Christopher L. Ahlering, MD

I have been seeing Dr. Ahlering for almost 20 years!! He is the best in the business

Dr. Ahlering was very good and explained my condition to me in a manner that I understood. He was very kind and took time to answer all of my questions. Dr. Shaner he been my doctor for quite few years, he was a wonderful doctor........

I've been a patient of Dr. Chris' for approx 20 years. I no longer live as close to Mercy as I used to, however I would never think of changing doctors. The great care I get from him overrides the 45 minute drive to be seen by him!

Dr. Ahlering is one of the best doctors I've ever had OBGYN or otherwise. Outstanding dr/patient relationship--kind, good listener when I've had questions or concerns, doesn't rush in and out like so many dr.'s, compassionate and makes suggestions. Usually all desk staff and nurses are good too, although I did find one girl at front desk when I arrived was less personable than a robot on my last visit. Maybe she was having a bad day, but noticed when I checked in and when others did as well. Over all, good staff and definitely would recommend.

May I have a few minutes of your time. Vitals.com is the only forum I have for telling as many women as possible that the Board Certified OB/GYNs of Mercy actually allow residents (doctors in training) to perform complete surgical procedures, that is, start to finish on their purposely neglected to be told, totally unsuspecting, anesthetized patients. For your surgery it may only be part, but whichever is the case, if your Mercy doctor has not told you specifically what part of a procedure the resident is doing, then your doctor has perpetrated something called "ghost surgery". "Ghost surgery" is the act of substituting one surgeon for another surgeon, residents included, for any or part of a surgical procedure without the express consent of a patient who has essentially hired a specific doctor to treat them. "Ghost surgery" is considered fraud and battery of a patient (U.S. Supreme Court, 1983). Something else to seriously consider is that risks/rates of complications definitely… go up when residents are involved. Perfectly logical really when you consider many aspects of a gyno procedure are completely blind: critical bladder dissection, sling procedures, a d&c, etc. Mercy has these statistics, and I believe they should give them to you. Having a resident for your care is no different from any other risk: anesthesia problems, ureter damage, etc. My little bit of research also led me to the ugly discovery that residents will be allowed to do an invasive bi-manual pelvic exam on you while you're in a lithotomy position and anesthetized. The Mercy doctors' thinking is you will be perfectly relaxed and excellent practice for the residents. These pelvic exams without your express consent are against the law in 4 states. HI, for example, found countless instances of bruised cervices, torn and abraded tissue, and numerous infections. While it is not against the law in MO, I found this to be so grossly unethical I could scarcely believe. Then there is #4 on your consent form. Your "certified provider" (aka your Mercy, Board Certified OB/GYN with many years of experience) thinks it's okay to simply tell you a resident might be involved, or maybe, a resident will show up minutes before your surgery and say, "Hi, I'm the resident." Your Mercy doctor thinks this covers their responsibility to you. It doesn't. Hopefully, I have added some info, and Good Luck with your decision.

I have been very happy with Dr.Ahlering. He was efficient and yet took the time to answer all my questions and not make me feel like any question was a stupid question. I have never had to wait very long and sometimes I don't even get to sit down before getting called.