Dr. Erika Barlow Brandenstein, MD

Dr. Brandenstein is truly the best! She is the most patient, knowledgeable, and kindhearted doctor I’ve ever met. I recommend her to everyone I know!

Dr. Brandenstein is truly the best! She is the most patient, knowledgeable, and kindhearted doctor I’ve ever met. I recommend her to everyone I know!

She goes above and beyond!

Dr. Brandenstein was not my doctor but was on call when I had my daughter, my first child, and my experience was absolutely horrible. I was given something to make me dilated, which caused me to start having contractions. She broke my water when I was only 1/2 centimeter dilated, but only after telling me she was going to send me home. I didn't know what was happening until she came in and broke my water, which was very painful and unpleasant and included having to have my legs held above my head. My blood pressure was through the roof and no one seems to notice or care. My Pitocin was cranked up, dropped down, cranked up, dropped down, my epidural wore off and I was in labor for 24 hours after my water was broken before it was decided that I would have a C-section. She was very rude about the C-section, telling me that I would only be able to have two kids if I had one, that I should try to push (even though at this point I was only at five centimeters and that's as far as I… got), and told me if I did had a C-section that it would be coded as "maternal exhaustion." After having my daughter, who was born a cone head from having been in the birth canal for so long, my doctor didn't show up until 5 pm the next evening to check on me (thankfully I had great nurses who let me eat, shower, and removed the jumble of IV's half-attached to my veins that otherwise would have had to stay until the doctor arrived). I again had to wait on the doctor until after 5 pm the following day to be released, at which point she forgot to prescribe the pain medication needed for the major surgery I had just had, and suggested that I just wait until the following day for pain medication. Luckily, my husband made a stink and she somehow managed to call something in since she had scrammed out of there as quickly as possible. There are so many more details that could be included, but she let me labor way too long, over-medicated me at the risk of my child, and then belittled me and made me feel like a terrible mother when I finally did have a C-section. Having a child is supposed to be a joyful-albeit stressful-situation, and my experience was horrible.