Dr. Aubrey M Smith, MD

I had severe postpartum pain. My OB wasn’t available so Smith saw me instead. She was having a very inappropriate conversation with the MA talking about how “new moms should go to new classes that teach them everything related to postpartum because they don’t have realistic expectations regarding pain”. She was referring to me, sitting right in front of her. Basically saying that I was exaggerating my symptoms. She barely checked me out and said I was “fine”. I went home and was in still so much pain that I asked my PCP for help. She referred me to a surgeon who found a huge infected wound in my perineum. Her words were “I don’t know how the OB missed this”. She even took a picture for me. She gave me antibiotics and I was finally able to start healing. Pelvic PT also diagnosed me with pudendal neuralgia which exacerbated the pain. So no, I was not exaggerating. My only regret was not formally complaining to kaiser but I was in too much pain at the time and had to focus on my baby.