[sezz]

Has anybody heard of Dr. Vincent Brandeis? He has a clinic in New York. His prices are far less (unbelievevably lower) than anybody I've spoken to. I've contacted his office and he was very gracious to answer all my questions. I feel comfortable with him, however, I've found no reviews on him. Thanks.

[kaydliz]

I just looked him up on the internet, WOW he does have great prices!! What kind of IVF are you considering regular or Minimal stimulation? I want to check out the minimal. Think I will call tomorrow, Let me know if you hear anything about him. But if you felt comfortable on the phone that is probably a good sign, especially since he took the time to talk with you personally! I called a clinic today that does minimal stim and the receptionist was rude, I asked how long I would have to be there and she said, " I don't know depends on your situation " REALLY snotty! Wanted to bump this up and see if we get some response!!

[kaydliz]

I found this info on another forum on here:




Brandeis - patient
I visited Dr. Brandeis in May 2007 because of the extremely low and unbeilavable rates he charged.

History: I had already gone through 4 IVF cycles (out-of-pocket) with only 1 success on my 3rd attempt. All at well known fertility centers. I was consequently told that the probability of becoming pregnant again was minimal to none, and that my best option was a donor egg. How discouraging. I refused to give up, but did not have the financial resources to continue. Considering that each cycle was about $14,000.

Searching the web I came across Dr. Brandeis. After my initial consultation with him I was somewhat taken aback. It was nothing like the high end centers I had visited, and there were only 2 people on staff. Dr. Brandeis and the receptionist/nurse. I was concerned. Dr. Brandeis was difficult to understand, took no notes, and saw me in an office that was not his. Could this actually go well?

After speaking with him, he, unlike the others said we should try and gave me a glimmer of hope. I must say I went through with it with reservations. His hours were odd, he seldom returned a phone call, and the wait was always long. He did however, seem to believe very much in what he did and was not out to make a quick buck. At this point, I felt it was my last resort. Money and time were running out (I was 40 years old and my husband had had a prostectomy due to prostate cancer) he is well now.

So I threw caution to the wind. In an effort to help in the process, I also put myself on an extremely low but healthy low carb diet. I had read somewhere that it actually helped with conceiving.

Since I was not always able to speak with Dr. Brandeis or his nurse over the phone, I decided to keep a very detailed monthly calendar that I would show the nurse at every visit. It provided me with a sense of feeling somewhat in control of what was happening. In anticipation for my next visit I would ALWAYS ask the nurse to let me know what to expect next including what medication I would be starting nextand (VERY IMPORTAN). In that way I could call the Dr. office to remind them to contact the pharmacy in time for me recieve and start the meds. when it was time. I also spoke very openly to the other patients in the waiting room who were at different phases in the IVF cycle to get a sense of what to expect.

Everything is done 1 small examining room. They do the ultrasounds, bloodwork, retrievals and transfers in the same examining room. Sort of strange.

Dr. Brandeis also exposes you to minimal medication. I asked him why, he said that less is more. The more med stimulation you recieve the more follicles you produce the poorer the quality. It seemed to make sense.

History: I have always produced 18-25 follicles after each cycle at the high end centers. I only produced 5 follices with Dr. Brandeis.

Results: After endless evening hours waiting (leaving his office anywhere between 10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.), dieting, and countless calls to his office, most of which went unanswered. We became pregnant.

Pregnant with TWINS due in Jan 07. I can't say it was the red carpet experience, but all-in-all the bottom line was that Dr. Brandeis believes in what he is doing. He has many years of experience. He is what I call a GENERIC IVF DOCTOR. No frills, but with results. As with any other center there is always a chance that it may not work. But at least he is willing to try, when others have already given up.

Don't give up - if you do not have insurance coverage for IVF let him try. I am glad I did.

croman
TWINS (Boy & Girl)

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#14 (permalink)
12-01-2007, 01:36 PM
http://forums.fertilitycommunity.com...ine=1221100492 Bottle

[BuggieGrl]

I was a patient of Dr. Brandeis back in 2004/2005. He was highly recommended by a friend who had 2 successful pregnancies with him. This is what I can say about Dr. Brandeis: he absolutely loves and is dedicated to fertility. He is gentle, calm and very knowledgeable. He is somewhat scattered and his Columbus Ave office is not definitely not modern. The wait in the office, regardless of the appointment time you make, sometimes went quickly (about an hour wait) or seemed endless (as many as 2 hours). He keeps very odd hours but makes himself available whenever is most convenient for you. He does return phone calls... eventually and usually very late in the evenings (and sometimes past midnight!)

After my first IVF cycle and egg retrieval, I developed a severe case of OHSS. I was hospitalized in ICU and throughout my hospitalization, Dr. Brandeis was available and checked in often overseeing my care in the hospital with the resident doctors. After my discharge however, Dr. Brandeis suddenly became unavailable. I almost felt as though he was avoiding me. We finally set a date for the transfer, and at this point I was very uneasy and was not confident with Dr. Brandeis. He transferred 4 eggs (out of the 12 that were fertilized and cryo-preserved) and basically disappeared. I, in turn, ended up in having to see my regular OB/GYN because suddenly, Dr. Brandeis was on "vacation". After 6 very emotional weeks and 2 embryo sacks growing, the "heartbeat" sonogram produced no heartbeats and led to a D&C. I never heard from Dr. Brandeis again.

A year later, my husband and I decided to give IVF another try with a different doctor. Dr. Kreiner of East Coast Fertility. Friendly, knowledgeable, modern and ORGANIZED. Wait times, if I'm recalling correctly was no more than 45 min to an hour and in the morning hours there was a massage therapist on hand giving FREE massages! WOW what a difference.

He reviewed my medication journal that I kept and was amazed at the HIGH levels of medication that was administered and was not surprised that I developed a severe case of OHSS (almost 50lbs of fluid in my abdominal cavity). The medication that Dr. Kreiner prescribed was a mere fraction of what I was taking the first time.

Although I did get experience OHSS again (only 14lbs this time around), it was nothing like the first time. My husband and I are fortunate to have insurance that covers 75% of the cost of IVF but allows only 3 cycle attempts. We have not yet transferred any of the 8 very strong embryos, we feel more confident than we did with Dr. Brandeis.


Hope this helps ... if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me: MrsMdrnSamurai@aol.com.

Best of luck to you all

[Feliciag12]

Before starting, I had A LOT of trouble contacting anyone in his office. Once I did get a hold of the dr., he would always ask to call you back and never would. Very frustrating! I went to Dr. Brandeis starting at the end of December '08, here is my experience. I flew up to NY from Atl at the end of December. I went to his Queens office and was quite dismayed. His office is very small and quite dirty. The floors are never vaccummed and the bathrooms are hardly cleaned. You NEVER get an exact appointment. They tell you to come in at a certian time in the evening (6:00) and you wait 2-4 hours before you are even seen. He has one nurse and an office person. The waiting room is very crowded by patients. Once you do finally get in, you are taken to the first room, which is in poor condition. The light covers on the ceiling are dirty and falling off and have bugs it them. Also, on a couple of visits, I've seen opened syringes laying around as well as trash. Once you are finally seen by Dr. Brandeis, he's very hard to understand. He is VERY nice and is a VERY good listener, but never gives you information unless you ask questions. So be prepared with your list. In the exam room for the sonograms, the equipment is dirty. Dirt stains on the surface of the sonogram keyboard. They don't use the sonogram caps (covering for the scope), but use the surgical gloves along with lubricant. I had to go to his office about 10-12 times, which is unusual. If I had additional questions about the procedure, I would have a lot of trouble getting intouch with them. Once I did get a hold of him, again, he was ver hard to understand. The retreival was done at Wykoff Hosp. The waiting room was filthy and the there was a leaking faucit that kept dripping. The retrevial/transfer room was freezing. They gave you a paper gown to wear and no additional coverage for you. Once the IVF transfer was done, I flew back home. Unfortunately, the IVF didn't work and requested copies of my records so that my Dr. in Atl could review them. It took me ONE MONTH of constant calling (at least 20 or more calls) to get him to mail them to me. I am seeing another RE in NC, and finally got the lady at Wykoff to fax records to them last Sat (3/14) again, ONE MONTH later! The faxed records were incomplete! Ironically, the same lady called me this afternoon (3/17) to tell me that the records will be scanned and emailed to me. I asked the lady if he ever maild my records and she said she didn't know. We will see if I get it.
Pro: Cheaper price, nice doctor
Con: unsanitory conditions, hard to contact, probably didn't keep records, very frustrating to deal with, hard to understand. never did blood panel (Aids, HIV, STD testing, which is required by law of all re's)
My recommendation: If you have the money, pay the higher price and get someone better.
I am NOT upset that the IVF didn't work, because thats the risk you take, but I regret using Dr. Brandeis. the people who I go to now are just amazed about his protocol. I just wanted to let others know about my experience and to beware of the cost you pay in additional to the low fees he charges.
I welcome any questions.