Dr. Anne Elizabeth Starr, MD

Do not seek care from Drs. Ann Starr or Stephanie Cai if you expect informed consent in your care, any level of patient autonomy, or a minimal respect & compassion from your providers. I always understood & appreciated that it is impossible to expect any birth to go according to plan. For this reason I did not have a birth plan & was generally not opposed to medical intervention. My only expectation was that medical intervention would be used with my informed consent & in the best interests of myself & my baby. In other words the bar was low & shockingly these care providers could not meet even these minimal standards of care. I was induced at 37 wks. My induction started with a foley balloon. Dr. Cai was the resident on call & Dr. Starr was the attending on call. I was only 1 cm dilated & station -2 at the start of the induction. When the balloon was removed, I measured 5.5 cm but still station -2. Dr. Cai informed me that she wanted to start pitocin & simultaneously break my water… (an amniotomy). She did not inform me of any risks of pitocin or an amniotomy. I elected to start pitocin but requested delaying the amniotomy as the baby was still at station -2 & I was not experiencing any contractions. I wanted to wait until labor was further along because of the risk of infection once the water is broken. Dr. Cai appeared visibly annoyed by this request & rather than explain why she felt the need to do the amniotomy, she merely stated that she would give me another hour without the amniotomy but that Dr. Starr would likely not agree to wait any longer. Because I was still recovering from the foley balloon process, my husband had taken over this conversation with Dr. Cai. Within 45 minutes of this conversation, my husband left the room to get coffee & magically Dr. Cai appeared & started to put gloves on, informing me that she was going to do the amniotomy. She did not explain the medical necessity at this time for the amniotomy. She also did not explain the risks of an amniotomy. I asked her again if we could wait as I was still -2 & no contractions. She said that Dr. Starr was not willing to wait any longer. I asked if we could at least wait for my husband to return. Her response was "Well how long is he going to be?". I informed her that he was just getting coffee & she "generously" agreed to give him a few minutes to return (she literally said we could give him "a few minutes"). When he returned she completed the amniotomy. Again, she did not inform us of any risks of the amniotomy. An hour or so after the amniotomy, decelerations in our baby's heart rate were observed over the course of a 45 minute period. I was not aware of this until I received a copy of Dr. Cai's notes after the delivery. Without any explanation, Dr. Cai appeared & did a cervical check that was so painful I was lifting my body off of the bed & whimpering. She immediately called an emergency code. This is the first time that we were introduced to Dr. Starr. We were informed that our baby's heart rate had dropped because the umbilical cord had prolapsed (they did not explain the significance of a cord prolapse) & I needed an emergency C section to save our baby's life. An anesthesiologist informed me that I would need to be intubated for the surgery. The last thing I remember thinking is whether or not I would wake up with a healthy baby. I did not see the birth of our daughter. My husband did not see the birth of our daughter. When they whisked me away to surgery, Dr. Cai took this time to inform my husband that he needed to get all of our things out of the delivery room. Following surgery, Dr. Starr would not look me in the eyes when she nonchalantly informed me that my incision was off center & callously noted that we would never know if it was the timing of the amniotomy that resulted in the cord prolapse. A cord prolapse is a rare obstetric emergency considered to have a high rate of potential fetal morbidity & mortality. Cord prolapse is a known risk

After having 3 pregnancies with this office, I have been unable to make an appointment for a regular check up for two years now. I am told every time I call that not only is Dr. Starr unavailable and has zero appointments on her calendar, but that no doctor in the entire practice has any appointment available for the foreseeable future. I am then instructed every time I call, to try again the following week, to no avail, as I continue to be given the same story that no appointments are available. I'm not sure why I'm being treated this way, but it's unacceptable to tell a patient that they cannot be seen by the practice and to keep trying to call back. I requested to speak with a nurse today and of course no one called me back. I give up. I guess they only care for pregnant women here.