I was extremely disappointed with my experience at Northeast OB/GYN. After one visit, I switched to…read moreanother OB/GYN. Initially, my primary care doctor recommended Dr. Sarah Parker at Northeast since I was looking for an obstetrician. I called the practice, explained that this was my first pregnancy, and made a prenatal appointment with Dr. Parker. When I showed up for my appointment 15 minutes early, the office staff gave me a pile of forms to fill out. There were so many forms, it took 30 minutes just to complete them! They had not offered to mail me the forms nor directed me to find them on their website so I could fill them out in advance. Had I known there were so many forms, I would have requested this, but that is something the office staff should be asking of patients!
After completing the forms, I waited about 15 minutes and was called by a nurse. She recorded my vitals, showed me to a room, asked the basic questions, then left. I don't think I waited too long before a woman came in. She was dressed in scrubs and introduced herself only by her first name (let's call her Eleanor). I thought my obstetrician's name was Sarah so I was surprised to hear Eleanor's name, but I figured I had forgotten my doctor's first name and this was my doctor. Since this was my first pregnancy, Eleanor proceeded to give me a booklet of information on pregnancy and told me all about what to expect, what to do, and how Northeast OB/GYN works. I asked a bunch of questions, of course, especially about my family medical history and concerns about being pregnant for the first time at an "advanced maternal age," as it's called. I also asked about some serious back pain I was having that had just started. I explained that the pain was only present in the middle of the night when it would wake me up in agony and I couldn't go back to sleep. I noted that I did not typically experience back pain of any kind and that this was very unusual. Eleanor was pretty unconcerned and just suggested I should see a chiropractor or get a massage.
At the end of her talk, Eleanor mentioned that I would probably see Dr. Parker at my next visit, but then possibly not until my delivery since Dr. Parker was soon going to be on maternity leave herself. But I was not to worry since Northeast OB/GYN has lots of great doctors who would take care of me while Dr. Parker was out. I was STUNNED! Not only was this the first indication I had that I was not even talking to my doctor, but also that 1) I would not be meeting my doctor that visit, 2) I might not meet my doctor at the next visit, 3) I might not see my doctor again (or ever) until I actually was at the hospital delivering, and 4) I might not even see my doctor when delivering!! WHAT?!?
I felt like the proverbial rug was pulled right out from under me, like I was bait-and-switched (pick your cliche). I had called and made an initial prenatal appointment with Dr. Sarah Parker with the intent that she would be my obstetrician during my pregnancy. And now, after filling out a ton of forms and meeting for about an hour with Eleanor, who turned out to be a Nurse Practitioner, I was finally told that my doctor would basically be absent during my ENTIRE pregnancy and might not even be there to deliver my baby. Well then WHY would I want Dr. Parker to be my obstetrician?!? Neither Eleanor nor the office staff person with whom I scheduled the appointment ever suggested I should choose another doctor at the practice. Nor did Eleanor ask if I wanted to meet that day with any of the other doctors at the practice. To top this off, Eleanor asked me to visit their lab and provide some blood samples for testing. When I got to the lab room at about 12:15pm, the techs were out to lunch. I ended up waiting for over an hour just to get a few vials of blood drawn (it took 5 minutes). I went home frustrated, confused, and concerned.
The next morning, I woke up with major back pain again so I made an appointment with my primary care doctor. At my appointment, after talking with me for maybe a minute, my primary care doctor asked me for a urine sample. About 2 minutes later, she told me that I had a UTI, which was causing my back pain. She said UTIs are really common for pregnant women and she was surprised that Eleanor hadn't even thought to check on this (Northeast took a urine sample, but no one ever called me with results). Needless to say, after considering my treatment at Northeast OB/GYN, including my absentee obstetrician who might never actually meet me and the incompetence of the medical personnel with whom I did meet, I quickly switched to another OB/GYN. I will never go back to Northeast OB/GYN and do not recommend the practice to anyone.
