OB/GYN - Westminster/Hampstead/Manchester

kellyrn9956 · February 2012

I am desperate for a new OB/GYN. I work in Towson, and am currently with an OB/GYN there, but would like an OB/GYN in Carroll County so that I can deliver my future babies at Carroll Hospital Center. The thought of a 45 minute drive to Towson in labor is scary.

Any recommendations of who to see? Of who to stay away from?

Here are my "wants":

1. First and foremost, a safe doctor

2. A nice, clean office with a pleasant environment. I am also not willing to wait hours to see my doctor.

3. Organized and friendly office staff

4. Sensitivity and good bedside manner. Someone who won't just "blow off" my past three years of infertility.

Any suggestions?

Teagiedo · February 2012

dr. duke at capital womans care. she delivered my son and was really wonderful.

Teagiedo · February 2012

oops they are in towson.... sorry

holly321 · February 2012

I recommend staying away from Carroll OBGYN. The office stay is not at all friendly. And I personally think Dr. Udo is a moron. She told my friend she had PCOS, and wouldn't get pregnant on her own. She was pregnant at the time. Plus she didn't call and tell me that my progesterone was low, until 3 weeks after my blood work. I could go on for a while.

I love Dr. Barnett. He has a hampstead and westminster office. But hampstead is the satelite office. He is very kind. He has been a big help through my miscarriage. He has held my hand and hugged me while I cried.

Some people say he rushes you, but I don't see it that way. If the exam is done, what is he to do? If I have any questions, he answers them very thoroughly. I have just been through a pregnancy and a miscarriage with him. I think I had 2 long waits. One was during a delivery, the other, I don't remember why. Actually for the post op from my d&c, my appointment was at 11:45, I got their early, and was out of his office before 11:50.

I haven't dealt with in fertility, so I can't say this from experience, but I in no way would see him blowing it off. I will openly admit I am a neurotic ocd hypochondric (literally, I am medicated, lol) and he never blows off my concerns. If I call with questions, I often talk to him personally.

Also, about Carroll OBGYN, I hear they are quick to do CSections. Dr. Barnett seemed genuinely upset when he told me I needed one (breech baby).

If you have any questions, you can PM. I think I could go on all day, especially with how great he has been through my miscarriage.

courtneyLMM · February 2012

I have a friend who is currently seeing Dr. Barnett and she raves about him.

camdenfaithful · February 2012

When I lived in Hampstead and Westminster I saw Dr. Barnett and I LOVED him. I never felt rushed and I always thought he and his staff were so nice.

He is in the practice by himself so he can get backed up if he gets called into surgery or an emergency comes up but his staff is usually pretty good at communicating that.

lausherm · February 2012

I see Dr. Vietz in Eldersburg. He has his own practice. I've had great experiences with him thus far, and everyone who I've spoken with raves about him as well. Prior to my neighbors recommending him, I called the hospital, and the secretary said that all the nurses just love him. He's extremely calm and reassuring. Good luck!

Dhampyr17 · May 2012

I was up in Towson originally too and completely understand since I live in Westminster.

I am now seeing Dr. Dee Hubbard and while I have only met her once so far, I LOVE her. They have evening hours available and she is very soft spoken and caring about what you have to say. She is not rushed or anything else (of course, this may mean you wait a little longer if she gets stuck with a patient with lots of questions, but she takes the same amount of time with you).

Her back up OBs are also very liked--Dr. Barnett (410-848-6294) and Dr. Veiz (I think that's how it's spelled).

I just prefer a female doctor and so I went with Dr. Hubbard, here's her number if you would like to call them: 443-712-7009

Toni79 · May 2012

I'll second the opinion to stay away from Carroll OB/GYN.

I actually live in Hanover PA, but work on Baltimore Co, so I pass through Westminster. I've been going there for about 5 years now and have never been happy. Let's see . . . where to start . . .

The office staff:

The office staff is rude and unhelpful.
They make appointments for 15 mins intervals, and they are never running on time. I always wait at least 45 minutes. Sometimes I've waited an hour and a half. They never come out and say "sorry, the dr is running late" or anything.
I used to think that maybe it was just for my annual visits, and that when I became an OB patient, I'd have priority and not wait as long. No, I still wait a god awful amount of time.
The office staff has no idea about insurance, and what you owe, etc. Long story short, I "accidentally" over paid them. My OB co-pay is $20. I assumed it was for every visit, so I?ve been paying them $20 at every visit. But at a visit 2 months ago they tell me that I don?t have a co-pay? Yet they?ve been taking my money for the previous 5 months??? I called my insurance company and they tell me that it?s a one-time co-pay. So now I am in negotiations with their billing office to get the $50 back that I?ve overpaid. Yet somwhow their records show that I owe $20! WTF?!?!?
Anytime I've had to see a specialist they never send my files like they are supposed to, and like they said they would. I had to go to Shady Grove Fertility Center and when I showed up for my first appointment, they had not yet received my files from my OB's office. I had to call them to have them fax them over ASAP. It is so unprofessional. Then when I had my NT scan and anatomy scan (ultrasounds), I went to Siani. My OB's office made the appoimntment for me, but never sent Siani the ultrasound "order". So the nice lady at Sianin checking me in, called the OB's office to get the appropriate paper work faxed over. Again, completly unprofessional!
DH gave them his FMLA paper work to fill out. They asked him the approximate dates he'd need to take off. They put in the wrong dates and the wrong amount of time, so now we have to have it done over again.
I have to get bloodwork done and Quest and have the results sent to the OBs office. Every test I have done, never makes it into my file before my next appoiontment. So after waiting an hour and finally seeing the dr, the dr asks "didn't you have your glucose test done?", and I'm like "yes, two weeks ago". Then the dr asks the office staff to find the results, so then I'm waiting for another 20 minuts, worried about my results. This happens EVERY TIME! I know request Quest to send me a copy of my results, so that I know befoer I go to my next appoinment.
BTW - Most OB's will send you a post card or call you with the results of your annual pap smear. They don't send post cards anymore and only call if the results come back adnormal. Which is rediculious! If they are "loosing" my bloodword results, how do I know they aren't going to "loose" my pap smear results?!?! I'm not confident I'd get a call if something came back adnormal! BTW - When they made this change a few years ago, they never told me, so of course when I didn't get a post card saying everything was normal, I called. After getting a run around I was told they no longer send the cards. I asked for confirmation that the results were normal, and you would have thought I was asking them to give me a million dollars!

The Drs

My primary is Dr. Udo, but I've seen Dr. Ballos and Dr. Constintini both once. They all seem nice enough I guess. For a while I'v just "put up" with the office staff because I thought Iiked my Dr (I didn't hate her).
With respect to infertility . . . after TTC for over a year, DH and I talked with Dr. Udo at my annual appt. I had been charting for nearly 9 months and brought my charts with me. She had no interest in looking at them. She ordered some blood tests for me (CD3 bloodwork) and a seman analysis for DH. She didn't really expalin what these tests were checking for. When everything came back normal she put me on clomid for 3 months with timed intercourse. I was unmonitored while on clomid, which is a huge no-no! But at the time I did not know that, and I blindly trused what my Dr told me. When those three months failed, she finally referred me to Shady Grove Fertility Center. Thankfully the drs at Shady Grove were wonderful. I cannot say enough good things about them. But once I started going there they really explained every little test to me. They also expalined just how irresponsible it is and dangerious it is to be on clomid and not be monitored. That is how women end up with 8 babies!
I'm not sure why, but when I finally got pregnant I decided to give my OB a chance to do what she's good at . . . be an OB and not a fertility specilist!

I'm 31 weeks pregnant and switching out of Carroll OBGYN

I'm not sure what took me so long? I guess I was willing to put up with all the stuff I listed above. And DH and I really didn't want to go OB shopping.
But in the end, it came down to me wanting a natural, drug free, non intervention birth. When we first met with my OB (many months ago), I admit I didn't know what questions to ask. We simply asked if they supported a natural, drug free, no intervention childbirth. My OB said yes, and I was happy. Anyway, since then we've been doing our homework. We took the birthing class at the hospital and learned about some of the hospital policies, etc. Then while taking the Bradley classes we learned alot and learned more specifically what questions we should be asking my OB. When we went back to my OB last month, I asked a boat load of questions. I felt like her answers contradicted one another. She said that she supported natural childbirth and wouldn't pressure me to induce, etc. But then said that they had strict timelimes. So basically they aren't going to pressure me until "my time is up", and then I'll be pressured for pitocin, etc. I decided to switch to a midwife practice at Gettysburg Hospital. I felt like she better suppored my decision and I'd have a better chance of having the birth I wanted. (I posted yesterday about my switch. Feel free to read if you want more details about the questions I asked my OB before I decided to switch. )

https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/66176999.aspx

Sorry so long! Hope this helps!

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