How was your experience with Vanessa Weitzman at IVF Florida?
As a patient of Dr. Weitzman I felt very well taken care of. There was once a call to be made on my treatment (regarding the time of a trigger shot) when she was not on call. The doctor on call gave his instructions and after she reviewed it, she over-ruled them with her own instructions. She has a warm bedside manner and she is also direct.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Vanessa Weitzman at IVF Florida?
She is very likeable and and she's a good doctor but the patient should expect that since she works in a large practice, the odds are unlikely that she will be the one performing any of the actual treatment procedures because the doctors are on an on-call rotation. If the timing of the procedure can be flexible (for example, a laparoscopy in some cases) then it's possible to schedule it with your own doctor.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Vanessa Weitzman at IVF Florida?
With Dr. Weitzman, I felt like a human. Dr. Weitzman performed a laparoscopy and came in to go over everything and give me a hug during pre-op. She is also the one to call me with the results of a treatment cycle.
The practice is very large and it can feel like being a number. Also, I saw several staff throughout the process so it felt like only Dr. Weitzman really knew me as an individual.
Describe the protocols Vanessa Weitzman used in your cycles at IVF Florida and their degree of success.
The strategy that stands out to me is the timing of the trigger shot. The doctor on-call who reviewed my results that day while Dr. Weitzman was away, gave his instructions for a trigger shot the following night. Dr. Weitzman also reviewed the results and called to override those instructions, saying that the trigger shot should be doe that very night. The rationale was that there were follicles that were a good size but a few that were smaller. Dr. Weitzman didn't want to compromise the mature follicles waiting for the immature ones to catch up. It turned out to be the right call in my unprofessional opinion because I ended up with 8 eggs, nearly twice as many as I had ever had. I don't remember how many fertilized but it was also the first time I was able to freeze an embryo.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at IVF Florida.
There are a few excellent nurses. They are excellent because they are compassionate, attentive, happy to be helpful, and make an effort to remember you. However, half of the nurses, if not more than half do not have these qualities. More often than not, they seem to do just what's required of them and nothing more.
Describe your experience with IVF Florida.
Sometimes when the nurse is calling in the next patient, she'll announce whether she needs a urine sample for the entire waiting room to hear. I do not like that. I have waited a long time in that office before. It's usually not too bad but there have been a couple of times that it was a very long wait. I don't like that I'm not able to see the screen during an ultra sound. I've been to offices where there is a screen visible to the patient. Being able to see the screen makes the patient feel included in the treatment rather than in the dark (figuratively and literally).
Describe the costs associated with your care under Vanessa Weitzman at IVF Florida.
I think the costs were comparable to the other local clinics. I did not feel like I was nickle and dimed, which I have felt at other clinics.
Describe Vanessa Weitzman's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at IVF Florida.
The decision of how many to transfer (one or two) was definitely mine, but Dr. Weitzman strongly recommended one.
What specific things went wrong at IVF Florida?
- Failed to inform you of changes in protocol
- Provided conflicting information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at IVF Florida.
I don't remember the exact issue but I do remember that I once received conflicting information from two different nurses. I was also told by a pharmacy that a nurse gave wrong information which resulted in me having to pay for a prescription out of pocket rather than getting it covered. It was hard to verify what really happened. It was a "he said, she said" situation, but that same nurse had failed to give me certain information in the past so I'm inclined to believe it was her mistake.