Ashim Kumar

I felt the need to give an honest review because there are very few reviews, and I’m surprised they’re positive. I am here with my 3 week old baby, which never would have happened if I had stayed with Dr Kumar. After my first transfer led to a miscarriage, we had 2 failed transfers to myself followed by 2 failed transfers to a gestational carrier. Dr Kumar was late to all of our appointments— even to time sensitive ones like my retrieval. He had no compassion and called me “young lady” whenever I tried to advocate for myself. He never thought outside the box. He refused to explore a possible endo diagnosis, which I managed to get on my own outside of his treatment(I had stage 3). He refused to treat the endo once I had it. He said there was no evidence that endo impacts implantation.

When you look at his numbers, recognize that most of his success is due to using mostly donors and surrogates(you can find this on the cdc site). He is also not a member of SART, which I consider a red flag.

My transfers used progesterone in oil and estrogen pills. He refused to use another type of estrogen for me, despite always having a thin lining.

I cant remember exact costs, but they were above average due to being in LA. It is a package deal, so monitoring is included. If you do outside monitoring, you still pay WFI the same price

Dr Kumar wanted me to do single embryo transfers but wasn’t too pushy about it. We used 2 embryos on our third transfer

Dr Kumar is extremely professional, knowledgeable and has created an office environment that is welcoming and supportive. He went over the latest research, walked me through every step and worked with us to develop a treatment plan that gave us the best chances. He is very understanding, funny and makes you feel like you are part of his family.

The best advice I could give is to trust him.

For egg retrievals we added growth hormones which resulted in more embryos than previous treatments. For transfers, he did a recurrent pregnancy loss panel, added lovenox injections and 3 months of orlissa for uterine inflammation. All added because after my missed miscarriage we reevaluated based on blood tests results and uterus evaluation. Next transfer we will stick to the same protocol.

First egg retrieval transfer was around 22k Each egg retrieval after that was 2500 Donor egg/ embryo creation/icsi /PGA testing/ medication for me and donor and transfer - 27k

He strongly advised me to transfer 1 PGA tested embryo. We went over all of the risks and I agreed it was the right approach.

Dr kumar is a very busy doctor and I feel since being in the healthcare field that was to be expected. I appreciated he is the only physician we saw. At other clinics outside of western fertility, you get whatever doctor is available and I did not like that. He listened to my concerns regarding my lining before placing the embryo for transfer and made adjustments for us based on how I was feeling. I am very grateful for that grace from him.

Make sure you have all your questions ready to go. Like many others have written, he is in and out within a short time but does not rush you. He answers every question concisely before moving on to the next patient.

We did the egg retrieval first and genetic testing. We waited three months before placing an embryo. I have a thinner lining and needed estrogen as well and injections prior to transfer. As well as progesterone after transfer.

Roughly with embryo retrieval, transfer and medications 18,000.

No comments. We knew we only wanted to place one embryo.

Dr. Kumar is very intelligent and knows his stuff. He answered all of our questions in detail and explained every step of the process to us. We weren't left feeling confused or defeated. He gave us the sense that if anyone could help make this process possible, it was him. Our experience was wonderful. Of course this is a stressful situation for anyone but he helped us through it by giving us attainable expectations.

Make sure you have all of your questions written down and ready for when you meet him. The clinic is very busy so it was helpful for us to go into every meeting with everything ready that we wanted to discuss.

He grew our embryos to Day 5 and then PGS tested them to determine the best embryo for transfer. We were told our embryo (4AA grade) had about an 80% chance of "working". Our gestational surrogate completed a few weeks of medication (injectable and oral medication) and was monitored with ultrasounds until ready for the transfer (and after transfer). we found out about 15 days after the embryo was implanted that our transfer was successful.

Around 100K for the entire surrogacy process

We were interested in a multiple transfer but after only 1 out of our 4 PGS tested embryos was viable our decision was made for us.

Dr. Kumar takes his time for every consult, monitoring appointment, and procedure. I've never felt rushed. He seemed super serious at first and a little intimidating but we've warmed up to him. He's funny and friendly. Very knowledgeable, empathic, and skilled. During our first consult he assured us that we WILL get pregnant, which I was surprised by because nothing about fertility treatments are a guarantee.

Go in for a consult. The initial consult was very informative. I thought I was pretty informed about infertility and IVF, but I learned a ton from him in that 1 hour meeting. Definitely worth the consultation fee.

Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix / dual trigger (hcg and lupron) / same protocol for both egg retrievals / 2 egg retrievals = 40 total retrieved, 8 blastocysts

initial consultation, 2 egg retrievals, 2 frozen embryo transfers, genetic testing for up to 10 embryos, medications = $30,400

Overall good experience. However, wish if there was either a booklet (or email PDF) was given to us or nurses needs to be trained better to explain/educate steps of the treatment in more details - such as what exactly includes and NOT includes in a treatment, and the benefit of added features ( other tests, procedures, such as PGS, etc). Since it's a large investment ( emotional, physical, & financial), patients cannot afford to repeat with new features/tests. They should have the aggressive attitude of providing ALL necessary info in the first round to avoid regrets lateron.

Very knowledgeable doctor/specialist/expert, however very busy, so you must do your research and ask plenty of questions to discuss all info you need. he'll provide enough meetings ( free) for your additional concerns/questions.

Dr. Kumar was one of the best doctors myself and my husband have ever worked with. Our initial consultation was extremely thorough and he spent a great deal of time with us. He did all of my ultrasounds and would explain everything he did as he did it. He diagnosed me with PCOS and explained why things weren't working. I asked lots of questions and he never made me feel like I was bothering him or my questions weren't valid. He genuinely takes the time to reassure his patients. I enjoyed working with him so much that I have contimplated flying back to see him for baby #2 (out of state now) . He is so knowledgeable. He caters his treatment to the individual and not just a general basis. I know several people personally who have had success with Dr. Kumar, myself included. I trust his opinion completely and with full confidence. I never once felt like it was about money. I truly felt like he wanted to help grow our family and that was his only motivation.

He's an extremely sought after doctor with a lot of people to see. You will more than likely not see him at your scheduled time. He does his best and never rushes his patients....so this means a wait. It's always worth it.

I was very lucky that my journey with Dr. Kumar wasn't as involved as other women struggling. I started with a round of Clomid and timed intercourse. An initial ultrasound was done to diagnose my PCOS and given my history with no periods/no ovulation he started me on Clomid. Clomid is known to thin the endometrial lining so I was also put on estrogen and progesterone (both taken vaginally). Dr. Kumar explained that he's seen much better absorption and results when the medication was as close to where it needed to be as possible. I took the Clomid for 5 days and then went in for an ultrasound to check my follicle growth, as well as a blood draw for hormone levels. I waited 2 days (per orders) and then gave myself and injection into my abdomen to trigger an ovulation. My husband and I were instructed to have sex on specific days in hopes of catching the egg. After 10 days on the last day of timed intercourse I took a pregnancy test-negative. We tried again with another round of timed intercourse, but instead of Clomid, I used letrozole. Dr. Kumar explained it does the same thing as the Clomid without the major thinning of my lining. I still took estrogen and progesterone. This round worked! I became pregnant with my daughter. My lining was the same thickness level with Clomid and Letrozole, interestingly enough. My stress levels and pressure on myself was way better for my second round.

My insurance at the time covered 50% but it was still expensive for all ultrasounds/lab work/diagnostic work and then they covered 90% once I was officially pregnant. That being said, I expected to spend anywhere from $200-400 every time I went into the office. The initial consultation was $300 and that included an hour of conversation/history followed by blood work/ultrasound.

I never got this far with Dr. Kumar

I can remember my first attempt of IUI and receiving a negative pregnancy test, walking into that office was heart wrenching. As I sat in the exam room with tears in my eyes, Dr. Kumar walked in and immediately sympathized with my feelings and assured me, I would get pregnant and I did 3 cycles later!! His compassion that day meant so much to me. I immediately knew, he was someone I could trust throughout the process. Unfortunately, we tried 4 years later with no success and no more money BUT I know at some point, I'll see Dr. Kumar again and he'll help get me pregnant again.

Trust him! He will not stir you in the wrong direction!!

Initatially, I started with Clomid but Dr. Kumar immediately recognized this wasn't the best approach so he had me start injections to which we saw progress in what we were achieving. Dr. Kumar monitored my progression and highered/lowered my medication based off of every scan. Clearly he knew best as he got me pregnant.

Fortunately at that time, it was covered by my insurance carrier. NOW however, the cost is absolutely ridiculous and out right unaffordable unless you are rich! I'm working/middle class and cannot afford $20-$30k for 1 cycle!! Sad because I'm longing for another child and all these doctors see is dollar signs! They take advantage of those who desperately seek a child and it breaks my heart!!

He is very open-minded and will supported us in pursuing our goals when building a family. He is respectful about cultural differences and personal values with regards to family planning decisions. Dr. Kumar actively advocated for our interests and supported us during this complex process.

Make sure to tell Dr. Kumar what your goals are as a patient. Be transparent and use open communication with him and his staff to ensure that you get the care you need at Western Fertility.

Our cycle was approximately $20,000 total.

He strongly recommends single embryo transfer. I am not sure whether he offers multiple embryo transfer because we did not request this option.

I had no idea how to go about the idea of getting pregnant with my then, female partner. We were referred by Kaiser, and the moment we sat down w/ Dr. Kumar, he was able to answer all of our questions with full detail.

Before insemination, he's open in letting you know the sperm count and if you should do a second insemination w/ a more potent specimen

At first just Clomid was used, didn't get pregnant the first cycle. 2nd time, Dr. decided to use a more aggressive method in which I was on injections to help me ovulate, and it was successful.

Kaiser pretty much covered most of it except medications. I'd say my partner and I spent about $1400 each try, and that included meds and sperm vials.

When I was able to speak to him he was very compassionate and caring. But he would miss phone appointments or would be too busy a lot of the time and I had to go through his nurse who would take a while to get back to me. I was scared to keep bugging them after a while as I thought that could affect my treatment t and care if I became annoying

It's not a hand holding clinic

Three week cycle to stim. No embryo glue. He prefers single transfers but will do double. Everything is done through Arlene his nurse. She makes the calendar. Not too many adjustments to the calendar after it's made. I felt I should have had another week of injections to thicken my lining instead of the 3 weeks that resulted in only 7mm upon transfer (of course or failed)

He strongly prefers set due to seeing people mc with multiple

He Did the initial exam. Said I had diminished ovarian reserve as he looked at my ovaries through ultrasound. left the room. I cried. Came back after he looked at my bloodwork and said he was wrong. That’s what I remember from my visits

Make sure you look completely through your patients chart before assuming a diagnosis. Multiple times I had to remind him why we were there and our diagnosis.

Did follistim injections. Trigger with ovridel. Had multiple large follicles but were always on my right side where I have no Fallopian tube.

10,000

Dr. Kumar is simply amazing he sits with you as long as needed to discuss and makes sure you understand. His bedside manner is wonderful and you leave feeling accomplished and wonderful about where things are going.

This office treats their patients like family and you will truly miss them once your parents!

I really liked him. I feel like he was upfront and honest about our options but probably pushed us into IVF when we could have tried other options. I had a complication during egg retrieval and I didn't think he addressed it appropriately afterwards

Be your own advocate

As I mentioned first, Dr. Kumar was kind and explained things thoroughly. The day of the embryo transfer he did not take a lot of time to talk to my husband or our surrogate. But it was not bad, it was just different than the time my husband and I met with him.

Every time there's an appointment, take some time to make sure you talk to the patient

We used an agency that handled the finances throughout the process including surrogacy, lawyers, etc. So we don't have an exact number for what was for the IVF clinic.

Dr. Kumar explained the risks very thoroughly. We decided to transfer two embryos, and he was fine with it.