Dr. Barbara Phelps-Sandall, MD

Extremely unprofessional in terms of scheduling and punctuality. She seems to think a patent’s time is just not valuable - shows up late even if you take the first appointment of the morning and if your appointment is later in the day, you have to wait for at least an hour. And they cancel your appointments randomly. She’s not a bad doctor but there are several other EXCELLENT doctors who respect your time in the Bay Area. Don’t waste your time.

Wonderful doctor! I highly recommend her.

Super professional, very friendly and so skilled and so upto date with all the modern medicine practises. It was a precious pregnancy for me at 32 years of age and i can proudly say that i was blessed to be Dr. Sandall Phelps Barbara's patient. Having worked with other OBGYNs and then shifting to Dr. Sandall makes me feel how blessed and lucky i was to finally come to Dr. Sandall. I was referred to her by my cousin who was Dr. Sandall's patient 15 years back and Dr. Sandall helped her to have a healthy baby with full term though there were few complications. She was very encouraging and very positive at each visit. Very motivating when you have questions. She encourages us to ask questions and patiently answers them. She sat with me during the first visits for ample amount of duration for me to understand what my and my baby's nutritional needs including daily protein and calcium requirements are and made things clear and easy for me. She even gave me handouts of what… mandatorily has to be purchased organic. Her office Staff Misdy and other staff also is nice to work with when it comes to scheduling appointments or any other questions that we have. I have never had any billing issues. The billing office also is available for any questions we have. Once even when i was not able to get them on line immediately, by leaving a voice mail they called me back promptly. She encourages us to walk and do yoga and remain as fit as possible throughout pregnancy. At the same time, She put me on rest at the right time when she saw few lab work going overboard so that i can complete full 40 weeks of pregnancy term and i did complete full 40 weeks of pregnancy because of her advice. During the resting period, she told me to have a half an hour walk every day so that i can be prepared for labor too. During my labor, when i was tensed when my bag of waters broke. She assured that the baby was doing fine according to the heart beat monitoring. She encouraged me saying things were impressive and motivated me throughout the active labor phase for normal delivery. When you are in labor pain , you really need such words to keep going and Dr. Sandall did just that to keep you going positive. On my day of labor she was there at 02:00 AM in the hospital with another patient of hers and when my baby was delivered it was 10:30 PM in the night. Even with such long day she was full of energy and enthusiasm. It is really inspiring to see her full of energy all the time. My baby is a healthy baby because of prompt diagnosis and advice from Dr. Sandall. Be it giving me vitamin supplementation just as needed and required and advicing me healthy practices so that my baby can complete full term in pregnancy. I am really grateful to Dr. Sandall Phelps Barbara for helping me throughout my pregnancy journey. I can proudly say I am blessed to be her patient.!! We mothers need such doctors to help us sail positively throughout pregnancy and labor. !!

Better Drs out there

My first impression of Dr. Phelps was good. She appeared gentle and professional overall although sometimes she made me feel that my question was stupid. Im fine with that as long as she can offer good quality work. However, the fact is just the contrary. In fact, it became my worst nightmare to choose Dr. Phelps as my OBGY. Dr. Phelps performed two D&C surgeries on me. The first one didnt get everything out and the second one damaged my uterus. Her surgical ability is incompetent and her ethics is questionable.I recently had a miscarriage and Dr. Phelps performed a suction D&C on me. About 1.5 month after the surgery I was still having light blood so I went to see her again. After an ultrasound, she told me that theres still a portion of placenta left in my uterus. This means that I had to undergo a second D&C just 1.5 months apart because the first one didnt get everything out as supposed to. I couldnt think of any other reason but that the doctors surgical skill is not reliable. I… wish I had changed doctor at that time but I had never thought that the second D&C done by Dr. Phelps could cause me greater problem.My period had not come 3 months after the 2nd D&C so I went to see Dr. Phelps again. Another ultrasound and blood test were performed. Dr. Phelps told me that the blood test result shows my major hormone level is normal but the ultrasound shows that my uterus lining is thin. She suggested my taking hormones to stimulate my period. However, she didnt give me any reason why this happened although I asked her a couple of times. Her answer was vague and general such as You need to give your body some time to adjust. When I asked her about the possible side effect of the hormone, she said: sweetie, Im just talking about a couple of weeks hormone medication, not for a longer period of time. At that time, I decided to switch doctor.I visited another OBGY who immediately brought up the possibility of Ashermans Syndrome (AS) after reviewing my medical record. AS is a complication that can result from D&C. Basically, the 2nd D&C was performed so aggressively that my uterus lining was damaged and scars have formed. The scars prevented my uterus lining from thickening during the period time and caused absent periods. An HSG exam confirmed this and I was officially diagnosed to have AS. I tried hormone medication which did not work and I was told that the only treatment left is to undergo hysteroscopy surgery and keep on the hormone medication after surgery. Depending on the severity of AS, it may not be 100% curable. This means I will probably never bear a child again. Its been 5 months after my 2nd D&C and my period still has not come. My period used to be very regular and I never had pain. However, I do feel strong menstrual cramping during the period time due to the scar. There is also the risk of endometriosis if AS is left untreated.I wish I had switched doctor earlier. Dr. Phelps even didnt explain to me why I had absent periods after the D&C. I think she probably wanted to avoid responsibility. I could have still been left in dark if I had not sought a 2nd opinion. I just want to let others know about what I have experienced and be cautious when you select your OBGY.

I never thought I'd write a negative review of a doctor, but I feel it is my duty to inform others of my horrible experiences with her, since I first went to her because she came "highly recommended." I will try to be diplomatic by first listing the positive. Dr. Phelps-Sandall is a good surgeon. She was recently my surgeon on a major procedure, and she did the job well. She also came highly recommended (even by other doctors), so she also appears to be competent in her field. Unfortunately, I found that her general manner was not only off-putting, but downright rude at times. The office staff was even worse, making each experience there very unpleasant. I too felt that it was hard getting her to share any information with me (even when I was about to undergo major surgery), and then was treated like an idiot when I did ask my own questions. An example would be when I went in for an HSG procedure, and she barely told me anything about what I should expect. I asked her, "Will I… be able to do this on my lunch hour and then go back to work afterward?" Her response was, "You are NOT the first woman to ever undergo this. You will be fine." An insulting response to what I thought was a legitimate question. As we were wrapping up the appointment, I had to ask if there was anything I needed to do to prepare for the procedure. I was surprised to hear that yes, I needed to go pick up a prescription. Would she have told me this if I had not asked? I was already on my way out the door. By the way, this "antibiotic" came along with a prescription for Vicodin that I should be taking before and after the procedure (leaving me unable to drive to and from the hospital and work. Hmm, didn't I ask something about that?). In summary, I learned more about what to expect during the procedure from the pharmacist than from her.The rude, unexpected responses continued throughout the year I continued seeing her:I began miscarrying (for a second time) during the day while my husband was unable to be reached, and desparately called the office to ask what I should do. They put me through to her assistant (who is one of the rudest people I've ever dealt with) and her response to my choked up, "I think I'm having another miscarriage," was, "You can't make that diagnosis without a doctor." Long pause... So, I then had to ask her if I should come in to see the doctor. She said that the doctor was really busy, and if I was miscarrying there was really nothing they could do about it. To make a long story short, I did end up going in to see the doctor only to be put into an exam room and left completely alone and unattended to for over an hour! I do know that she said the doctor was busy, but not one person came in to so much as offer me a tissue as a laid there crying hysterically. Once the doctor did enter the room, she was completely cold and gave me no hope whatsoever. She even added that there was even less hope for future success now that I was likely miscarrying a second time.There were also such comments as when asked if a hard lump in my abdomen was of any concern, and before she even examined the area she responded with, "Well, some of the lumpiness in your abdomen is just from you." Wow, thank you for your medical diagnosis that I could stand to do some ab crunches. I had no idea! I also never seemed to get any follow-up when I was promised a call from her office. Every time I was told that someone would be calling me with results, schedules for surgery, etc. I ended up having to call them. In addition, the doctor seemed to forget things previously discussed. Since we were having fertility issues, the doctor would discuss our next plan of action, however, during my next visit when I would ask about the timeline of that next action, she would act as if I had just said something crazy and say that it wasn't necessary or that she didn't agree with me. It was her idea that I was repeating!My final major complaint (and final straw with her before leaving for another doctor) is that I was rehospitalized for a complication days after my surgery. This complication may not have directly been her fault, but the fact that I was given no information (again) on post-surgery care at home, and some very simple steps could have been taken to prevent this complication WAS her fault. While in the hospital, her treatment plan was, "Let's just wait and see what happens." Even the nurses were suggesting things that could be done, but they weren't allowed to do them without her authorization. Finally, on day 6 of no success, we requested another doctor. Miraculously, once a plan of treatment was given, I was well enough to go home the next day.