Joaquin V.

4/12/2013

First of all, my wife and I who was 25 weeks pregnant learned that our precious baby girl and major heart abnormalities and Down Syndrome. Our pediatric cardiologist said our baby would not make long ofter birth without a series of  open-heart surgeries, but unknown of quality of life or life expectancy.

For several different reasons, my wife and I made the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking choice to end the pregnancy.  We flew into LA and booked a hotel. The next afternoon, we arrived for our 2PM appointment with Dr. Seletz. When we opened the door to the clinic, there was an extremely small waiting area with three chairs, two of the chairs were already taken, so I had to stand. The whole waiting room experience was very non-discreet, awkward, and not the experience you would expect on the worst, most sensitive day of your life. And this was only the first of a three day procedure.

It took us about 20 minutes to do the initial paper work and about another hour to meet with Dr. Seletz. Granted, we were VERY distraught during our consultation, but she provided little comfort. In the end, we just decided to still move forward with the procedure.

While my wife was getting prepped for the procedure, I was sitting in the awkwardly crammed waiting room when I over heard Dr. Seletz talking to one of her staff about a patient that was there for a consultation. Dr. Seletz had fairly loudly said, "If this lady doesn't have a boat-load of cash, this is going to be a two minute consultation and she's still going to be pregnant." I was astonished by her coldness.... Not only that, but the staff frequently laughs and jokes around where everyone in the waiting room can see and hear. I know this is a job to them, but they should constantly mindful of the pain and distraught that most of their patients are ATTEMPTING to endure.

The second day we arrived, one of the staff had indicated that the procedure may end up being only two days total. Dr. Seletz then said, "Oh no, it will end up being three days. Plus, it gives you and your wife extra time to enjoy beautiful Southern California!" Really??? There was nothing to enjoy as we are in the deepest grief of the loss of our baby girl. She knew that I was very upset at her comment and she told me that she was only being "tounge-in-cheeck." I did not respond and I walked out the door. The next day, she did apologize for her comment after I brought it up.

Synopsis: Dr. Seletz performs about 1,200 abortions per year (most are late term) and has been doing this for about 30 years. She is only one of four doctors in the country that would have done this procedure for us (and makes between $5 - $9 million per year after overhead expenses).  If getting an abortion is no big deal to you, Dr. Seletz is one of the best as far as health if the mother. However, if you're human, be prepared for a very cold, traumatic experience.