| rev:text
| - This review is relating to my pregnancy in 2014.
I wanted a natural birth and thought nothing of the fact that Dr. Stephen Harter was across town or that the wait times are super long, because, hey, he's a popular doctor. Good sign, right? I left him at 20 weeks, and here's why. You have to believe that at 20 weeks, I wouldn't want to switch doctors.
The first red flag came when trying to get test results at 17 weeks to make sure the baby was healthy. I was told 10 days, so I called at 10 days to see if the results had come in. I was told each time that a nurse would call me back within 72 hours (which seems very long to me), but no one would call. After the 5th time, I finally got a call back from a nurse who didn't really know how to read the report well. It was incomplete, but a new test to the office, so I let it go. She promised to call back with the remainder of the results. It didn't happen.
At 18 weeks, I had a really bad blood pressure spike (190/100)- my vision was blurry, I just wasn't feeling well. I decided to go to the ER because it wasn't worth the risk that something was wrong. It was late at night, so I called Dr. Harter's office in the morning and let them know that I had gone to the ER and look forward to hearing whether I should come in earlier than my regular exam time in 2 weeks. I waited and waited - a sad and long 5 days and 4 phone messages. I couldn't believe that they wouldn't even acknowledge my ER visit - just in case, right?
They finally called back and connected me directly with Dr. Harter who seemed pretty unconcerned about the situation. He told me not to worry, it wasn't the "highest" he has seen. He asked how I felt and as I started talking, I could feel him zoning out... I don't think he heard one word I said. He didn't really ask me how my BP was at this time, just said he'd see me in 2 weeks.
The final straw was my last visit. I got there early and was told that I missed my ultrasound. What? I didn't schedule one (and I wouldn't have scheduled it at that time as I had meeting). I tried my best to get one scheduled that week as I wanted to make sure we were OK after the blood pressure situation, but no. It was rescheduled another 2 weeks out. I waited my 2 hours to see Dr. Harter (no exaggeration there) and when I did go in, another 45 min for him to walk in the door with a medical student. She walked in, measured my belly and he followed, hand on the doorway. Barely walked in and like magic, POOF, my appointment was over. 2 minutes and 45 seconds. He didn't ask me any questions about my ER visit, how I was feeling, nothing.
It was that visit that prompted me to find another OB and I'm certainly glad I did, but the time I wasted with Harter and his office was critical. The ultrasound that they scheduled and never told me about and had to reschedule my last visit, would have shown that my son was measuring behind in growth and that his kidneys were severely enlarged. My blood pressure situation was due to insufficiency (no diastolic pressure). My son and I were in crisis. I had to be hospitalized for the duration of my pregnancy and gave birth 3 months early. Thankfully, all is well, but we were in critical stages while under Stephen Harter's watch and never received the attention or care one would expect during pregnancy. I do not recommend him in any way. We all hope for a smooth pregnancy, but in the event it is not, one must be under a physician they trust who can read red flags and respond accordingly.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)