Jeffrey Goldberg

Weakness: communicating , being personable and eye contact, did not initially want to adjust my dose when I asked for an increase , was not confident in the number of eggs able to retrieve each time( more eggs were frozen than he expected but I had more confidence) Pros: very intelligent, did adjust medication upon request the second retrieval per request and we doubled the amount of eggs frozen, presented all of statistics for someone my age and with my egg reserve(diminished my hope ) but he was honest .

You know your body more than anyone. If there are difference in your expectation and how you want your treatment to be tailored speak up

For the second and third retrieval I used the max dose of gonal F to increase my follicle growth. Ended up retrieving 14 freezing 11 for each of the last two cycles. Also was using low dose hcg, and pregnyl(sp?) used 5000 or 10000 hcg to trigger.

When questioning why I was charged 3 storage fees in summer months to october, the finance person specifically for the fertility procedures would not return my call or talk to me . So I ended up paying for 3 storage fees instead of one for just under $400 for each storage fee . I did have the meds called over to my workplace pharmacy to save significantly on cost . If meds are filled at the cleveland clinic they are significantly higher. The cost for everything including visits are much higher than neighboring hospitals. Having insurance will offset some of the costs for office visits, lab work, OR and anesthesia costs.

In general, my experience with Dr. Goldberg has been positive. For anyone who does see him, I would recommend going into your appointment with lots of questions. While Dr. Goldberg does explain things, he often doesn't go into lots of details unless prompted. However, when asked questions he will explain. He is very good a laying out the different options, and will give his opinion when asked. After my HSG he also managed to catch that something was off with my uterus (turns out I had polyps), which was something the dr. who performed my HSG had missed. I did get somewhat frustrated with him toward the beginning, when he assured me that my current course of treatment (letrozole) would definitely be successful. He made those comments prior to testing my husband, who has MFI. So I think he tend to be optimistic rather than realistic, which is a downside for me.

Go into your appointment with lots of questions.

Dr. Goldberg prescribed my letrozole, to induce ovulation. I have PCOS and don't ovulate on my own. The letrozole was successful in inducing ovulation. However, it has not resulted in a pregnancy due to my husband's MFI, which was discovered after several letrozole cycles. I have since talked to Dr. Goldberg about both IUI and IVF. I will most likely be pursuing IVF, after we finish determining if there is a cause of my husband's MFI.

Um...letrozole was inexpensive. About $10 per prescription. My polyp removal was over $2k (after insurance), and my HSG was several hundred dollars (after insurance.)

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Dr. Goldberg is aggressive with treatment but respectful to you and your wants/needs. He does not sugar coat which I think is important when you want results. He isn’t going to tell you something is going to work when it won’t and will prescribe the best course for your diagnosis.

He isn’t lovey dovey about things so if you want someone that is overly empathetic you may want to look elsewhere.

I am diagnosed with unexplained fertility and have had recurrent losses. We initially did 6 months of drugs including Letrozole and clomid. Then moved on to four unsuccessful Iui with drugs. When we failed our last round, we moved to ivf but needed to wait 7 more months to access health benefits. In that time I got pregnant naturally and miscarried which ended up delaying our cycle. We are now stuck in quarantine and will start when the clinic reopens.

Ivf cycle with meds costs about 20k depending on protocol. The clinic requests I thin roughly 11k as a deposit. We had insurance benefits so those were accepted easily and the finance person took care of it all.

Dr. Goldberg was very good at explaining any tests he was ordering and treatments he was recommending. He was patient with me when I came with a list of questions about IVF, knowing after another unsuccessful IUI that would be our next step.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and be prepared to speak with the nurses more often than the doctor. The important thing is they will consult with him anytime it’s needed.

Each IUI was around $1,000 between my portion and my husband’s. For IVF our up front payment was just under $13,000 which included all procedures, the first year of embryo storage, ultrasound monitoring and nurse visits. I paid the pharmacy separately for my injections.

His recommendations are based on your age, and I was 2 weeks from my birthday which would move me from recommending a single transfer, to recommending transferring two. They left the final decision up to me, reminding that the goal is always a healthy singleton pregnancy to reduce as much risk as possible. We opted to transfer one, which was successful and I’m glad we didn’t do two, as that would have increased our risk of complications.

I appreciated Dr. Goldberg taking the time to listen to me and to help me find the plan that worked for me and him. I appreciated that he did not jump to IUI or IVF, as I have friends who have had doctors do that. In talking about our plan, not only was he willing to adjust it BUT he was willing to speak to my concerns of the next steps if there were any setbacks. He made sure to be at my first follow up appointment and every ultra sound that we had once we had a pregnancy. He even rescheduled for me to make sure that i saw him as for one of the ultra sounds. he did give me the option of going to my OB after the first ultrasound but said he'd prefer for me to stay with him for one more before moving forward. I stayed with him for a second ultrasound as a precaution for myself and at 13 weeks transferred to my OB

Be prepared. He won't just give you information freely, but if you ask a question he will answer it. He will answer as many questions as you have, however if you don't ask he may not mention something. YOu can always ask his nurse later, but i found him to be more responsive "in the appointment" than to go through his nurse.

I did two rounds of Clomid to help balance out my hormones. it was a 50 mg does that i started to take on day 3 - 7 of my cycle. we "tried" every day if not every other day from day 11 to day 18. my period immediately went from 21 days to 28 days after the first cycle. We had a hysteroscopy on day 7 of my first cycle. I did blood draws the day of my consultation, the first day of my period, the 3rd day of my period, and the 7 day. I should note Dr. Goldberg wanted to wait to start clomid until after these blood draws were complete as they were the ones that would confirm his suspicions on what was happening BUT i wanted to start right away. He agreed to let me start right away but warned me i have a higher risk of another chemical pregnancy if we don't know what's causing yet. we didn't conceive after the first cycle and repeated the clomid along with the blood draws. we conceived after the second cycle. we took hcg tests every other day for two weeks had an ultrasound at 6 weeks then blood draws every 4 days until 8 weeks. then did a second ultrasound at 9 weeks.

Responded to all questions in a timely manner in person and online through email. Easy to talk with and personably. Felt as if he really cared. Discussed openly about treatment options and next steps.

Come prepared with questions and concerns.

I think he followed the standard process in this journey. Since I have unexplained infertility, we started off with basics like Clomid and 4 rounds of IUI. If we were unsuccessful with these then he wanted to see us back to discuss next steps. I did not have a specific plan specialized for me.

Each IUI was around $700 each. Clomid only around $10. This is for 4 cycles. Not including office visits which were not expense but there was an obvious fee.

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The first time we saw Dr. Goldberg, he offered us an HSG and semen analysis. I asked for blood work to check my hormones, which he said wasn’t necessary. When the HSG and SA came back fine but we still weren’t pregnant, he offered us medication plus IUI. I asked for hormone blood work again and also a baseline ultrasound and monitoring during the medicated cycle. He said that wasn’t necessary. He really did not answer any of our questions, take a very detailed history, or spend much time with us at all before deciding on a treatment plan.

I would recommend trying another doctor. If you do see him, be very prepared to assert yourself to get your questions answered.

We were charged about $150 for the office visit. The HSG was around $1800 total.

Dr. Goldberg was very understanding and communicative. We consulted with him twice for two rounds. The first one resulted in a live birth, the other is ongoing. He was very eager to answer any and all questions. Being that my wife is well educated and very good at research, he at times seemed a bit surprised at the detailed/informed questions he was asked but did a great job in answering them all. We were a bit surprised we did not see him face to face any more following the consultations. All in all, I feel Dr. Goldberg is a very comparable doctor.

I would say make sure you are well informed throughout the cycle and ask lots of questions about every step of the procedure.

Approximately $21,000

During our first experience, we wanted to do a eSET, but the doctor performing the procedure (Dr. Austin) was very cold and blunt with her objection and as a result felt almost forced into a multiple ET. This did result in a live birth that we were so happy for, but the manner in which she presented it to us was very uncompassionate and insensitive.

He performed not only my laparoscopic excision surgery, which was coincidentally the FIRST time I met him (like 10 minutes before going onto the operating table lol), but he performed my ongoing care as a specialist as well and made sure that even if I was in panic mode to make time to get me in for an appointment. I would say the availability for an appointment was more flexible than phone calls or email's and that can be a catch 22.

To just be open, honest, and state what concerns you have or symptoms you're experiencing if pursuing care. I highly recommend if you suspect endometriosis having surgery done by him. It was a night and day difference, I have little to no scarring (you would never know I had a large endometrioma and stage 3 endo removed), and it had helped balance my hormones.

He is very prone to wanting to stick to natural routes or low doses of medication versus IVF. For someone with endometriosis and no Male factor that has tried for quite some time post-op with no success or only chemical pregnancies I would see that skipping IUI and going directly to IVF would make the most sense and he performs that work as well.

The costs were somewhat comparable to what I was quoted for other facilities. However, some smaller facilities within the area quoted even more. Both required paying all expenses upfront despite not knowing the outcome or if any eggs, sperm or embryos would even be viable for certain parts of the process OR if you'd have OHHS (ovarian hyperstimulation) that may cause a delay, surgery, or worse removal of reproductive organs in the most extreme conditions. Although, payment upfront seems to be common rather than paying for each part of the process as you go.

Not in particular. I know he would go thr route of a a single embryo for someone my age, despite having had endometriosis, but that's a huge push that places such as the Cleveland Clinic urge for as well.

Dr. Goldberg made me feel comfortable throughout our multiple surgeries, treatments and consultations. I had met with the doctor for a consultation to have surgery on my septated uterus. After surgery dr. Goldberg allowed us to try with times intercourse and medication for 6months before starting IUI we did 4 IUI’s and then had another resection and started our IVF process. Any questions I had that nursing staff could not answer Dr. Goldberg would call me personally to give answers to questions I had about labs and changes in treatment.

Be open and hosnest about your concerns. Ask questions, no question is “stupid”.

Started with timed intercourse with blood work checking if I was ovulating for 6months. After surgery. Then added medicated timed intercourse for 6months. Then moved to a IUI with medication 4cycles. One IUI cycle with injectibles. Started IVF. Transferred two fresh embryos, ended in a chemical pregnancy. Then two months later transferred two frozen embryos - and now I have a health little boy. Thanks to the hard work of Dr. Goldberg and his staff

I loved that I could do them before work and I would have the same nurse and ultrasound tech for monitoring unless it fell on a weekend.

I financed the process through arc fertility and and still paying it off. The IUI process we paid for as we went. The monitoring appointments were covered by my insurance as well as blood work.

My husband and I were able to pick if we wanted one or two embroys transferred.

Dr Goldberg is very knowledgeable and really presents all the options. He’s very candid and presents the facts with no warmth. You know where you stand when it comes to the statistics. I just wish I wasn’t treated as a stat.

You will know your odds when coming out of his office.

I had an HSG and there was concern about a spot that was found. So Dr did an ultrasound. He thought they were fibroids but wanted to confirm. So I had a pelvic MRI done to confirm I had 5 fibroids.

Because of my fibroid diagnosis, my insurance paid for my tests and visits because I reached my deductible. Moving forward that won’t be the case. Not sure if costs.

Dr. Goldberg takes the time to listen to your concerns and makes a plan specific to your goals. He also was able to adjust his schedule to accommodate a procedure I needed done (same day) because he knew I had a long drive home.

Have a realistic plan and time table and convey said time frame to Dr. Goldberg.

First we tried provera cycles with intercouse at home. We then moved on to IUI with provera and trigger shots. The fourth IUI resulted in a positive pregnancy test, with a ectopic pregnancy. I had to have two rounds of methotrexate and I was monitored closely. Dr. Goldberg suggested we move on to IVF because of the risk of ectopic (I had two prior to this one).

I’ve seen three doctors before Dr. Goldberg and the costs are average for fertility treatments.

Dr. Goldberg’s approach is one embryo transfer at a time.

He was very optimistic. I know the cost was too high for us to continue so we are applying for grants which he seemed a little disappointed that we couldn't start right away but he did start testing and give us information on donors.

Go in optimistic. I went in very scared and he put me at ease instantly.

We were unable to afford either suggested procedures. His office was 10,000 for a tubal reversal or 12,000 for the IVF

He told us he would only transfer 1 since he did not see a reason for it not to work. I however can not afford multiple treatments so I am concerned with only doing one.

Overall, it has been good so far. However, there have been times where my questions weren’t answered promptly through mychart. Also, when my IUI failed, I was hoping that they would follow up and explain what to do differently on the 2nd IUI.

I thought the clinic was very good, however be prepared for times when your answers to questions may not be in a super prompt manner.

I was going to do an IUI with clomid, but using the OPK Kit didn’t show my peak day, so I had to wait to my next cycle to do clomid with an ultrasound, then the IUI.

$639 for IUI $100 for ultrasound $180 for trigger shot

He knew I was very impatient. We were asked to try 6 IUI’s. After the 4th, I went back, frustrated and wanting to go straight to IVF. A month later, I was pregnant! And he was so gentle, caring and always gave me hope!!!

Trust him.

He knew I was very anxious to get pregnant. He offered us IUI right away. My very first cycle that was medicated, he did iui. Felt good to go in strong. I feel like he was the best for my type of personality. Everyone is anxious to get pregnant but I feel like he understood the most.

He and my nurse made it as cost efficient as they could for me.

They were very big on wanting me to only transfer one. But I wanted to do 2. They told me the risk and that they don’t recommend it but still let me do it because it’s what I wanted to do. I respect that they respected me. I felt in charge.

He is very thorough with the procedures and medications. Staff is always prompt and will always get back to you the day of. They always call with any changes and increase or decrease in medications. They also didn’t mind that I would message them with any questions and if it was time sensitive they insisted that I call

Be prepared to receive honest and blunt feedback

He will not do IVF before doing four rounds of IUI

Cost varied with each cycle with the last one being around $600 not including mediations. My letrozole was about $48 and the ovidrel was about $150

My experience was very routine for him. He went through a checklist and the first appointment went very quick. It didn’t feel very personal. However, he did not ignore my concerns and did start a treatment plan for me. He seemed knowledgeabl. I just felt like he was running through the motions.

if this is your first step in fertility treatment, do not expect a super personal interaction. Be prepared for a very professional interaction.

I had PCOS and irregular cycles and had been TTC for one year. He looked at bloodwork and prescribed Femara. He told me to try for 3 cycles and he said he believed my unpredictable ovulation was the source of our infertility and that using Femara and timed intercourse, we could get pregnant.

I had no cost except for my prescription, however, I am lucky to have fantastic health insurance.