the possibility of IVF she told us that the clinic has a policy where they only transfer one embryo at a time. She said if I really really begged her she would consider putting in 2 embryos, but she would extremely advise against it because a multiple pregnancy is a high risk for mother and child and my health is the most important thing.

I only met with the doctor during my initial consultation and then during my re-group after the canceled cycle. Every other appointment and call was with a nurse. Several times, I asked to speak with the doctor about her instructions, and instead received communications back from the nurse who said she had spoken with the doctor. Dr. O put me on a priming protocol that was questionable for someone with DOR (estrogen and birth control). I only had 2 follices during my AFC, and was put on a maximum (very expensive) dose of medications (450 follistim/150 menopur/.7 cc omnitrope). Even though I started with only 2 follicles, my cycle was canceled 5 days later due to not growing more than 2. This did not make sense to me, and wasted thousands of dollars on medications. After my canceled cycle, Dr. O basically did not have any alternative protocols to try, and wanted me to go directly to donor egg. I have since received second opinions that this suggestion makes no sense, given my relatively young age and the fact that someone with DOR should not be expected to produce a lot of eggs in the first place.

If you are in Denver, it is worth spending a bit more money to go to CCRM.

The doctor did not seem to know me personally or to create an individualized protocol for me. Instead, I felt that I was treated like a number, and that the doctor expected me to have the same results as someone without DOR, when I now understand that she should have been aiming for very different results.

Primed with estrace for 7 days , starting 7 DPO. Birth control pill for 5 days to delay start of stimulation medications. 450 iu follistim, 150 iu menopur, and .7 cc omnitrop for 4 days; increased to 300 iu menopur on 5th day. Canceled after that.

Sarah was great! She showed great compassion and always responded to my questions. My only complaints have to do with weekends/scheduled days off. My first monitoring appointment was on a Saturday. I was told I would get a call with medication instructions by that afternoon, but didn't receive it. I finally called the after-hours number, and got a response from the on-call nurse a few hours later that I didn't need to adjust anything. She did not provide me any details on how my follicles or labs were looking. This seemed very disorganized. I also did not like that every assigned nurse is out of the office one weekday per week (plus weekends), so on those days my questions would not be answered until the next day. I'm not sure why the nurses do not work 5 days per week.

Strengths: Compassionate, knowledgeable nurses. Appointments easy to make, usually did not have to wait long (except to see doctor). Weaknesses: Communication; organization; did not like that finances were kept mostly secret, you had to leave a message with their business office and likely wouldn't hear back for a day; costs were communicated verbally, not in writing. They tried to charge me a $3,500 cycle cancellation fee when my cycle was canceled after 5 days of stimulation. I disputed this, and they only charged me for services used ($1,500, plus the $1k coordination fee). This seems like a very high cancellation fee.

Initial consult: $325 IVF coordination of care: $986 IVF with ICSI and PGS testing, including 1 FET: $17,354 (most of this was refunded due to canceled cycle) PGS for greater than 8 embryos: $250/extra embryo (did not actually incur this) Anesthesia: $400 (did not actually incur this) Mock transfer/hysteroscopy/doppler: $870 (did not actually incur this) Subsequent transfer: $5,100 (did not actually incur this) Additional rounds of IVF: $9,895 (including ICSI & PGS, but not transfer) (did not actually incur this) Drugs (paid to MDR pharmacy): $6,378.76 (this did not include all drugs, but cylce was canceled before ordering all) Cycle cancellation fee: $3,350 (did not actually incur this; instead, paid $1,475 for services rendered)

I had a very bad experience with Dr. O'Shaughnessy. I came to the clinic and opted to go to the Rose office for a quicker visit to see the doctor versus waiting for the clinic closer to me and another doctor. On our first visit, we were explained that we would have a lot of testing and come back to regroup with her. We had ultrasound, labs and a semen analysis. When we met with her to regroup, we were told "everything looks fine" and that my resting follicle count was over 20. Come to find out from seeing another doctor, all of this information was false, there was in fact something very wrong and my resting follicle wound was 7, not over 20. We did two IUI's with Dr. O'Shaughnessy and should have never even attempted this due to my lab results showing I have premature ovarian failure. I feel as though we were treated as a number, she was not compassionate and didn't care about her patients. I came in to my second followup after a miscarriage after an IUI and was absolutely hysterical and she just stared at me and got very angry when I asked for an ultrasound. It was overall a horrible experience and I do not recommend this doctor to anyone.

Don't see her unless you enjoy being treated poorly and essentially laughed at. There was no compassion when I was upset over a pregnancy loss, no explanation or further attempt, I felt as though she was simply after my money. Go see another doctor in her practice.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy treated my husband and I like a number. Our labs were never gone over with us thoroughly, we were never explained what was happening or what was going to happen in the future. She would throw her hands up, raise her eyebrows and said "I just don't know" every visit.

Two IUI's, one with Letrozole which resulted in a chemical pregnancy and another IUI with follistim which was negative.

Liz D was a wonderful nurse. Unfortunately during the middle of my IUI cycle, she was let go and nobody called me to let me know. I called the office asking for my results and was told she no longer worked there as of today. My care was sent to a different office to the "monitoring nurses" which was a complete nightmare all together.

I would highly recommend visiting the Littleton or Lafayette office. The rose office did not treat me as I thought I should have been treated, from the front desk to the doctor, I was handed off and dismissed. Fertility is so stressful and so scary, we need reassurance that things are going the way they are supposed to be going and I absolutely did not receive that at the Rose location.

I had no contact with billing office at the Rose location.

No.

She was caring, compassionate, and professional. She is a great communicator, easily reachable via email for questions/concerns. She performed every procedure and saw us for 99% of our visits.We felt like we were seen and heard and treated like individuals.

Speak up! Be your own advocate because she is more than happy to listen and follow your lead.

At Sher you only ever see YOUR doctor and you always have an appointment. There are no "cattle calls" or long waits. Your doctor knows you, they work with you every day. Dr. O replied to emails quickly, never pressured us to try something we weren't comfortable with, and was a great combination of compassionate and professional. She treated us like an individual couple and prescribed a treatment plan specifically for us (unlike at another clinic where we felt like they had one thing they "do" and you were doing that thing that way regardless).

We were IUI patients. I believe I took follistim and the ovidrel for a trigger shot. I also tested for having elevated natural killer cells (NK) that could have been causing miscarriages so after the insemination I took steroids-- about 10mg/day of prednisone-- to help combat that.

Incredibly friendly and upbeat. They were such supporters of the whole process and felt like they were on our team!

Their approach to patients is the best I've seen. There is no "cattle call" for morning check-ups (you always have an appointment), you aren't seen by any doctor on staff (you always see YOUR doctor), and you know that everyone there knows your unique situation and is working to help YOU.

I do not recall; they participated in my insurance at the time so we only had copays.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy is very experienced and authoritative. She made me feel at ease after a bad experience at another clinic. She is very matter of fact, which for me, works well. She gives the facts and doesn't necessarily add much color commentary. She is responsive by email and also makes time available to talk on the phone.

Don't expect warm and fuzzy or humor. She's very pragmatic and straightforward.

Sher is a much smaller clinic. I had previously been at RMA and was very happy with the level of engagement you get with only your doctor. Dr. O'Shaughnessy is very real, upfront, and while not warm and fuzzy, she is responsive, and knows you and your issues and the plan.

1 IVF - Gonal F (150) / Menopur (75) / Omnitrope protocol. Day 5 of monitoring showed only 3 follicles. Decision to convert to IUI cycle due to low response. - IUI not successful. Diagnosis - diminished ovarian reserve 2 IVF - Estace pre-cycle // Letrazole / Gonal F (150) - "estrogen primed cycle" - introduced Menopur later in the cycle. Ganirellex. Trigger shot. 5 follicles retrieved. 3 fertilized (donor sperm) // 1 arrested at day 3 // 2 arrested at day 5. None made it for PGS testing. 3 IVF - about to begin // will use Ganirellex prior to cycle day 1 in hopes of getting more even growth across follicles.

Marian could be a little disorganized and on several occasions did send me calendars and medication details that were not reflective of what the doctor and I had spoken about. She is super responsive on email and quick to check with the doctor and correct the details. But I did need to be super on top of it and reconfirm everything. She is very very kind and compassionate.

Sher (SIRM) is a much smaller clinic than most in NYC but is still very highly rated. The best part is the you always see your doctor. Your doctor does all your monitoring, your retrievals, your transfers - unlike some of the bigger clinics where the doctors all rotate. I think when you're dealing with multiple cycles and poor responses, this type of connection is so important. The outward appearance of the clinic is not the most modern - they could probably use a little office face lift, but the quality of the care makes up for that. The reception and nursing staffs are kind and familiar. They accommodate appointments easily. It may not seem like an important detail, but there is never a packed waiting room so you don't feel like you're being herded through like I have felt in other places. The doctors are still busy and dealing with lots of patients, but you very much feel like a patient and not a number when you're at Sher.

I have $25k Lifetime coverage through United Healthcare which Sher accepts. I gave a $1k deposit to cover all office copays at the start of my cycle. My medication is coverage through my medical insurance - minus $3k deductible.

My experience with SHER- NY was amazing. EVERYONE, from nurses to receptionists are welcoming and sensitive to your needs. Dr. O was always readily available via email, even responding on weekends and vacations. The ONLY time another doctor at the practice treated me, Dr. O called me just before the appointment to go over everything 1 more time. She is wonderful.

Trust her. It's an emotional process- but try not to be too emotional. See it as a goal to be met and take care of business. Follow her orders and pray for the best!

Dr. O was always direct, yet empathetic in explaining any results. She conveys a familial-like vibe - sort of like your favorite Aunt. She remained positive despite my first negative pregnancy test, and was encouraging in our next cycle.

Standard hormone injections for egg retrieval, Lupron treatment for slightly abnormal lining, and cleaning out of uterine fibroids. The Lupron treatment normalized my lining to produce a successful pregnancy.

Excellent nursing staff. I had many of them work with me on various occasions and they were all amazing!

The clinic itself is wonderfully laid out. Receptionists and financial planner are great! Very patient, taking time to answer any questions. The ONLY criticism I could possibly think of would be that you cannot really make a set appointment time in advance. You call and request your day and preferred time, then they call you to confirm the day before. Mostly though, the time they set is on or close to your preferred time. Also- I personally would prefer later appointment times, but they are not available beyond about 2-3pm.

I know they offered package deals for multiple cycles, but cannot remember how much they cost. I do know that they accepted our health insurance which meant we were only responsible for 10-20% of total cost, and some uncovered things (genetic screening, additional testing, prescription copays etc)

The doctor was very reachable and seemed very open in her communication. I cannot fully trust that the large number of tests that totaled more than $5,000 were only driven by necessity and not by the clinic's desires to make additional money ( tests were not covered by insurance). My cycle at the institute (which was my third IVF - and i"m a normal 35 yo with no known problems) did not succeed, so I have mixed feelings about the Dr., who seemed to be very convinced of success rates. Also, she put me on lupron depot which was probably the worst kind of medication for my body so far. I never was told of the side effects , and in my case happened to be quite bad.

Ask as many questions as possible and fully understand what you are actually being tested for - what the purpose is and how the results are being interpreted.

The care was very personal, and the clinic was very careful. It did feel however that some of the tests were done as a matter of practice, and upon their receipt there was no diagnosis provided. Ultimately, I never understood the true value of the results of the test - Endometrial function test and NK cell test.

She ultimately gave me the same treatment for the IVF as the past doctors. She used a lupron protocol. However, we did a genetic test on the embyos so we had to continue with a frozen cycle. Because the endometrial function test showed some slight abnormatlities ( a test debated by many) - she put me on lupron depot. This was followed by an FET cycle - one embryo out of 5 tested was deemed good - and we transfered it. I was put on nightly injections of progesterone and delestrogen. Ultimately the cycle failed.

The nurse was good, a bit overwhelmed at times, but ok. I had to remind her of medication that Dr. Oshaughessy suggested, and needed to make sure that she called in all the medication to the pharmacy - so I can't say she was very careful, but was helpful most of the time.

The clinic was very small, clean and quite well organized in terms of scheduling. I never had an issue with scheduling. The billing process however was very disorganized, they very convincingly sent me a bill for additional $2,000 and were pushy with immediate payments. Given that this is a private clinic, I did have the feeling that much of the treatments and tests were cost driven.

Monitoring appointments were scheduled generally early in the morning, but everyone was put on a waitlist with desired times. Usually if i requested lets say 8:30, i would get that time. So the appointment process was quite easy to manage.

$11,000 (+/- a few hundred) - it was so expensive that I actually did a spreadhseet. Also i had insurance cover the IVF - this was only for tests, and FET.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy is a great Dr. She has years of experience and I felt very confident from the beginning that the protocol she was using was the best for my case. She was not a great communicator, but I was a satellite patient so I never met her until my retrieval. Dr. O can be very blunt in her tone, but she wants the very best outcome. She is very direct and honest regarding your chances and your results. I consulted with four Dr's I had recommendations for. She was the only one who went thru my bloodwork thoroughly. If you are a satellite patient (meaning your doing all your monitoring at another facility) you just have to make sure you stay on top of your results, and ask a lot of questions. From a surgical stand point, I felt very confident with her and her team.

To make sure you are prepared with your questions during the monitoring phase. From my experience, I felt Dr O was not as attentive during this stage because its not as important to the dr. despite every day being important to the patient.

I was a satellite Patient. I do think if I was in NY for my whole treatment, I would give Dr. O'Shaughnessy a better result, but I felt like In the beginning stages she wasn't totally on top of my results. Once we got to the retrieval stage I felt more comfortable. That said, SHE did email me every time with my results or call, unlike bigger facilities.

Again, because I was a satellite patient, I never really understood what role each nurse took. I also started with one nurse and then had another one emailing me. I felt they did not realize I was a satellite patient, so would send me my calendar after a monitoring appointment. They also forgot to order medications one time, which luckily turned out to be ok, but could have been an issue. I do think this was because of my status and would be different if i were an in office patient

I did not do any monitoring here. I did my monitoring in Virgina at RMSVA, which I have to say was wonderful. They treated me like I was their patient and they sent my results on a timely manner.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy spent a lot of time answering our questions and confirmed many things our previous doctor had said. She outlined the course of testing and began it immediately. She wasn't familiar with the clinic's CDC data, so she couldn't answer questions about that, and she also didn't have information about financial pieces - she said we'd have to make an appointment with the billing office.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy took time to thoroughly answer our questions and review our records. However, we jumped straight into testing the day of our consultation, which surprised me.

The nurse was very kind and thorough in person but never called with test results.

The clinic in Littleton is large and comfortable. However, the billing office is difficult to reach and didn't return calls. The nurse didn't call with test results and also didn't post them to the patient portal the way that our previous clinic did.

We're still in the testing phase, so costs aren't clear yet.

One thing that we asked about was whether she was willing to transfer abnormal or mosaic embryos. We'd heard that many clinics refuse, but she told us we would have that option with additional waivers and genetic counseling based on specific PGS results.

Dr. O is very knowledgeable and knew exactly The perfect course of action for my husband and I. She explained our course and our test results. She respected leaving the sex of our embryos a secret. She was genuinley excited about our successes and reassuring when we faced an obstacle.

Have a list of questions before you go in to ask.

The clinic was awesome! Dr.O was friendly and helpful. She answered all my questions.

I have gone through so much, specifics have long passed out of my mind. I know a positive attitude by the couple goes a long way with the physicians protocol.

Everyone at Conceptions is amazing. Friendly, compassionate, professional, and caring.

It's hard to drive 3 hours for some of the appts. But the clinic really works to accommodate clients that live a distance away. There are other satellite clinics around the Denver area as well. But Littleton is the main hub.

$15,000 around the final total.

We were advised to transfer 1. The possibility if the embryo is high. She didnt want to transfer 2 at a time die to increased risks for babies and mother

She was very knowledgable and thorough. Also seemed to enjoy her job. My husband and I actually discussed it and felt like she was somewhat like an aunt in nature- providing compassion, yet with direct facts.

She scheduled an appointment just to speak with us and explain what may have happened when we received a negative pregnancy test after our first transfer. She was also very personable.

Genetic testing- because it seemed a standard practice there. Egg retrieval and embryo transfer.

Everyone was wonderful at the office. Responsive, caring and attentive

Appointments were somewhat inflexible. The doctor could only provide treatment in morning hours. Afternoons seemed to be reserved for new patients.

Mostly covered by my insurance. But we had to pay 20% out of pocket. Came to around $3000 per cycle.