Robert Weiss

Dr. Weiss is not an unfriendly person; I think he quite possibly could be a nice guy to know. Unfortunately, his mannerisms in the office did not convey confidence or give us the impression that he was "in our corner". In the grand scheme of infertility cases, my husband and I are quite straightforward. However, we did not appreciate being automatically put onto a standard protocol without special consideration for our needs and/or health conditions. If I was not acutely aware of my own health and fertility concepts , we might have been talked into the completely wrong choice. In the end, I truly believe that had another doctor not stepped in to assist our case, we may have repeated this unsuccessful transfer protocol over and over. There is a benefit to having a gigantic clinic, and perhaps some find the mechanics and timing of that helpful. However, this really strained the relationship between us and Dr. Weiss, and I would not recommend this additional stress to anyone already going through infertility.

You are going to have to advocate for yourself HARD. You have to constantly remind the doctor of everything about you, all the time. If you are not comfortable with that, or do not know this process very well, we would advise seeking alternate care.

In summary, we did a total of 2 egg retrieval cycles, 2 transfer cycles, and many halted processes in between. We began this journey knowing of our medical history with male factor infertility. This knowledge in itself should have prepped the clinic to request back-up cryopreserved sperm in the event anything happened on the physical day of retrieval (i.e. – if there was any issue getting live sperm on the day of egg retrieval). This was not done and cost us a huge portion of time and lots of insurance hurdles to go through. My husband’s medication halted sperm production during the retrieval, and our oocytes were frozen on day of retrieval, which was not something we discussed prior to surgery. I signed consent forms immediately after anesthesia, and while I would have chosen the same thing in another situation, this lack of planning and harried accommodations infuriated us. My husband eventually created multiple back-up vials of sperm and insisted about them being frozen and stored at the clinic. Due to insurance restrictions, we were now forced to use the frozen oocytes to attempt embryo creation, despite the acknowledgement that success rates would be considerably lower. Nothing can describe the heartbreak when FCNE informed us that none of the oocytes survived the thaw, and we would have to undergo a second retrieval process. Months later, due to travel and other conflicts, we had a second egg retrieval done, and the result of this was 5 total embryos using a fresh semen sample produced the day of retrieval. Under the perceived time pressure that many of us feel undergoing infertility, we elected to conduct a fresh transfer cycle with one of the embryos during the same cycle as the retrieval. It was clear my uterus and body were not ideally prepared for this transfer and quite stressed. Needless to say, the transfer of the fresh embryo did not work, and we were able to freeze down 2 other embryos. We were stressed, hopeless and exhausted, and elected to take a couple months off to let my mind and body recover. Upon return, we commenced an estrogen-supported cycle to attempt a transfer. The Estrogen suppressed ovulation, extended my normal 28-day cycles to greater than 46 days, and the endometrial lining never reached the desired thickness despite countless days of monitoring. Frustrated with Dr. Weiss for trying to push this cycle to success when it clearly was not getting there, I asked for medication to induce a period or ‘breakthrough’ bleed (as without ovulation, it was unsure when my body would decide to menstruate). We therefore started a new ‘cycle’ with plenty of added surprises; upon my first blood & ultrasound monitoring, it was clear that the follicle from my last cycle was still maturing in the ovary, and was now nearly ready to ovulate. This is when a second physician at FCNE took a look at my file (by chance? by intervention???) and determined that we should try a ‘natural’ cycle – we would monitor ovulation and do the transfer immediately after. Yes, this involves a lot of monitoring, but it is almost as natural as you can go. No estrogen, just progesterone support to promote the pregnancy. This was our successful cycle. Ten days post-transfer we had a blazing positive pregnancy test. Had we not been allowed to do a natural cycle for transfer, we may have never got here.

Monitoring was very much a 'cattle-call' process. So many persons in a waiting room where you checked yourself in. I think that having the hours early in the AM was convenenient for most, but it was not as convenient as coming in when it made sense for you.

Thankfully we live in a state with mandated coverage, and our insurance was excellent. We paid for storage of embryos and semen samples, which was in the $100s, but otherwise we only paid our co-pays for cycles and medications.

Single transfer is mandated here, and I support that. As a high-risk patient, I would not have been comfortable with transferring multiple embryos.

Dr Weiss is clearly an expert in his field, he has seen it all and that was reassuring to us. He told us our case was clear and we had a good chance of success, which reassured me. He was also very quick in terms of putting together the treatment plan and ordering all the tests etc. He’s not overly warm and fuzzy but I didn’t need that, we just needed someone to tell us what to do and build a plan. He took interest in our personal lives and gave us recommendations of other doctors to see for additional tests etc. He was sometimes late but when he joined, he never rushed us and we understood that he has other patients etc. He was so happy for us when we got pregnant and his unsurprise was again reassuring. He’s a caring doctor who I felt was rooting for us.

He is to the point and sometimes a little less thorough but his follow through is extremely thorough and has a wonderful team of nurses who work through the treatment plan. Understand that the doctor builds the plan but the nurses and clinic execute it and his team are wonderful.

The total cycle was $12k but insurance covered the majority. For meds it was $700 after insurance. Dr Weiss asked us about insurance and put us in touch with the financial coordinator- he was very focused on this.

We saw Dr. Weiss twice. We had tests done elsewhere and sent the results to his office. However, for some reason, he didn't get the results until the day of our consult. Hence, we discussed about the health history in our first visit. Then scheduled another visit for him to review and go over the plan. On the hide sight, I regret for trusting the physician to provide us the details of the plan. Up until today, I cannot figure out what type of protocol I was put through. I also felt that my first egg retrieval should have been cancelled due to under response.

Do your home work on protocols. Especially, if you had diminished ovarian reserve, non-response, etc. Specifically ask the doctor what protocol, they are recommending for you and why. After each blood test and ultrasound, ask what the results were? Don't go with the flow and do as they say. Ask questions!

Follistom 225IU (AM/PM) day 4 through 8 (4 days); Menopur 75IU on day 8 (1 day); Ganirelix .25mg day 8 and day 9 (2 days); trigger on day 9.

PGT not covered. Others were covered by insurance.

eSET based on my medical history of unexplained miscarriages.

At the very beginning of the IVF cycle treatment, I was prescribed estrogen and blood tests showed due to my age, my body was slow to react to it. My dosage was doubled and I was told to come back in three days for monitoring. At that point, my estrogen levels were way too high and I was prescribed another drug to DECREASE it. They were still so high that a fresh embryo transfer wasn't even possible let alone getting valid embryos from the retrieval. We were not offered the option of PGS testing as I believe Dr. Weiss knew very well that none of them were going to work. And after being overmedicated, Dr. Weiss did not adjust his plan other than delaying the embryo transfer, he just proceeded with protocol. Without even asking or being told, Dr. Vitiello did my third transfer which ended in a miscarriage. The whole time Dr Weiss kept repeating "There is no reason why this shouldn't work" and "Everything looks perfect." I spoke with him and politely requested he be transparent with us and he became incredibly defensive. Have not heard from him since we miscarried. I never once was under the impression that Dr. Weiss really cared or hoped that we got pregnant. He was late to every appointment and communicated horribly with his "care team". Dr Weiss is just as horrible of a person as he is a physician.

Find another doctor.

Dr Weiss over prescribed estrogen, then prescribed a medication to counter my estrogen levels being too high yet scheduled the egg retrieval as though my levels were normal. Resulted in 4 horribly immature invalid embryos and never offered us the option of PGS testing. I believe Dr Weiss made no extra effort to care for me as he knew that the whole cycle was a wash so he treated me like I was wasting his time. Dr Weiss repeatedly would set a timeline/ schedule (i.e. "We can do a transfer in four weeks) only for mentioned procedure to happen WEEKS after that. Horrible bed side manners. Incompetent. Insensitive. Rude. Condescending.

Sometimes, I was taken early so it didn't mess up my schedule too bad. Pretty convenient.

We are probably down between $5,000-$8,000 in copays and medications not covered and still have no baby. The post miscarriage therapy isn't cheap either. Honestly, there is no price tag not being able to trust your doctor.

He insisted on 1 embryo for the first two transfers and then did two for the last which resulted in a miscarriage.

Dr Weiss was willing to adjust the protocols for each of my many IVF attempts, and to try new protocols being developed in the industry when standard ones didn't work well on me. I never felt like he was judging me (unlike my original fertility doctor at another clinic), and although I don't really care about bedside manner (caring more about results), he has a good one and seems to care about the ups and downs you go through during this process.

He has the data driven facts available, but you need to ask for them as he doesn't necessarily lead with them.

I do not remember the details of the 4 IVF protocols Dr Weiss did with me, as they were in 2014-2015, other than that he was willing to try the micro-stimulation type (aka "Japanese" protocol or that done by New Hope Clinic in NYC) when the large doses of drugs were not working well. For the two Donor Egg cycles, Dr Weiss prefers to do transfers with frozen embryos, before the transfer he has you do a round of antibiotics and take estrogen. Post transfer, he has me take both estrogen and injectable progesterone in oil - the latter until about the 10th week of pregnancy.

Don't remember details, but did like that cost for ICSI was automatically included in package as they use it frequently, instead of having it be an extra line item as was at 1st clinic.

He's a compassionate and intelligent doctor and wonderful bedside manner. He truly cares about his patients. He's willing to consider new treatment and diagnostic options if he believes it's not potentially harmful and if there is some data to justify trying it. He personalizes the protocols and adjusts on a personal basis.

He is open to discussing diagnostics and treatment options with patients, taking their concerns and opinions into consideration.

He would look at what did and didn't work out well in the last cycle and based on that, develop a treatment plan for the next cycle. Sometimes the next cycle worked out better, sometime not, but he was very logical about why he tweaked something, not "just because".

They have many monitoring sites, making it much easier to get to one that isn't so far from home. The times are open ended, first-come-first-served. Some sites do have limited hours though, so being there on time is critical.

He was honest, hopeful and realistic of what we were dealing with. He spoke to me in terms I could understand and spent as much time as I needed. He was willing to push managed care to help me and willing to take calculated, well though out risks with my care.

Have good questions about your care, he is willing to answer them and it will give you power over your care.

It was covered by insurance. I only had copay for the visits where I saw him (not blood draws etc)

During my first cycle, someone at FCNE forgot to submit an order for Gonal-F, but I received all other medications. When I called FCNE, they blamed the pharmacy, but when I called the pharmacy, they blamed FCNE. I assume someone forgot to list it on the orders. As a result, I missed two doses. I am on a statin for high cholesterol, not once was I told to stop taking it, even though I went over my regular medications with Dr. Weiss several times. I just transferred to a new fertility clinic where they told me to stop taking the statin immediately. Women on statins rarely get pregnant. Dr. Weiss is never prepared for appointments and seems to only use one protocol, don’t waste your time.

I wasted a year of my life, do your research before you get assigned a random doctor.

The ladies at monitoring were the best, they made the experience tolerable.