Dr. Robert Davis Oates, MD

We have been with Dr Oates for various reasons over the years. He has been kind and compassionate, always goes above and beyond for my husband and is the reason we have our amazing son!

Bed side manners, ??

I am a former transgender surgery patient of his. He and his colleague never got back to me with an answer to my question about abstaining from alcohol. His secretary, Erica Baptista, told me he'd received my messages(about five of them), and that I'd just have to wait for a response. I waited for months and never got one. This was an important question. One other thing: I am a post-operative transsexual, so my revision surgery( mainly cosmetic)would have only taken him and his colleague, Jaromir Slama, and hour or so to perform. This surgery would have been so minor that I could have walked out of the hospital immediately afterward. My message to all of the transgendered people who are reading this is: If you are on MassHealth(Massachusetts Medicaid), you are not limited to the doctor(s)in this state/commonwealth. MassHealth will pay for your surgery in other states. No one told me this! I ended up waiting over a year dealing with jerk Oates and jerk Slama. Please consider your… options.

Dr. Oates was a consummate professional, thorough, helpful and very pleasant.

I believe Dr. Oates is over rated. He is extremely overconfident in his abilities. My husband's surgery was not a success at all. In fact, he still has extreme pain one year after surgery. We only had one shot left to have a child and now we have none. If I were to recommend a doctor, it would not be Dr. Oates. Keep looking and move on!! Adoption here we come!!

We were referred to Dr. Oates by both my gynecologist and husband's urologist. I was very nervous about meeting him after reading all the negative reviews, but to my surprise he was so nice. He actually met us at the door! I have never had that happen. He was great. He examined my husband and diagnosed him in 10 seconds. He was glad to answer our questions and set us up with the necessary tests. We saw him again 4 weeks later (again met us at the door) and confirmed his diagnosis. Gladly answered all our questions. We are set to schedule the surgery and start IVF. I can see how some see him as arrogant, but when you are the best in your field, how can you not be a little?

My reproductive specialist (at another hospital) sent us here since he is "the top" male infertility specialist. My husband and I are highly educated professionals in non-medical fields, but we were treated like nitwits (in stark contrast to the specialist who referred us). I had done a great deal of research before our initial consult yet we were treated like our questions were ridiculous. Often we were given sarcastic answers/remarks. (Me: "Is this hereditary?" Dr. "If it was hereditary, how would your husband have been born?" Me. "Will you test him for [name of genetic disorder]?" Dr: "Well, you already tested negative and both parents need to carry the gene so why would we waste the insurance company's $$$?") We did have surgery with this doctor, though ultimately our IVF was unsuccessful, and no one from his office ever followed up. Fortunately we are thick-skinned, but I can see how other patients would be reduced to tears during what is already a stressful and sad time.

Not nice - my husband was okay but I left there crying.

Would recommend

Some have said Dr. Oates bedside manner was not good but my wife and I thought he was amazing. Dr. Oates explained what tests would be run, made the exams as comfortable as possible and explained a follow up was needed to review results. We were very pleased and our fertility Dr. Said Dr. Oates was the best in his field.