Dr. Karen Leigh Samples, MD

I switched over to Dr. Samples in the early part of this year after a bad experience with another gynecologist in our area. She was warm, friendly and my annual visit went well, with nothing unusual going on with my body. That all changed about 4 months later when I could barely stand from the pain in my abdomen. I went to my GP, who is also great, and after checking my belly, he had me go in for a CT scan, which showed a pelvic mass. He immediately called Dr. Samples office and they were able to get me in the next morning, even though they are a crazy busy office. This was a Friday also. Dr. Samples examined me and they did an ultrasound in the office to confirm the mass which turned out to be a fibroid that blew up like a balloon within I guess about a week, but grew outside of my uterus. Dr. Samples operated on me herself the following Monday - by miracle a patient had to cancel a surgery because of insurance issues. The mass was the size of a grapefruit and thankfully not… cancerous. She did a beautiful job with the incision and I am healing well. I had to go in to see her a few times afterwards to check some things, and she was always very caring and helpful even with a busy office. Her nurses are wonderful too, and were always welcoming in answering questions or giving advice at the healing stage. I would absolutely recommend her!

Dr. Samples was my OB/GYN throughout my pregnancy and delivered my first baby. Now, my pregnancy was textbook, no complications, and I could see why she would not need to spend much time with me. It's a busy practice. I did a lot of research on my own as my background was in science, so I didn't really *need* her. But I was a first time mother and I had to literally stop her on her way out the door, her hand already on the doorknob, to ask questions. She tried to get in and out in under 15 seconds. Once I did stop her, she would sit back down and take her time to answer, as though reminded that she did in fact need to do so with patients occasionally. She was very nice, no complaints as to her bedside manner. But again, she's busy. I had to ask on two separate appointments for an Rx for a problem I'd been having and she forgot both times. I never did get that Rx written. I felt relieved that she was the doctor on call when I went into labor, because she knew me and I knew her.… However, she must not do well when woken up, because I was in labor all night, and the nurses had to repeatedly call her to come check on me. I'd previously asked her if I could labor with intermitten monitoring so I could move around (as I wanted a natural labor if possible). She'd been fine with this, until I was actually in labor, and then I was fitted with a "mobile" monitoring, which just meant I had to carry around a huge and heavy monitoring device with all these cords thrown over my shoulder so I could move around. And the thing still slipped off my belly so the nurse was checking on me every 15 minutes away, so what was the point? The nurse could have just as well checked my baby's heartbeat herself every 15 minutes without me having the pain of being a mobile wire factory while trying to labor in peace. In addition, two nurses independently measured me and said I was 9cm; Dr. Samples measured me and said I was 6-7. Privately, the nurses told me that they believed I was at 9 but had to go by whatever the doctor said. At Madison Hospital, the shifts go from 7 to 7. My baby was born at 7:20. So this did not fit well into Dr. Samples' schedule. My husband actually heard a nurse yell at her over the phone to come deliver my baby. I had been pushing for hours at this point without her there. But it was almost 7am, when the shifts changed, and Dr. Samples apparently wanted to go home and get ready to go to her shift at the office, because she was very reluctant to come deliver my child. Not until the nurse basically forced her and said "this baby is crowning, you need to get over here NOW" did she finally show at the last minute to catch my child. I was too out of my mind with pain from pushing for 2 hours with an expired epidural to notice, but both my mom and husband confirmed this afterwards. My mom is a retired nurse and couldn't believe what she had seen. I either tore or had an episiotomy; I was never told which. After my baby was born and I finally had a second to breathe (I was literally gasping for air), Dr. Samples said "I need to stitch you up. I would numb you but it would still hurt, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it" and proceeded to stitch me up WITHOUT ANESTHETIC. She didn't ask me what I wanted; she decided for me. I was literally writhing on the bed trying to get away from her, moaning, so out of breath and exhausted I was actually unable to speak to tell her to stop. I will never forget how terrifying this was to be so without agency, how angry I was. If I remember correctly, she even had the gall to say "I know it hurts, I'm almost done." After I'd spent the majority of an all-night labor in pain, she took advantage of my helplessness immediately after birth because she was in a hurry to get out of there. I knew this because our friends also had her as their doctor, and they were her first appointment that day. And she arrived late for their appointment because she was delivering my child, who was born at 7:20 (20 minutes after Dr. Samples wanted to get out of there.) I've had other friends who have had different experiences with her. I don't know why she was different with me. But I want to warn other people about her, and as for me, I'll never use her as my OB again. If I have another child, I'm going to explicitly state "no stitches without first administering anesthetic," because apparently you have to specify that with some people.

Dr. Samples is a smart, efficient physician who always takes her time to answer any questions I have regarding my pregnancy...even when I am being a little crazy. She has low intervention rates in delivery, which is how I found her. Her practice is difficult to get into, but definitely worth the wait for quality care. She is funny and approachable, but also very informed with up-to-date science in her field. I was proud to have her as a physician, and would consider having another baby just so she could deliver. Not kidding.

Dr. Samples circumcised my son. She did not cut enough foreskin off. Insurance doesnt cover this. Cost me $250. Called to see what to do about it and was told we have to see a pediatric urologist. Shouldn't have to pay for a bad circumsion twice. Had to give her one star in order to post my review.