For the sake of your baby, please read through (at the least the short version) if considering care with Dr. Brody:
Short Version: Three weeks before my baby died when my cervix opened at 19 weeks, I called Dr. Brody to say that I was afraid my cervix was opening. Despite my call, being high-risk for 3 separate reasons (including a prior loss at 19 weeks) and that at 43 this was a last chance pregnancy, Dr. Brody did not see or speak with me (I only had nursing visits, despite asking specifically for an ob appt with Dr. Brody ~7 weeks earlier. Scripps did not mention I would not see an ob). Although Dr. Brody could not spare 15 minutes to meet with me to take an accurate history (she did write a brief, error-ridden note in my chart after my calls), she did have time to post selfie videos on YouTube regarding her weekend activities during the days between my call and when my baby died from lack of treatment for a treatable condition. She valued seeing a frightened, high-risk mother, my young childrens' and husbands' grief from the prior loss, all my prayers that this baby would be saved and so much more as less worth her time than posting a Selfie.
Although my medical record showed that Dr. Brody was contacted repeatedly (the baby was born while traveling after Scripps said my cervix was fine) after my cervix did open as I had feared, she again could not be bothered to seek any follow-up contact despite my losing enough blood to have half a normal RBC count and that I had the perfect set-up for a postpartum depression. Please note that Dr. Brody has a history of refusing to treat patients she considers not Christian enough (Google it), and you should check to see if you are on her "un-Godly" list, which includes some fertility treatments. Please also be aware that she uses an outdated medical term for miscarriage that includes the word abortion ("spontaneous abortion" means miscarriage). Many physicians, such as myself, will not put the word abortion in the chart of women who have miscarriages out of concern that if she requests the records, such as to see a specialist, a husband, boyfriend, mother-in-law may see it and mistakenly think she did not actually have a miscarriage.
Additional Details: I called Scripps in Sept 2013 to make an appointment with Dr. Brody because her online profile noted expertise in high-risk pregnancies. I stated that I was high-risk due to a prior 2nd trimester loss, and that I was entering my second trimester. I arrived thinking I would see Dr. Brody, since no one had stated otherwise. However, I was assigned to nursing visits only for months (I choose midwife care for my prior pregnancies and recommend it, but needed ob care for this HR one).
At the 1st visit, I told the CNM of my concern of CI from a prior precipitous labor. She pretty much ignored this, and the written recommendations of my prior ob to monitor my cervix, and focused on routine "cookbook" care (her note concluded only "Return in four weeks or earlier if needed.") I later called urgently due to my concern that my cervix was opening, and asked to have it measured. I was told I needed to have someone call me back. No one called.
After calling again the next morning, I finally got a call that labs were ordered. I replied that labs are not a good way to measure a cervix, and again asked for measurement. The nurse did see me and I was told my cervix was fine. The CNM, apparently aware of my comment, noted that labs could show if I was developing a chorioaminitis (true), but I reminded her that the chorio in my last pregnancy could have been the RESULT of my cervix opening, as I had no signs of infection when I arrived at the hospital. (My concern of CI was strong enough that as an IVF patient I only had one embryo transferred).
The CNM offered to check my cervix every 2 weeks, and I was reassured. I should not have been. Scripp's own perinatalogist later said that a cervix can easily open much more quickly than this, including in a single day. The midwife didn't mention this huge limitation, or that if it opens in the wrong way (with membrane rupture or prolapse) that the best treatment option (cerclage) could no longer be used. She also did not go over any signs of an opening cervix or any treatment options.
About 2 days after a "normal" measurement, while on a short business trip, I lived every pregnant woman's literal nightmare - my amniotic sac was falling out of me when the baby was too young to survive (19 weeks). The staff at the local ER asked why I had refused cerclage or other treatment when this same thing happened with the prior pregnancy. These and other obs I told of my experience had a number of harsh criticisms when told Dr. Brody never meet or spoke with me to discuss treatment vs. monitoring, etc. One said he used this as an example to teach medical students how not to act as physicians. read more
