11 replies to this topic

Hey Everyone,

I was doing some research on clinics in my area and I'm a bit surprised to hear about the negative stuff from TCART. Apparently they have the highest success rate around and they also apparently don't do a lot of the unneccessary stuff that other clinics do just to get more money from OHIP.

I guess these stories are kind of scaring me away from them, but at the same time what I'm reading elsewhere suggests they are the best. Can anyone help me out a little bit more here? I eventually want to take my partner to a clinic and don't want her to have to have a bad experience. I read Sally's story, and although it sounds horrible, I know someone who went through an ectopic pregnancy and followed the doctor's advice to the letter and although she had later complications and was in the hospital for a day or two ended up being fine.

I don't want to be insensitive or anything but it sounds like a big part of Sally's problems were because she simply ignored the doctor's advice to go into the hospital if she had pain. I would never wish that upon anyone but I don't want to let one person's bad experience keep me away from a clinic that has such an amazing track record when all it could be is one person's bitterness towards an uncontrollable situation.

Again, I'm not trying to be insensitive, and I am a guy so I tend to do that a lot, but I do want to make sure I make a decision based on all the facts and not just on one person's experience. Anyone have any input?

Maurice

[Rick]

Hey Everyone,

I was doing some research on clinics in my area and I'm a bit surprised to hear about the negative stuff from TCART. Apparently they have the highest success rate around and they also apparently don't do a lot of the unneccessary stuff that other clinics do just to get more money from OHIP.

I guess these stories are kind of scaring me away from them, but at the same time what I'm reading elsewhere suggests they are the best. Can anyone help me out a little bit more here? I eventually want to take my partner to a clinic and don't want her to have to have a bad experience. I read Sally's story, and although it sounds horrible, I know someone who went through an ectopic pregnancy and followed the doctor's advice to the letter and although she had later complications and was in the hospital for a day or two ended up being fine.

I don't want to be insensitive or anything but it sounds like a big part of Sally's problems were because she simply ignored the doctor's advice to go into the hospital if she had pain. I would never wish that upon anyone but I don't want to let one person's bad experience keep me away from a clinic that has such an amazing track record when all it could be is one person's bitterness towards an uncontrollable situation.

Again, I'm not trying to be insensitive, and I am a guy so I tend to do that a lot, but I do want to make sure I make a decision based on all the facts and not just on one person's experience. Anyone have any input?

Maurice

Hi Maurice. I think you can always find someone or more who have had a negative experience at any clinic. Like you said you can find both good and bad news wherever you search. I personally went to a clinic which I later discovered most claimed was a poor one. Good thing I didn't read all that stuff beforehand because they were awesome with us. Like anything else in life, wherever you chose to go make sure you're very involved and informed throughout. The sqeaky wheel gets the grease as they say. However I also think there is a fine line with the sqeaky wheel philosophy. If anyone in any profession is overburdened with stress and pressure they are more likely to make mistakes. Staying highly involved as team player is better if you ask me. If they wouldn't allow me to be a part of the decisions or if I felt I wasn't able to make informed decisions then that would make me question a lot more. If you go for a consultation try to feel that out. Ask a lot of questions and make sure you're comfortable with the responses, and how responsive they are to your questions and concerns. Having confidence in your clinic is important, and to me the relationship with the staff meant everything.

Good luck with your search and best wishes for your success.

Thanks for the insight Rick,

I've gotten that advice a lot over the last little while. People have also been telling me to never assume what the doctor tells you is right. Push the doctors in any clinic you go to and make sure they're not just treating you like a number. I guess it's just that from all the research I've done, TCART seems to be the best clinic out there and I wanted to make sure we go to the best of the best. I understand from what people have posted that the doctors can be a bit impersonal but frankly I've gone to a lot of places where doctors have been impersonal. In my opinion if they do their job well what does it matter?

Again, though, I'm a guy, I don't understand this whole process very well and I was hoping to get a woman's insight on the whole thing, especially this one clinic. For me what matters is a doctor who knows what they are doing and a clinic who has a high success rate (Which TCART claims to have the highest). I know, however, that what matters may be completely different to my partner.

Maurice

[Min]

I go to TCART and I have had a good experience with them. Very kind and professional nurses and doctors. I was told about the risks up front and they watched me closely for OHSS. When I developed OHSS (I knew I was at risk) they were wonderful in terms of telling me what I should do. I am also an out of town patient and they were very helpful with timing appointments.
I have also heard of stories about the staff being impersonal but, I would rather that then someone to sugar coat the reality of the situation. We pay them money for their knowledge and experience not to be our friends.
Although my first IVF and FET was BFN, I have trust in them and I am going back this summer for our next FET.
Trust your gut and it only matters if you feel comfortable with the doctors.

Well that is my 2 cents worth.

I go to TCART and I have had a good experience with them. Very kind and professional nurses and doctors. I was told about the risks up front and they watched me closely for OHSS. When I developed OHSS (I knew I was at risk) they were wonderful in terms of telling me what I should do. I am also an out of town patient and they were very helpful with timing appointments.
I have also heard of stories about the staff being impersonal but, I would rather that then someone to sugar coat the reality of the situation. We pay them money for their knowledge and experience not to be our friends.
Although my first IVF and FET was BFN, I have trust in them and I am going back this summer for our next FET.
Trust your gut and it only matters if you feel comfortable with the doctors.

Well that is my 2 cents worth.

Thanks for the advice Min. I always felt knowledge and experience outweighs the personal aspect as well, but again, I'm there for support, my partner is the one going through all of this. I was a little scared by especially one of the stories on here, but I'm glad to hear good feedback. In all fairness, I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but the one story, although tragic, sounded like the person simply wasn't following medical advice OR common sense for that matter, simply dismissing pain when she should have been in the emergency room right away. I know for me and my girlfriend when something happens with pain (such as pain from her PCOS) if anything is different or unusual we call Tele-Health Ontario right away and if they can't give us an answer we go to the doctor ASAP. I just think that's common sense, and anyone blaming a clinic for not doing a whole bunch of otherwise unneccesary tests seems just like she was trying to find someone else to blame other than herself. Anyways, thank you for the help, we will go and talk to TCART and see where it goes!

Maurice

[Min]

Good luck and all the best!

Hi Maurice,

Where have you heard that Tcart has the highest success rate around? I have checked their stats and didn't think they were that strong or very conclusive. Just interested - did you meet with them and they gave you additional stats or was there another source other than their site?


Stats in the fertility world are a tricky thing as each clinic can collect and show their stats anyway they like. They don't take into consideration the various causes of infertility and how successful they are at each of those issues - as well only a positive beta is considered as a success not births. For many going through infertility treatmennts it isn't just the getting pregnant that is the problem it is the staying pregnant and giving birth that is the major challenge.

Also, I think the forums are a place where we do not judge each other. It is a place for people to voice their experiences - good and bad and a supportive environment not one that comments negatively on how they have handled their experience.

Hi Maurice,

Where have you heard that Tcart has the highest success rate around? I have checked their stats and didn't think they were that strong or very conclusive. Just interested - did you meet with them and they gave you additional stats or was there another source other than their site?


Stats in the fertility world are a tricky thing as each clinic can collect and show their stats anyway they like. They don't take into consideration the various causes of infertility and how successful they are at each of those issues - as well only a positive beta is considered as a success not births. For many going through infertility treatmennts it isn't just the getting pregnant that is the problem it is the staying pregnant and giving birth that is the major challenge.

Also, I think the forums are a place where we do not judge each other. It is a place for people to voice their experiences - good and bad and a supportive environment not one that comments negatively on how they have handled their experience.

Hi Summer Lovin!

Thanks for your post. I do tend to get somewhat critical sometimes. Normally I wouldn't try to discredit someone like that or criticize how they handled their experience but I was reading about the clinics on here and other message boards (All About Surrogacy, etc.) and I guess I just had my heart set on talking to TCART since they seemed to be the best and I was trying to rationalize away what I was reading. When it comes down to it though, I'm sure every clinic has patients who have had various complications and it's impossible to know for sure that everything will go 100% smoothly. I think someone said it in an earlier post that you have to trust your gut on these things. I don't mean to put down anyone here and I'm sorry if I came off negatively. I know all of the clinics listed on here with information have positive and negative aspects to them. I think I've made my choice with TCART, but I'm sure all of the other clinics are equally competent to consult with my partner and I about the various options. I used to work for one of the big phone companies and I know a lot of people used to complain about us but when it came down to it, people complained about all of the other companies too. People are not perfect and things happen that are sometimes out of our control.

Thank you so much for bringing this to light. I am going to do a little bit more research on the clinics, but I think I'm just going to take a shot with TCART. Thanks for the help everyone!

Maurice

Hi Maurice,

Where have you heard that Tcart has the highest success rate around? I have checked their stats and didn't think they were that strong or very conclusive. Just interested - did you meet with them and they gave you additional stats or was there another source other than their site?


Stats in the fertility world are a tricky thing as each clinic can collect and show their stats anyway they like. They don't take into consideration the various causes of infertility and how successful they are at each of those issues - as well only a positive beta is considered as a success not births. For many going through infertility treatmennts it isn't just the getting pregnant that is the problem it is the staying pregnant and giving birth that is the major challenge.

Also, I think the forums are a place where we do not judge each other. It is a place for people to voice their experiences - good and bad and a supportive environment not one that comments negatively on how they have handled their experience.

Hi Summer Lovin!

Thanks for your post. I do tend to get somewhat critical sometimes. Normally I wouldn't try to discredit someone like that or criticize how they handled their experience but I was reading about the clinics on here and other message boards (All About Surrogacy, etc.) and I guess I just had my heart set on talking to TCART since they seemed to be the best and I was trying to rationalize away what I was reading. When it comes down to it though, I'm sure every clinic has patients who have had various complications and it's impossible to know for sure that everything will go 100% smoothly. I think someone said it in an earlier post that you have to trust your gut on these things. I don't mean to put down anyone here and I'm sorry if I came off negatively. I know all of the clinics listed on here with information have positive and negative aspects to them. I think I've made my choice with TCART, but I'm sure all of the other clinics are equally competent to consult with my partner and I about the various options. I used to work for one of the big phone companies and I know a lot of people used to complain about us but when it came down to it, people complained about all of the other companies too. People are not perfect and things happen that are sometimes out of our control.

Thank you so much for bringing this to light. I am going to do a little bit more research on the clinics, but I think I'm just going to take a shot with TCART. Thanks for the help everyone!

Maurice

HI Maurice,
I know its been awhile since you're last post here, but I was wondering how your experience was at TCART? I will most likely be going there soon as my doc, Dr. Ryan does his IVF treatments there. I am nervous as you were about choosing the proper clinic. Any info would be appreciated.

thx

I've been going to TCART for several months now and I feel it's an excellent clinic. I was seeing Dr. Lie previously for almost a year and I found TCART a much less stressful and more informative and professional environment. I mostly see Dr. Bentov at TCART and his expertise and advice has always been bang on. I learned more from him in 2 months than I had with Dr. Lie in almost a year! My husband and I don't impress that easily and we have both been impressed with Dr. Bentov. He spent more time with us on our first appointment than I expected answering any questions we had. This was unusual for me as Dr. Lie always was rushing us, spending no more than a few minutes at a time as he always had 4-6 other patients waiting to speak to him.

Your experience at any clinic also has to do with you too. No clinic is going to have the time to hold your hand all the way and be everything you want it to be. I find that you have to be in charge with your own fertility too. Ask questions and if you wish to be more agressive with treatments you have to voice it. Not every patient wishes the same treatment or pace so you have to be good at voicing what you want. You have to be realistic too.

I am now 40 years old and for months we had been aiming for IVF but my body was not responding to drugs and then my follicles were surging too early. That's when Dr. Bentov planned out a course of action for me which involved taking estrogen and introducing a hormone called DHEA. I followed his instructions and ended up having 8 follicles for harvesting which was a miracle for me as I couldn't produce more than 2 for harvesting before. Anyway, long story short I am currently 8 weeks pregnant from my first IVF procedure. I'm not out of the danger zone yet and there's a chance of miscarriage of course for me especially when I first started off with twins and lost 1 and then there's also my age to consider. Still, I am hopeful and this is the first time I've been pregnant after 2 years of trying. And if it doesn't end up working out for us this time we'll try again with TCART.

My only criticism with TCART has been that I wished I was better informed about how I would feel after the IVF procedure. No one actually tells you it's really hard on your body and all the things you may feel afterwards. I could barely walk for days. I was not prepared for that. I thought the next day I'd be fine but it took a week for me to be able to walk somewhat normally. But having said that, every time I called the clinic to speak to a nurse, one was always available to calm my concerns and talk to me for however long.

So those are my views. I'm sure there are many good clinics to choose from. You can make yourself crazy by trying to decide which clinic is the absolute best by polling a couple dozen people but you would never know about any 1 clinic until you experience it yourself.

THANKS JGirl for your post. well TCART was a success for me, so I guess I was with the right RE and clinic. I also did like the facilities and the staff there. everything was great and having a bfp was the icing on the cake! Good luck!

Your experience at any clinic also has to do with you too. No clinic is going to have the time to hold your hand all the way and be everything you want it to be. I find that you have to be in charge with your own fertility too. Ask questions and if you wish to be more agressive with treatments you have to voice it. Not every patient wishes the same treatment or pace so you have to be good at voicing what you want. You have to be realistic too.

Exactly.

We were at TCART for 6 months in 2007 and our experiences were very positive, except for the outcomes of the treatments, but I can't blame the clinic for those. I blame nature.

I dealt mainly with Dr. Bentov and Dr. Casper and I found both very knowledgeable. Both took the time to explain everything to us and never made me feel like I was bothering them with questions. My first excellent impression came from Dr. Bentov when he called me the day after I did my initial bloodwork to explain the results of one of the tests. Yes, he called me at work, personally, to talk to me about it.

I found the nurses (except one) to have excellent bedside manner, too.