While I was in the hospital with Quinn, we saw multiple different MFMs, as they changed rotation once a week. There was Dr. Hart, Dr. Jacbos (same MFM I saw when we lost the twins), Dr. Contag, and Dr. Yamamura. Yamamura was amazing, and kind, and the only one who didn’t try to de-personalize Quinn. Contag was the second to last we saw. He was the one who wanted to send me home, despite the heavy ongoing bleeding, and the fact that I was dilated with prolapsed membranes. DH and I had to advocate, HARD, to stay in-patient, rather than go home and travel in twice a week for monitoring. Given my situation, we should not have needed to do that.
Contag also told us that “next time” we should get a prophylactic transvaginal cerclage (TVC). I asked him why I wouldn’t get a TAC, and he was completely dismissive of me. He wouldn’t acknowledge the difference in success rates. He wouldn’t acknowledge that a TVC is so much riskier to the baby. He wouldn’t even discuss TAC as an option, he just shut me down. Because I hadn’t yet given up on Quinn enough to think about ‘next time,’ I mentally placed him in the category of: doctors who are so enamored with their opinions that they won’t even discuss other reasonable options.
I am a member of a group called Abbyloopers. It’s for women who are considering/have TACs. Most women have suffered multiple losses, many have losses after failed TVC. Abbyloopers collects data from members on post-TAC pregnancies. They post it, for other members to see. It’s been a great source of comfort to me, seeing how high the live birth rates are for my TAC surgeon. The other day I was looking at the records from true failed TACs. There aren’t too many of those records, and most are from laproscopic TAC. There was one record where the TAC failed at 17 weeks and the baby was lost. I happened to glance at the doctor’s name. Contag. The spreadsheet also listed state, though, and the state was MD (year was 2009). I’m not in MD, so I assumed it wasn’t him. But that’s an unusual name, so I checked his bio. He was practicing in MD in 2009.
I guess I know why he was so dismissive of TAC: at least one that he performed failed. Rather than acknowledge the stacks of research on the topic, showing TAC is more successful, he decided to cut off that option.
I rely on my doctors to use their expertise, expertise built of knowledge and experience, to guide me. I also rely on them to have the humility to acknowledge their limitations. I don’t think Dr. Contag did that, and it’s highly disappointing. This is just one more reminder that I need to be my own advocate, and not simply rely upon the professionals that are supposed to be the experts, as their judgment may be just as biased as mine!
This may be worth reporting Dr. Contag to the clinic based on your experience with him. I'm a firm believer that physicians must do no harm and, sadly, he is doing harm by pushing his opinions above your health.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I'm so sorry that he failed you. I'm glad you were able to advocate for what you needed, but you should not have been in that position. Ever.
Finally, I learned about Abbyloopers through your posts and they are clearly an incredible group.