Obstetrics & Gynecology of Atlanta

I had my 13 weeks appointment today. Midwife Christine, her nurse, ultrasound tech Candice and phlebotomist were amazing (sorry if forgot to mention other helpers) and very professional. Candice told me my baby-​girl looks beautiful and was so thorough. It is very busy there, but work gets done .that what matters. Very happy with my visit!

It took me very long to wright this review. i almost had blood transfusion because of the midwife that i had. I want to let everyone know what have happen to me in this office. I have been with them over 2 years ago. Dr. Wootten were recommended to me by my friend. When i went to the initial appt with Dr. Wootten i love him, but it was the last time i seen him. I haven’t seen doctors since hat i have been moved to the midwives. I had placenta problems so i were on the bed rest do to the bleeding and high risk. Most of the pregnancy were hard for me all kind of ways i have been told that i may have c-​section, but by the end i have been told that everything is fine and i will have natural delivery.
I have been forced to have a midwife at the delivery instead of doctor as i requested. Midwife Kristy (I hope i spell her name right) came only at 7 am when i came to the hospital at 2 am. She brought student with her. I have been told that student will only watch. Next thing i know she deliver my child and did all the stitches and everything, my midwife were very busy talking to there nurses sand did not pay much of attention to me at all, i am not sure may be because i have a language problems but i pay for the delivery just like everyone else and should be treated like other patients.
!!! STUDENT FORGOT PLACENTA INSUDE of me, that was almoust size of the baby!!! I was delivering at the Northside Hospital of Atlanta. I got checked out and went home. i start feeling bad in few days and start having terrible smell that was following me everywhere. When i call OBGYN of Atlanta to tell them that something wrong with me they act like i am crazy!!! I ended in the Hospital in 7 days after, my white blood counts were extremely hight. Dr. who had to remove placenta were terrified that they left all that inside of me. I have been told that i may have a problems in the future to even get pregnant (thank got i got pregnant again).
After all this i have postpartum depression and all other great symptoms that comes with such amazing delivery. They scared me for the rest on my life to even visit OBGYN office. I am glad that I am alive and have a wonderful baby and it all not thanks this office at all.
I call manager and same disrespect, i heard back from her following «What you want me to do? It happens you always at risk when you go for the delivery!!! «
I really like Dr. Wootten its just a shame that he is surrounded by such a bad people!!!
Please choose your doctor very carful do not go for the midwife if you have any complications in you pregnancy, DO NOT LET THEM THINK THAT YOU ARE CRAZY — YOU KNOW YOUR BODY SO LISTEN TO IT WHEN ITS TELLING YOU SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!
PLEASE BE CARFUL DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU CHOUSE DR. THIS BABY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER DO NOT RISK IT!!!

I would not recommend this practice, and especially do not recommend Dr. Fairbrother. Although the practice was fine during my pregnancy and Hollie was fine delivering my baby, I had complications after delivery and was entirely unimpressed by the level of care and attention given by the practice. It’s a huge practice so I saw multiple midwives and doctors in the 7 – 8 months following my son’s birth, when I kept not healing from my tear. Eventually I requested to only see Fairbrother. She performed a surgery to repair the scar tissue but then the same thing happened again– I didn’t heal. Rather than push to find answers, and explore what could be causing it, she repeatedly tried topical measures and eventually told me «I wouldn’t be sad if you lost my number.» She gave me a printed sheet with names of some plastic surgeons and sent me on my way. She has yet to check on me or find out the outcome and it has been five months since then. It took her WAY too long to acknowledge we were beyond her expertise and I was really hurt by how little she seemed to care about my well being. As it turns out, I have a rare auto immune disease and after starting treatment for it I am finally healed (14 months later). Had she been willing to think outside the box for answers she may have helped get me to this place, rather than letting her ego drive her care. I will not be returning to this office and would not recommend anyone else does either.

This practice really pushes patients to choose a midwife for the delivery. The way it works is: you see a different midwife for every appointment. You try to become familiar with as many as you can so hopefully on the day of your delivery, the midwife on-​call is one you have already seen. But you also risk getting a midwife you never met before. I went in knowing that, but I figured all the midwives are trained professionals, so I was okay with it.
I wholeheartedly regret this decision. I had a horrible and traumatic delivery experience. When I got admitted to the hospital, the midwife on call was one I had never met. She was cold and unfriendly. One of the first things she told me was that I would probably need to get a C-​section. I expressed my desire to attempt vaginal delivery and she pushed back. I tried to ask questions because knowing the facts would provide me a lot more trust and reassurance. But she reacted as though I was questioning her knowledge and got very defensive. She didn’t answer any of my questions which made me feel even more anxious and scared.
After 15 hours of labor, I ended up having to get a C-​section. A day later, the midwife visited me in my recovery room, only to tell me, «I told you that you’d need a C-​section.»
Another midwife from the practice visited me to ask me how everything was going. I broke down and shared about my awful experience. She responded compassionately and advised me to email the practice. Weeks later, I did and I did not get receive any response from them.
When my friends ask my advice in choosing a practice for their prenatal care and delivery, I warn them about this place. I considered leaving a review on Unilocal for awhile but I didn’t want to revisit the pain and disappointment so I waited for almost a year before finally being able to post about it.
If you want a midwife that will advocate and care for you, keep you informed, treat you like a human being and respect your choices, then skip this place and look somewhere else. There are some really nice midwives here. But you do not get to choose who is by your side during your delivery and the risk of ending up with a bad one is just not worth it.
I do want to mention that the ladies who take the blood tests are wonderful. And Dr. Henke performed the C-​section with expertise. However I have to weigh my delivery experience, which did not meet the expectations that they themselves create for their patients. They also pride themselves in being responsive to patients, but I got absolutely no response for the feedback I sent to them.

I love my doctor, Dr. Wootten, and a lot of the people in the lab are awesome. Since I’ve been pregnant, I’ve been happy with most of the midwives (that’s who I chose to see). The front desk rarely goes out of their way to go above and beyond, but that’s typical for most offices. The reason for my two star rating is sadly because the accounting and billing is a WRECK. They charged me $ 900+ somehow. We caught it, it was corrected. I paid the correct amount that day only to be billed the same amount a month and a half later. Save your receipts, explanation of benefits, and be ready to call. I’m still not sure why I sat down with the financial person on my second prenatal appt. She was so preconceived with her problems and the phone, I got everything I needed from the book they gave me. They use a sketchy company called phytest that bills you separate. They are inept! I never got a bill until over a year for my services, meaning it can’t go toward my current deductible. The office is unwilling to help you with them and I just basically feel like I got treated third rate and stuck.
All that said, It’s not a bad office. In fact, I like many of the people who have seen me, taken care of me, etc– but bills shouldn’t be this confusing or this big of a mess. I thought maybe I just got unlucky, but other reviews seem to confirm it so it seems this seems to be more of a common issue around here. It’s honestly a 4 star place with the exception of billing. I also encourage you to shoot for the first appt of the day or you will be waiting and parking has also become an issue at the medical complex if you aren’t there early. It is paid parking.

Please go here if you want to be treated like just a number. I was transferring back to OBGYN of Atlanta after being referred to an infertility specialist. When I called to make the appointment, I was not informed it would be my responsibility to get all 200 pages of my medical record transferred to them. When I showed up to the appointment with my husband, no one said «welcome back» or «congratulations». The ultrasound nurse came to get me from the reception area, handed me a paper with several genetic screening tests, and asked if I wanted it done. I told her I have already had genetic testing done on myself, my husband and the embryos bc of IVF. Her response was «I’m just here to do the ultrasound» and she put us back into the waiting area. I was then brought into an office with Ms. Richelle. She informed me that as of 4PM THE DAY BEFORE, she noticed they didn’t have any of my records from the specialist.
They knew nothing about my history, what we have been through or what we needed moving forward. Richelle called the specialist office and asked them to fax the records right away, then she attempted to go through the stack trying to interpret everything very very last minute. It goes without saying she was unable to make light of my medical history because she is not trained to review records from a specialist. My opinion is medical records should be reviewed by a doctor, especially in a «complicated» case regarding a specialty referral facility.
My expectations are not unreasonable: have a doctor review my medical record PRIOR to my visit so they know my medical history and what I need moving forward
I had to make a second appointment just to speak to a doctor. The office manager, Elena was not accommodating given the situation. She couldn’t «fit me in» to see the head doctor of the practice, Dr. Fairbrother and «only had availability for Dr. Henke Friday at 8:45» even after I told her I have to work at 9:30.
Same thing happened for this visit… the ultrasound nurse came to get me and I had to tell her I am not doing an ultrasound. The office manager, Elena then came out and told me I HAVE to see the nurse before I can talk to Dr. Henke bc it’s «protocol» and that’s how they «get you in the system». After an hour of more run-​around, I finally was able to talk to Dr. Henke. She still did not have the most pertinent part of my medical history regarding genetic testing that was already done even though I specifically told Elena that I needed the doctor to review it.
I told Dr. Henke based on everything that has transpired, I have decided to switch to a different obgyn practice. I was trying to at least give someone a chance to make things right. She told me I «should have told that to Elena.» I reiterated that I told Elena I wanted to talk to the doctor first and she still said I had to see the nurse. It doesn’t matter what I say, they do what they want to do anyway. Dr. Henke finished the conversation by saying they are very busy and a doctor can’t always be available to answer patients’ questions. Also, she has other people review medical records because it’s «not a valuable use of the doctor’s time». I told her I disagreed with her standard of care. Patients transferring from an infertility specialist should be treated with special attention to detail given everything they have already been through to conceive. We have already had 35 appointments in the last 3 months and have had many many different tests run. She was not sad I am leaving the practice, she did not apologize, she did not offer any actions toward resolution… overall I feel like I was just wasting her valuable time.

This office has wonderful front office staff but terrible doctors who are totally rude. I got screamed at constantly about my blood sugars but when I asked for help in figuring out what was wrong I was told to talk to my Endocrine. So I talked to my Endocrine who was not too upset with my numbers. They were not perfect but they were in ball park and he could tell I was trying to fight to keep my sugar in control. I went back to them and they were like well he does not know about pregnancy. So I asked them for help again and just got screamed at and insulted some more. I was then given the bully treatment about amniocentesis. A bad blood test with a high rate of false positive came back SLIGHTLY elevated but my ultrasound was clean or so I had been told. I said I trust the ultrasound more than the blood test. I told them if they were going to continue to mistreat me they were fired. I explained to front office why I was upset and left with the understanding that basically they were fired due to their mistreatment of me. They then sent me a letter two weeks later saying they fired me not the other way around to which I just laugh. Your staff is abusive and you want to protect your rears from law suit but you just come off looking even more like the big school yard bully. If you are not trained to take care of high risk patients then you need to be coordinating with a high risk specialist. END OF STORY. Don’t be abusive and then say you do not know what to do for me. Admit defeat and refer me to a real high risk doctor. Quit pretending and abusing your patients.

My obgyn and asia was very accomdating and understanding of my situation.
Dr.simonsen was very professional while I was under her care. I recommend this place for your obgyn needs.

Doctors are good. Back office and accounting is a mess. Be prepared for a lot of up-​front out of pocket and then nagging for a year to get your reimbursement.
Long wait times for your appointments. It’s a shame because if their office staff was somewhat professional this would be a great place.

The back staff, the actual educated people are great however,
After a visit, I paid my copay and left. The next month I received a check from their office for $ 50. I called and asked them and they said they’d overcharged me for my copay. The month after that, I received a bill for $ 100!!! I called again and was told they’d entered the payment and billing info wrong and disregard.
Three years later when I pull my credit report, THERE THEY ARE, A COLLECTION FOR $ 100!!! Furious, I called to pay and give them a piece of my mind. I got Shenecqia who talked in ebonics with the reply of mmmm hmmmmm.
My proof: why the check for $ 50? For seven years I have to carry this clinics lack of job skills of accounting.

I had a bad experience with them during and after my delivery. They seemed very nice and professional at first. All my regular and monthly check ups went well. I had opted for an MD instead of a midwife. But on the day of my delivery the doctor was late. He did not turn up on time… ultimately on of the midwives was called and I was in pain from the epidural wearing off… the hospital nurses had to start helping me push and I was scared how much experience they had delivering babies. The midwife came finally and delivered my baby. I must say, Christine Gordon, the midwife who delivered my baby, was excellent!!! Thankfully all went well. But it was scary having the hospital nurses trying to deliver the baby.
After I came home, I had trouble breast feeding and wanted to see a doctor… but it was very weird that the person on the phone just flat out said that doctor can’t help you with that. you need to see a lactation consultant… and refused to give me an appointment with any of the doctors… even after insisting!!! In a stressful situation sometimes just talking to a doctor can be comforting!!! And I wasn’t asking for a free appointment !!! But I guess, this practice is too busy to understand that!!!
The Northside Hospital is very very nice. All the nurses and staff were very caring and they made my stay after delivery somewhat memorable, after the horrible delivery experience.
Bad bad experience with ObGyn of Atlanta!!! Will not recommend!!!

This will be my second pregnancy with OBGYN of Atlanta and I have already recommended them to others. All around, I have had wonderful experiences with this practice.
I have always preferred a midwife for my appointments and delivery. I tried to schedule my appointments with as many midwives as I could, but ended up that my son was delivered by a midwife that I had not yet met. While it may have come across as scary at first, to not know her, she was amazing, kept an upbeat tempo and really showed me she was on my side. She also kept me laughing … or at least smiling inside … during delivery ;)
The ladies up front are very pleasant, the nurses that give me test results over the phone are very friendly and even understanding when I hung up on one of them due to excitement when she told me I was having a girl this time and the nurses have only ever been friendly and kind to me.
The finance coordinator has been a pleasure to work with. She was really kind and worked with me on a payment plan since my only change to this pregnancy was self pay for maternity. She does think I understand more of the medical billing codes than I do, so that can be a little frustrating when she tells me one thing and that’s how I budget and then gets frustrated when I don’t understand the changes.
I do not have much experience with the doctors at this practice, and no offense to them, but I hope that I don’t through this pregnancy!

I had a wonderful experience at this practice. I started going here about 2 years ago when I discovered that I was pregnant with my first baby. I decided that I would like to go with the midwives since I was considered a low risk pregnancy. (You can choose to go with either midwives or obgyn at this practice if you are low risk) All of the midwives were incredible. They listened to my concerns, patiently answered any questions I had, and really genuinely seem very caring. My favorite midwives were Dixie Shepard, Jodi Toledo and Christine Jennings. I kept rescheduling my appointments with these 3 ladies so didn’t get to know the others.
When it came to 41 weeks pregnant we had to induce labor since my daughter was not coming on her own. I checked into Northside the night before and had an induction the following morning. I had a pitocin drip and an epidural and breaking the water was what moved me into labor the fastest. She was born that evening vaginally. Dixie Shepard was the midwife on call that day and she did a phenomenal job. She kept me calm and used good judgement on waiting for my daughter to come down further into the birth canal between pushing sessions.
I would highly recommend going to Dixie Shepard’s birthing class at OBGYN of Atlanta. She walks you through what to expect before, during and after delivery. The only thing we didn’t go over was breathing/​relaxation techniques.
Yes sometimes there is a long wait in the waiting room. Sometimes the midwives and doctors need to give difficult news to expectant patients. I don’t think they want to rush through those appointments and want to take as much time as needed to be there for those patients.
I was extremely pleased with my first pregnancy/​delivery experience and will be going back to OBGYN of Atlanta for future babies.

I started going to this practice about seven or eight years ago, when my beloved obgyn suddenly died of cancer. I would go see Dr. Fairbrother for my annual exam, and everything was great.
Then I got pregnant.
My husband and I went in at 9 weeks to confirm what the pee stick said and to hopefully see our new squish. The ultrasound tech wouldn’t say, but something was wrong. We could see squish but there was no movement, no heart beat. So we go into an exam room and are waiting on Dr. Sharon to come talk to us. He walks in with a big smile and asks if we had fun. Crickets. Oh you mean looking at our dead baby?! Yeah. At least read or glance at the damn chart.
Dr. Sharon performed my d and c, and redeemed himself a bit with his kindness and compassion that day.
I tried two other obgyn offices after that miscarrage. They were actually worse. So when I unexpectedly got pregnant in September 2011, I just stayed with this group.
Oh my God ladies run away.
Horrible. Dr. Sharon turned out to be my favorite thing about the place. Not being sarcastic, he really is a good dr. Just rushed that one day I guess.
The ladies at the front desk were friendly. That’s another pro. But these people just screwed up everything they could from forgetting about conditions THEY diagnosed me with, like gestational diabetes, to screwing up prescriptions, getting me confused with other patients, etc. It was awful. I never saw Dr. Fairbrother. I got stuck with this nurse almost every time I came who I swear was really Nurse Ratchet.
I don’t care if my crotch catches on fire I am never going to these people again.

I have to give this practice a bad review. Working with them is like talking to someone with multiple personalities. I saw Dr. Wooten who has a great amount of experience and knowledge but he is too charismatic for his own good. While I was in pain trying to get a baby out, he actually hit on a female nurse or resident of some sort. He actually used the words «you guys keep getting younger». Nothing made my husband angrier than watching a doctor pay more attention to a female worker than his wife the patient. He promised to come see me later and went home instead and I was lost in translation until I could not take it anymore and complained loudly the next morning. Then I was helped by a wonderful midwife Dixie Shepard. She was understanding and actually made some decisions. On the day I was to be released, there was not a doctor or midwife from the practice to be found. When the nurse called, she apparently made them angry. Midwife Christine Jennings came to see me and she was unprofessional with an attitude. Instead of taking care of me and apologizing for the delay, she actually came in ready to fight and wanting to know how dare I ask for the doctor since they are busy and could not get to me until the afternoon. All I did was ask which I thought I had a right to do since they usually came in the mornings. I was completely shocked by her tone and combative manner. She never examined me and did not really want to talk about what I needed. The doctor never examined me either even after I specifically asked don’t you or the dr. need to exam me. She said no, you are released and walked away. Forget compassion and professionalism by this practice; just doing their your job and checking on the patients is difficult for them. They are good at passing the buck and ignoring their patients. It was a terrible experience and I would not recommend this practice to anyone. Maybe there is a good Dr. in the group, but good luck when things don’t go according to your birth plan.

Dr. Sharon gets five stars, but this office location isn’t quite as nice as the John’s Creek facility. (You have to pay for parking, and there are no other options.) Before meeting Dr. Sharon in 1995, I had never seen a male gynecologist and I was nervous. He quickly put my fears to rest. He’s thorough, kind, gentle, professional, and highly experienced. I happily make the trek from Midtown to either his Sandy Springs or John’s Creek office. Sharing this information with his nurses, they confided he has patients that travel from Tennessee and Florida for their annual exams, not willing to give up their fabulous OB-​GYN after moving away from the Atlanta area.
OB-​GYN of Atlanta is a large practice, but over the years I’ve only had to wait past my appointment time once. (And that was due to my doc having to attend an emergency surgery, so all was forgiven.)
The front desk staff is professional, yet pleasant. And billing will work with you, and answer any questions you may have. The yearly paperwork is a pain, but since I know what to expect, I get there 10 – 15 minutes ahead of my appointment and haven’t had any issues.

My experience with this practice has not been good. Although I really like Dr. Wooten, dealing with the rest of the staff has been very unpleasant to the point where the pluses of the doctor are outweighted by the negatives of the rest of the practice. I’m 40 years old and have had troubles getting pregnant following a miscarriage last year. After seeing an reproductive specialist for several months and finally getting pregnant, I was turned back over to my regular practice (this one). Despite being a high-​risk pregnancy, the booking staff did not want to give me an appointment for several weeks. After a number of calls they finally checked with my doctor and agreed I needed to get in sooner. In subsequent visits to do 1^st & 2^nd trimester screenings, I never met with a genetic counselor and instead they insisted I do an amniocentesis. When I asked for a referral to a high-​risk specialist for the amnio, they insisted that they were one and could do the amnio. I finally demanded the referral and had a full-​blown screening with the specialist who concluded that my risk factors did not warrant an amnio! Then, ONE WEEK before my scheduled 2^nd-​trimeter ultrasound, OBGYN-​Atlanta sent me a letter (no phone call!) saying they could no longer provide me health care! What kind of irresponsible, unprofessional care provider fires a 5-month’s pregnant woman!

My rating would have been better had my wait time not exceeded an hour for an appointment that would last no longer than 15 minutes.
Without going into too much detail, I have been having some womanly issues that my general practitioner hasn’t been able to help with. I decided to give OBGYN of Atlanta another shot. I had previous shied away from this practice after a bad experience with a doctor a year or so ago at a different location. I went to their new Northside Office where I knew I wouldn’t get stuck with the doctor I had a previous issue with at the other location. I booked my appointment for first thing in the morning because I had experience annoyingly long wait times in the afternoon before. I arrived early for my appointment as I always do and was shuffled between three different waiting areas before finally getting into an exam room. This shuffling around process went on for about 45 minutes. Once in the room, I had to wait an additional 20 minutes or so and could hear EVERYTHING going on in the exam rooms next to me. To my left, a very pregnant woman having an ultrasound. She was starting to dilate and her baby would be coming in the near future. Congrats to her. To my right, someone getting an annual exam and switching birth control pills. Fun times.
When the doctor came in she was very nice and friendly. She answered all of my questions and my visit with her only lasted 15 minutes. She gave me some new meds to try and we discussed the next steps if my problems weren’t fixed with the meds. I felt really comfortable talking to her and would recommend Dr. Parker to anyone who prefers a female gyn.
I really wish this practice would get the wait time situation under control. I know that it is a large practice with a lot of doctors and patients but seriously, maybe they need to consider hiring a consultant to help their practice run more efficiently. This place has the longest wait times by far of any doctor’s office I have been to and I would consider finding a new practice in the Atlanta area based on the excessive wait times alone.