Why are IVF Patients scared of Complaining About Doctors

A doctor couple who had had failed IVF treatment at another clinic came to Malpani Clinic. The ophthalmologist husband and the dermatologist wife had undergone two IVF cycles in a leading Mumbai hospital. When I asked him for notes and photos of the embryos from their previous IVF treatment, they confessed to having none. This was a setback for me because I could create a treatment plan more easily if I had known what the other doctor had done. The documentation would have served as a template which I could wisely modify according to the patient’s individual response,  to facilitate her to grow eggs of better quality and to improve her chances of pregnancy. With such valuable information unavailable, I was forced to start all over again with just my speculation to aid me.

Despite being a doctor himself, the patient became defensive when I asked them for these details. They said that this hospital didn’t have the norm of providing documentation. I explained to them that a discharge summary, operative note and relevant photographs are always provided to the patient every time a medical procedure is done. I expressed surprise at the fact that despite both of them being doctors, they didn’t even insist on getting the basic paperwork for their IVF treatment. Discomfiture visible on their faces, they revealed that they had assumed that this was the way it worked in Mumbai! I got to know that they had been told to pay in cash by their doctor and hospital and had not received any receipts for the same as well ! Presuming this to be the usual norm, they hadn’t bothered to ask any questions. 

Is your IVF doctor hiding information from you ? If you need more light, please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/malpaniform.htm so that I can guide you better !