Good doctors for pregnancies with problems?

nicolejoy

nicolejoy

Registered User
I'm currently pregnant with my 2nd child, who has been diagnosed with Skeletal Dysplasia (a generic name for 200+ birth abnormalities relating to the skeleton) and am a bit dissatisfied with the information that I'm getting from my doctor. I am currently seeing Dr Cora Ngai and while she is excellent in a lot of ways, I'm quite frustrated at how tight-lipped she is in terms of telling me a) the chances my baby has of living, and b) what specific things she suspects are the cause for this. I feel like I'm getting a million times more information from the internet and from other people in similar situations to me than I am from her.

I know that we live in a time where doctors get sued for making wrong diagnoses and maybe that's part of why she's hesitant to say too much too soon - but I understand that things can change dramatically and just because she says that everything is ok now doesn't mean that the baby will be fine at birth, and vice versa. I just want to get more specific information, I want her to be blunt, open and honest with me - not to keep her cards so close to her chest...

I'm wondering if anyone has seen any other doctors in high-risk pregnancies, specifically if there has been problems with the baby that are difficult to diagnose, and how open their doctors were with them. I can't just see any obgyn, I need one who specialises in prenatal diagnostics.

I saw Dr Lam in my previous pregnancy - been considering trying him again... I don't want to jump around too much though because each time I go to a new doctor, they'll have to pretty much start from scratch with it all... so I thought I'd ask here first...

Thanks in advance...
 
she was my doctor at QMH when i had my first, i, too was not too happy with her...

maybe contact QMH to see about the high risk dept? they are FANTASTIC!
 
Dr Lucy Lord is very up front if that's what you are looking for....she's good, but not sure about high risk pregnancies....could just go to her for a consultation to see what she thinks...
 
Do they specialise in prenatal diagnosis?

I'm personally not "high risk" - I'm having a completely normal pregnancy. Not even any morning sickness. It's just the problems with the baby...

Carang - I had a long reply typed out before but it wouldn't post and I lost it! So annoying!

I am currently also seeing the prenatal diagnostic team at QMH. The doctor I'm seeing is Dr Leung or something. I've only seen him once though - and he was my 4th appt in 3 days so I was pretty "blah" about the whole appointment. I was more like "scan the baby and get me out of here" rather than asking him a lot of questions. I do know however that he and Dr Ngai have been discussing my case - she's the one who called him and arranged for my appointment with him. Today Dr Ngai mentioned that they had been talking and have decided that it's best to just wait and see. I don't know if they're "waiting and seeing" because I turned down an amnio (which is not that likely to provide answers anyway) and also I said I would not terminate regardless. Maybe if I wanted to terminate, they'd be more upfront about whether the baby has a chance or not, I don't know...

I'm not completely anti Dr Ngai - I think in some ways she's a great doctor. I am just currently frustrated at the lack of information that I'm getting. I understand that she can't exactly make a diagnosis right now but surely she could give me some more information than what she's giving me... She has been very concerned with how I've been coping with it all and even gave us her mobile phone number so we can call her any time if I'm not doing well or whatever. But she's not there to be my therapist, she's there to diagnose the problem with the baby.

I don't know if I'm being unrealistic - I do understand that these kinds of problems are difficult to diagnose and I'm not really looking for a set in stone diagnosis. I'd be happy if she just said something like "my top suspicions are a, b and c" and "I think the baby has a good/fair/poor chance of survival but things can always change so we need to keep monitoring"... am I asking too much for that??
 
Hi Nicolejoy

Once again, I'm so sorry you are going through this stressful time. You're being very strong and I'm really hoping that the outcome is as positive as possible.

I can't tell you for sure that Dr Ghosh is a specialist in pre-natal diagnostics. However, he does have a reputation as one of the top ultra-sound specialists and when I had problems with my second pregnancy at 16 wks he combined sympathy with honesty. The baby's heartbeat was only 67 bpm for a full 45minute ultrasound and he told us as gently as possible that if this continued the baby would go into heart failure and die. He immediately rallied a paediatric cardiologist, called me the next day (Sunday) and put me to the front of the queue for appointments on Monday and for a few follow-up ultrasounds. We were very lucky, the baby's heartbeat bounced back and there were no ill effects.

I'm now seeing Ghosh for my 3rd pregnancy (I think I'm due around the same time as you). I think he's wonderful, and although I get very frustrated with the waiting times for appointments, he's the guy I want there at the birth, so it's worth it in my opinion.

Why don't you email him, explain your situation, explain the kind of doctor you are looking for and the kind of questions you have and would like answered, and see if he responds in a way that makes you feel comfortable? You could also add on that if he doesn't think he'd be the right person for your needs, who could he recommend?

I'll PM you his email address.
best of luck
Honkyblues
 
Thanks Honky - I have seen Dr Ghosh before and quite liked him. I didn't go back to him this time because I wanted to try Patrick Chan who I like even better - but Dr Chan said that this was out of his area of expertise when he recommended me to Dr Ngai. I actually emailed Dr Chan last night to ask him for other recommendations so that I could get a 2nd opinion. I may email Dr Ghosh as well - I did like him in a lot of ways... and I know that Dr Lam is definitely a specialist in prenatal diagnostics - but he's always quite busy too so that's a negative...

One thing that I did like about Dr Ghosh is that when I had problems in my 2nd pregnancy (I miscarried at 5-6 weeks), he was the one to call me and talk to me himself. And when I called him, he always returned my call very quickly. From my experience, I think he's a pretty good doctor...
 
nicole, my heart goes out to you. you must be under so much stress! i cannot even imagine.

i'm sorry about losing your reply...if you feel like sending a PM, even just to let off a little steam, please feel free!

thoughts are with you.
 
Nicole

Dr. Ghosh was actually a specialist at QMH before he went into private practice. So he might be your best bet as the high risk cases at QMH is quite high. Might be the best of both worlds = Private + Public experience.

Good Luck!
 
Nicole

Firstly, I am sorry to hear about your problems and my thoughts have been with you - been following your blog regularly.

You are right in that Dr YH Lam appears to be the guru in prenatal diagnostics in HK. I would imagine that if anyone had seen more cases of skeletal dysplasia (either his own patients or probably more often, referrals for a second opinion) it would be him. I've been to see him a couple of times for ultrasounds and also for an amnio (I wanted someone who do them very often), and I did find him a bit blas?. But he probably sees so many normal cases as well, that he becomes quite indifferent to them. I would hope that because you have a genuine problem he would spend more time explaining things to you.

I don't know Dr Ghosh, and I am sure he is a good doctor. Although I think there is a bit of a difference between high risk pregnancies and pre-natal diagnostics. Because your problem is relatively rare, I think it is important to find someone who would have seen it more often than others, and get all your questions answered.
 
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