How was your experience with David Cohen at Institute for Human Reproduction?
I was referred to Dr. Cohen by a friend who had just delivered a perfectly healthy baby and shared her experiences with me along the way. He was compassionate and easy to talk to, very understanding, reassuring and experienced. I felt very comfortable and positive with him.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of David Cohen at Institute for Human Reproduction?
Be patient with the frequent appointments, multiple times a week. They do have a lot of patients, but I appreciated that it was "first come first served" - on days that I needed to get to the airport for a 9am flight, I was able to come in at 6:30 and get my ultrasound and blood work done efficiently.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with David Cohen at Institute for Human Reproduction?
Everyone I talked to at IHR, from Nona the financial consultant to the nurses, were great, and except for one or two instances they were great with communicating the daily information that was needed. Dr. Cohen was very informative and understanding.
Describe the protocols David Cohen used in your cycles at Institute for Human Reproduction and their degree of success.
I started with Dr. Cohen in January after switching insurance so it would cover the procedures- I had been 6 months with another doctor on drugs and timed intercourse with no results. He gave me the option of doing IUI or going straight to IVF, which is what we chose due to my age (39, now 40) and everything was straightforward. I went through 3 retrievals - 4, 2 and then 7 5 day embryos resulted and were frozen to go through PGS, with 9 recommended for transfer. In retrospect I appreciate that he was conservative and I have enough embryos to potentially have additional children, but hind sight being 20 20 I could've stopped after 2 retrieval cycles and likely had plenty.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Institute for Human Reproduction. (Assigned nurse: Sue Padilla)
Sue was fantastic - compassionate and understanding, and worked with our schedules. I know she worked late hours responding to voicemails and emails at all hours. unfortunately she left the clinic towards the end of my treatment and there was a bit of confusion during the transition.
Describe your experience with Institute for Human Reproduction.
The surgery center where the procedures took place was great! Clean and organized, and a convenient location for me. I also liked the loft-style office and that they played the Today Show in the mornings while I was waiting for my appointments :) They were usually quick to get back to me.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Institute for Human Reproduction.
They had monitoring hours in the morning, so as I stated previously, it was very convenient for me to be able to go in early and still get to work on time (or occasionally to the airport for a flight!).
Describe the costs associated with your care under David Cohen at Institute for Human Reproduction.
Ugh! I had to go on an Exchange Blue Cross Blue Shield plan because neither mine nor my husband's employers companies covered the treatments because they were "self insured". That out of pocket max was around $6,000 which I hit with my first order of drugs, plus a $400/month premium. However, everything else was covered except for the genetic testing, and each retrieval cycle was a few thousand dollars, and then because I had more than the average (7) embryos go through PGS, there was an additional charge for that as well (but I suppose that's a good problem to have).
Describe David Cohen's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Institute for Human Reproduction.
Because we went through PGS, Dr. Cohen only transferred a single embryo, which made sense to me.
What specific things went wrong at Institute for Human Reproduction?
- Failed to call with results
- Provided conflicting information