Anthony Dobson

Dr Dobson is a very capable fertility physician. At our first appointment, he went into great detail about the factors affecting fertility and conception, hormonal changes during each cycle, potential timing problems, possible points of intervention etc. He also explained age-related factors, chromosomal abnormalities and probabilities. This was very informative, and helpful in understanding why conception at advanced maternal age gets harder. He also asked relevant questions about our overall health, as it pertained to ability to conceive, and reviewed some issues from a previous pregnancy. With this backdrop, we expected to have specific troubleshooting, cycle monitoring and diagnoses, of whether there were the aforementioned issues. However, aside from an SHG - there wasn't much effort spent, on trying to determine the rootcause of our failure to conceive (presumed to be chromosomal abnormalities due to advanced maternal age). Overall, the approach was to follow established protocol of (possibly several) cycles of treatment, with hormone supplementation / injection as part of protocol (regardless of need), and without necessarily customizing it to each couple's circumstances. While this might actually be the most efficient path to achieve pregnancy, it wasn't necessarily what we were looking for. Too often, it seemed to us that the treatment was shooting in the dark. Dr Dobson was willing to work with our reservations about extensive interventions, refusal to consider IVF and PGT-A. He was understanding and respectful, and suggested instead to proceed with IUI cycles. As the cycles proceeded, it would have been better to have a consultation where the plan of treatment was clearly discussed, chances of success for various alternatives explained, and a recommendation made. I found myself having to make rushed choices, while filling out forms with the NP / patient coordinator. Likely due to time constraints, the doctor would often only review charts during the appointments, and have to be reminded about findings, NP's suggestions etc. The plan of treatment for the next cycle, was also communicated on-the-fly, and it seemed without much analysis of prior data. This is likely an artifact of the oversubscribed PAMF-REI practice. Other than that, Dr Dobson had good bedside manner, compassion and a great sense of humour, which was a relief during otherwise awkward procedures.

If you want to get more information - ask questions. The doctor is knowledgeable, but doesn't necessarily explain the tradeoffs, and calculations behind making informed choices. (Again, not every couple may want to know those details, but we did). When we did, we got detailed, accurate and honest answers.

IUI with Clomid, progesterone supplementation.

Diagnostics (SHG ~ $1204 , some ultrasounds $322) were covered by my insurance. Fertility treatments were not (IUI without medication ~$1384).

Dr. Dobson is excellent. He is caring, thorough, honest, straightforward, and experienced. He takes his time, explains everything, and answers all questions. Thanks to him, we have six frozen embryos using our own eggs and sperm waiting for transfer, nearly impossible given our age. His colleagues are equally outstanding: Dr. Abusief, Dr. Ezzati, Dr. Okeigwe and Dr. Kim. They work as a team.

He is truly one of the best. With each cycle, he fine-tuned our protocol resulting in more embryos with each retrieval, beating the odds at my age.

For all cycles, we did Estrace 6 mg priming. For IUIs, we used Clomid, Follistim, stims and progesterone after. For IVF, the first round included aggressive protocol with micro Lupron, Follistim, Menopur, Dexamethasone, Prednisone, and prog in ethyl oleate. For all other IVF rounds, Clomid, Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, Omnitrope, Dexamethasone, Prednisone, and progesterone in ethyl oleate. This change in protocol increased eggs retrieved and embryos with each round.

Appointments were fine.

Unfortunately our insurance didn't cover treatment. We used two ARC Fertility packages for six rounds of IVF. We were also provided with several specialty pharmacies, and two were incredible with lower prices and special discounts.

He was open to both, and we chose to go with his recommendations each cycle.

He is kind and caring. He takes the time to talk about treatment, next steps, and what each step will entail. My first visit, he spent 2 hours talking through IVF and what I could expect. He took the time to answer my messages at 10:30 at night and was always willing to talk when I had questions.

Get on his list! He cares deeply about each of his patients. I would also recommend asking as many questions as you feel you need to understand the process. He’s willing to answer them

For my retrieval, they used ganarelix, follistom, and menopure. I was on low dosages of each because of my PCOS and I could be easily over stimulated. I stimmed for two and a half weeks. I had 44 eggs, and did an ICSI split. 19 fertilized with ICSI and 1 the traditional way. I ended up with 9 day 5 blasts. We transfered one fresh on day 3. This did not result in a pregnancy. My first FET we did oral estrace 3 Times a day and then vaginal estrace after 10 days to increase lining. Also used Lupron for two weeks. PIO shots began 5 days before transfer. This resulted in a blighted ovum at 7 weeks. Since this protocol was successful in getting me pregnant, we used the same protocol with the addition to estrogen patches for lining support. This resulted in a miscarriage at 5 weeks. My final FET was similar with the addition of baby aspirin and 2 estrogen patches. When beta was confirmed, he started me on lovonox for 12 weeks. This resulted in my 5 month old daughter

Initial cost for retrieval, fresh transfer, and one FET was $14565. Cost of meds was $1500. For each FET after that, it was approx 4,500 and meds were $400-500.

He suggested because I was 29/30 at the age of transfers, one embryo was our best shot because I had a high chance of multiples with more than one embryo

During the embryo transfer, with me strapped into stir-ups and nervous, he asked me if he could fill up my bladder. I was thinking that I had just had 3 full glasses of water, couldn't he just wait? I hesitantly asked if it was necessary. He answered that if I wanted a successful result I would have to. He roughly shoved a size 20 catheter into me and I screamed. He proceeded to fill up my bladder, yanked it out and I screamed again. He made no apologies, and proceeded with the transfer. To make a long story short, he denied responsibility later for my urethral damage. I continue to have constant pain, and have to pee every 10 minutes or less, every couple of hours all night long. I am still out of work due to constant pain and urination and am awaiting my pregnancy test.

Unless you are into medical rape, avoid this doctor at all costs.

I had never met him on the day of embryo transfer. He had one simple but very important job to do and he messed it up.

15,000 donor eggs, 1,000 donor sperm, 10,000 for attempted embryo transfer

I was not offered the option of multiple embryo transfer.

Dr. Dobson has overall been a good doctor; I'm glad we have stuck with him; he is the head of the PAMF-FPNC department, so he has a lot of knowledge and experience. In my very first visit with him, he spent 2 hours looking through all of mine and my husband's health history, and gave us insight/ideas for moving forward, and let me know if I disagreed with any suggestions along the way that I could let him know and we would compromise. So far, although we have not gotten pregnant yet, they have done everything well as far as treating us and starting with least invasive first (my request). The only reservations I have are that; 1) PAMF is one of the more expensive facilities, 2) It can be hard to get a hold of them by phone/make appts when you want due to them being busy and closing at 3:30pm, 3) They are not too keen on natural treatment such as vitamins/supplements (unless labs show they are needed), 4) They tend to ask me a lot of the same questions each time I am seen. With all of that being said, they do their best to make you comfortable and you won't get tossed around to different providers each visit.

If you are wanting to go a more natural route with fertility treatment, I would suggest seeing a different provider, as he is a provider that tends to treat patients that need more aggressive treatment.