HRC Fertility - Pasadena

My egg freezing process seemed a little disorganized and impersonal. The Dr assigned to me wasn’t there during my initial consultation and I only met them towards the end of my process when I was closer to my retrieval. The interactions I had with my Dr.seemed very impersonal and rushed (didn’t really explain progress) and post retrieval they called a wrong number and instead emailed me my results. It was only after several email exchanges where they offered a phone call since I had so many questions. Throughout the injection process the process of getting my medicine was disorganized. At the beginning of the process I was told my medication would be delivered but I had to ask about my medication each time I went in because it never got ordered and they weren’t tracking what they had given me vs what I got each visit which was surprising. Overall I was expecting a better experience relating to logistics with my medication and interactions with my Dr. - I understand different facilities have their own process but this faculty seemed more interested in rushing through patients and not investing in the interpersonal interactions with patients.

Everyone is always nice, place is very clean, an pretty. Dr.kolb is really awesome! He is kind, and has done three transfers for me. Always professional!

My experience at this facility was awful. Everytime I had a question for my docter or coordinator I'd get textbook answers. Or get the runaround to wait a week to ask my docter. I've been at this facility for over 2 years. They told me I just needed a doner and I should get pregnant without any complications, but they don't give any1 a garentee that you will have a successful pregnancy. I really wish he would've just been able to tell me he couldn't treat my case instead of making me waste my time and money. I'm over 50k in debt. They are way overpriced and do not explain that you pay even more after your first miscarriage or failed transfer. I've had 2 miscarriages from here and the only time they called me was to try and charge me extra for unesesary appointments and ultrasounds for a heart beat that was too soon to check for. If considering please be aware of what your getting into.

I am on my second surrogacy journey and this is my IPs clinic. If it was up to me, I would have switched clinics. Anytime we had an issue or problem come up, my coordinator gives text book answers without actually consulting with the doctor. I have, on multiple occasions, had to be the one on top of making sure my lab orders are sent for outside monitoring as they sometimes don't send them when they say they will. They have gotten dates mixed up for lab orders (we are human, it happens) but then called me to shame me for missing an appointment even tho the orders I had been given directly from them, had a different date on them. Never an apology, I was just treated as the stupid surrogate who they clearly didn't have any respect or appreciation for. Fertility issues are hard enough to navigate and you deserve to work with a clinic who cares for each individual and your specific case. Unfortunately, even tho the Dr's seem to be great at what they do, the staff make the whole experience 10x more stressful and emotionally exhausting than it should be.

I do not recommend HRC under any circumstances. I had treatment at their West LA and Encino locations and because Pasadena is where their corporate office is, I had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with the Pasadena office as well. Nobody could answer my questions clearly (when they bothered to respond at all, which took an enormous amount of work on my part) and requests for clarity were ignored-like I said before, when they bothered to even follow-up, which was rare, their responses were merely condescending rehashes of previous emails-none of which made sense to me. It was an incredibly frustrating experience.
And also-the Pasadena office is in the news as someone is suing them for what seems to be an unfathomable mistake. Google the headline "Pasadena fertility clinic sued over embryo mix-up in which child born with deadly cancer gene" -that's the title of the KTLA article, and, as you could gauge from the headline, it's a frightening situation. I'm so glad I ended up switching to another clinic as I wouldn't trust HRC to do anything right, especially since this is NOT the first time in the past year HRC has been in the news for an embryo mix-up (Google HRC embryo mix-up and see stories from Summer 2022 involving a two-man couple.) Sadly, based on the way every single employee I've encountered at HRC functions (or, doesn't function might be more accurate.) this news doesn't surprise me in the least.

I was a patient with HRC only last year and now am needing my medical records from my treatment with them. I have been trying to get a hold of these records since the end of March. They have completely given me the run around and now heading into July I have still not received my medical records. I have called emailed, I have had my case managers call, email, fax these request numerous times and still no response. When I call they say they are putting in an urgent request and I receive nothing. When we last spoke to a woman named Cheryl she guaranteed she would have those records to us by Monday and still nothing and that was a month ago. I am so frustrated at this point. I would highly advise anyone seeking treatment from them whether it be as a surrogate or as intended parents or anyone that has their embryos with this medical center to think twice. They are holding out on others medical records as well and preventing families from starting their fertility journeys to have children. At this point I have to take to all review sites to explain my experience, because at this point I am not getting any help from them to simply get my medical records from my short time with this center. And again I have been trying to get them for going on 4 months now!

While we appreciate the services provided by our doctor and nurse team at HRC, we must express our deep frustration in our interactions with other departments. The lack of effective communication, coupled with instances of misunderstanding our questions and requests, has resulted in unnecessary delays in the process.

I worked with Dr. Kolb and my clinical coordinator was Clarissa Tam. I was really happy with my care! Clarissa is organized and a pleasure to work with. Dr. Kolb is knowledgeable and made me feel confident in the treatment options we chose. I highly recommend them if you are looking for assistance on your journey to having babies.

Consistently difficult to get a hold of, and over multiple appointments I haven't met one staff member that seemed to be polite or helpful. I hate that there are not other options in my area

As of now, I've only gone through the initial bloodwork step. The clinic lost half of my blood labs due to a "glitch" where the blood did not get sent to the lab. I now have to go back in to get them re-taken when my next cycle comes. I will be out of state then for the holidays, and they suggested I should get them done then, out-of-state, while on vacation. I'm upset that I'm the one having to jump through hoops to correct their mistake, but I suppose there's no other way around it. I also was the one who had to reach out for the results weeks after they had been done, which is when they let me know of the "glitch. " I asked how do I know this isn't going to happen again, and they didn't have an answer. I'm not sure if they would have let me know without me reaching out. I will likely be going elsewhere once the bloodwork is completed. This is my first experience going to a fertility doctor, and though their staff seem nice enough, I feel like I am working too hard to get replies/results when this process is already disheartening and intrusive to begin with.

After extensive research for a fertility doctor, I am so happy I chose Dr. Wilcox at HRC. After two successful egg retrievals with Dr. Wilcox, I have 25 eggs now. Dr. Wilcox is up front and honest. He makes you feel comfortable and has good bedside manner too. Dr. Wilcox is THE best at what he does. I wouldn't trust anyone else more!

Dr. Wilcox did my IVF 17YRS.ago, and yes my baby girl is just as healthy as can be. And soon she's turning 18. Miracles do happen if you believe in Him. I thank the Lord for using him to make this happen. Thank you, Dr. Wilcox.

With the amount of "mix ups" and "glitches" I'm wondering if they are stealing our eggs/embryos or even transferring the correct embryos to the correct parents to be!

I came to HRC in 2015 and decided to try to have a baby no matter what our odds were. Dr. Wilcox is absolutely the best. He explained in detail, he was available after hours if I needed him. We succeeded the first try and had our son October 2016. He is now 6 years old and the cuties most wonderful kid ever. We love him more than anything in this world. Thank you Dr Wilcox for being their through our journey.