Abdella Thomas Nelson, MD

Dr. Abdella & ultrasound technicians are not very competent at diagnosing conditions/​diseases. Our first son, they he said his kidney’s were a little larger for his gestational stage & there was a calcification (white) spot on his heart (Echogenic Cardiac Focus). These were soft markers related to «Down Syndrome». Not too big of a deal, but for my first baby and what they said, worried me during the entire pregnancy. I had a perfectly healthy boy!
2^nd baby, my Ob recommended I go back to Dr. Abdella. Again, Dr. Abdella talks about my 2^nd son’s kidney’s and I told him, «but you told me that with my first son-​look at the gestational stage-​both similar at the stage.» Of course, he doesn’t even review history from your first baby to the 2^nd. He looked at that after I told him and said, yes they were similar at that stage. He then told me that my son had a left club foot. He said «no big deal, completely correctable». He was joking around about how different athletes had club feet (i.e. Kristi Yamaguchi and pro football athletes). I was still crushed & worried. Fast forward-6.5 months pregnant, I had an ultrasound appointment scheduled on a Fri (He is known for taking most Fridays off), but instead of rescheduling me, I had two ultrasound techs teaming up to do my ultra sound. They kept me in there for approx. 45 min. They kept going over the left foot and could not see the «club foot» anymore. I was happy and thinking my son never had a club foot. However, they saw one fracture on his left femur and his femurs were a little shorter than usual at his gestational stage. Not understanding and asking them what that means, all they said asked me if I had anyone who is a dwarf in my family. NO, I told them. I am 5’4″ very healthy young woman. My husband is 6’1″. Our 1^st son is in the 90% for height/​weight (big boy)…so I was upset they were thinking our 2^nd son was going to be a «dwarf»?? I left the office in shock and not understanding what was going on, but happy that he didn’t have a club foot. Of course I couldn’t speak to the Doctor because he took the day off. Following Monday, I get a call from their office, they need me to come in as soon as possible to re-​do my ultrasound! Panicked, I scheduled for Tue (the next day after they called). He was in the room with the senior ultrasound tech and they performed another ultrasound. She was pointing things out to him and he remained relatively quite. Before he walked out the room, he had a look of «death» on his face and told me he will speak with us in the office. Why not now??! My husband and I followed orders. He proceeded to tell us that our son had some form of severe skeletal dysplasia and was possibly going to be a dwarf. He was diagnosed with lethal dysplasia and told us he had bell shaped thorax. Shocked, upset, and heart broken, we left the office. He wrote a ridiculous report to my Ob (this short ridiculous paragraph of our son’s condition). Just said lethal dysplasia and bell shaped thorax…
Went to High Risk Pregnancy Center for second opinion (ONLY 3 DAYS LATER)-my son was diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (lethal form). However, Dr. Brian K. Iriye and his staff were very helpful (took us in at short notice) and the Dr. and his ultra sound tech performed the ultrasound. In the room, during the ultrasound, they pointed out all the fractures on our son’s body. He had fractures everywhere! On his Tibia, Femurs, Humerus, etc. He had 3 – 4 fractures on one rib alone! Dr. Iriye and his staff diagnosed our son’s condition correctly. When asked about the bell shaped thorax, he said he didn’t think that he had a bell shaped thorax, but the amount of fractures on his ribs gave that distortion.
I am writing this in detail to warn soon to be Mothers or expecting Mothers to always seek a second opinion if you get any kind of scary diagnosis. What is the point of a Parental Doctor and doing ultrasounds if they aren’t doing a great job reviewing and telling you what’s going on? Obviously, I will never go back to Dr. Abdella for any future pregnancies.
We did seek a 3^rd opinion from a World-​renowned Doctor in LA for Skeletal Dysplasia cases. Her diagnosis was consistent with Dr. Iriye.
Dr. Abdella and his techs, 3 days prior to our 2^nd opinion, should have seen those #‘s of fractures in utero. 1 fracture on femur? How did they miss all those other fractures and the calcification from our baby trying to heal??!
Tears…
We did lose our 2^nd son, Jace, to Osteogenesis Imperfecta disease…
He was 15.5″ long/2.8lbs @ almost 7mo in utero-​dwarfism-​Not!
Mothers, please be careful who you go see for your Doctor. It’s not a review on a restaurant place, it’s possibly your life and your child’s life. Read reviews on who you are going to (front office staff is not that life critical-​just annoying), but read reviews on the actual person or technicians who are doing/​reviewing your tests.
In memory of Jace…