Dr. Kimberly Wagoner Hickey, MD

Terrible condescending attitude when asked basic questions. If I could give zero stars I would. I have never experienced such unprofessionalism by a doctor before. Lacks compassion, empathy, & manners. I felt overwhelmed and overstimulated when leaving my ultrasound appointment. I do not suggest going to her at all.

I have been visiting Maternal-Fetal Medicine Associates of Maryland for about two months now. I am currently 37 weeks with gestational diabetes and also had a few other issues with my pregnancy, so I had appointments weekly there. I would like to start off with what I like about this office: front desk staff are friendly, all of my ultrasound techs have been great, and Dr. Hamersley is kind and informative, though she may digress here and there. They also have pretty appointment availability. They tend to have a longer wait time, especially waiting for the doctor. You usually don’t wait long for the ultrasound portion. I am usually there for 1 hour, but once I was there for almost 2 hours. Though this was frustrating, it is not the reason why I refuse to go back there. I’ve seen Dr. Hamersley, Dr. Shaddeau (covering for Dr. Hamersley), and Dr. Hickey there. I’ve been working really hard monitoring my blood sugar, exercising regularly, and eating well and have done a great job thus… far. It is by no means easy and is frustrating at times. This last visit, I had another great ultrasound and met with Dr. Hickey afterwards. A few of my fasting blood sugar numbers were high. They should be under 90 and they were between 90 and 94. I immediately felt like a child being scolded in a principal’s office. She asked me what I was doing differently and if I was still on my low dosage of medication. I said everything has been the same. Then she started asking if I work out and I said yes, usually after work before dinner. Being 37 weeks and pregnant and working out regularly is not easy, but I’m still doing it. She asked why I would do it before dinner and not after and how that wouldn’t help me. She said I should workout after dinner and I asked for how long. She said I just answered that question, for 10 minutes. She continued to speak very rudely to me while closely examining my blood sugar log. She had zero empathy and respect. At first, she didn’t even offer any solutions but just continued to critique my entire routine after work asking what time I go to bed and what time I was asleep at and what time I ate dinner. I told her the time I ate dinner usually and she asked why I was checking my blood sugar so late. Before I could even explain that my schedule is not the same every day, she was scolding me for something else. I checked my sugar that late one day because I worked out and had a late reservation at a restaurant to celebrate my anniversary. I wanted to make sure I got a workout in before going out to eat. She treated me like I was a child lying to her. Another doctor told me that as I got closer to the end of my pregnancy that my fasting numbers would get higher for no particular reason, but not to get upset because it’s normal. I couldn’t even tell her this because she was not listening to anything I was saying. I’ve never felt so looked down upon and disrespected at a doctor’s office before. I read another review stating that if you see Dr. Hickey, you’ll end up having a panic attack. That is exactly what happened the moment I got into my car. Complete panic attack. My husband had to come get me and I demanded him to go up to the office and cancel all of my appointments (he didn’t even know what happened at this point). There is no reason to ever treat anyone like that. Everyone here is just trying their best. I value my mental health (as everyone should) more than anything else and because of that I will never step foot into that office again.

Dr. Hickey has cared for me for over two years through two very complicated, high risk pregnancies. She is a thoughtful, diligent, knowledgeable, and compassionate doctor who has helped me to stay positive and healthy through many stressful and challenging circumstances. She is responsive and patient, and takes all the time necessary to address my questions and concerns (of which I usually have many!). I trust her completely with the well being of my babies and my own well-being, and would recommend her (and have recommended her many times) to anyone with a high risk or complicated pregnancy.

During my ultrasound, I asked the staff nurse whether my baby was OK. The staff nurse abruptly changed her tone and mood towards me and let me know I would have to wait for the doctor (Dr. Hickey) to answer any questions. They proceeded to leave me alone in the sonography room with the lights turned off for 10+ minutes before Dr. Hickey causally comes in and I ask what's going on. Dr. Hickey cooly states, "didn't you see the sonogram? there's no heartbeat." This is my first pregnancy, I don't know how to interpret a sonogram and this is how Dr. Hickey decides to let me know that my baby had died. She proceeds to explain that I had to take a kit home to "collect the specimen" to send back to the office for testing and sends me on my way. I dealt with depression and PTSD from this interaction and struggled for a long time to recover. Dr. Hickey's office never explained my options or checked up on my care afterward. Bedside manner is atrocious and her casual presentation of sensitive news… comes off a callous. Do better. Steer clear.

If you're the type of patient that is just a yes patient and does whatever they are told, then maybe she's the Doc for you. But when I challenged her because she is quick to prescribe medication to you, she clearly did not appreciate and stormed out of the end of our visit like a 5 yr old going through a tantrum. Every time that I have questioned her about my ultra sound it was evident that she didn't take much time to look at it because she always had to pull it up and look at it again. Additionally, she doesn't ask any further questions. She just says what questions do you have for me. Low and behold, after speaking with my normal OBGYN there were things in the ultra sound that she did not tell me about even after I asked if they found anything in the ultra sound. Read the previous reviews. There's a reason why A) you don't find many reviews and B) you don't find any positive ones. Respect yourself and respect your baby; find someone who's going to truly do something positive for… your pregnancy. Kimberly is not your answer.

You are also the reason I had a c section. Just like the previous comment left about you, you did not read my chart and the first thing you said when you met me is that I would have a c section. You are the reason I had a c section. You abuse towards me lead to ptsd and depression. I have since gone on to have a VBAC. You're a horrible person.

You have horrible bedside manner, told me within a minute of meeting me and without reading my chat that I'd have to have a c section and you ignored all of my requests to have a national labor.