AFA Obstetrics & Gynecology, PC

If you want good healthcare, DO NOT GO HERE. I hate writing one star reviews and this is my second of all time. But, I have to give my opinion. I have been going to lahey clinic most of my life and they are amazing. I went to AFA once and they thought I was under their care full time which I made clear I was a lahey patient. They had me send my records and found a few things from the past that I went through and decided to send me letter making me think I have pre-​cancer. I have anxiety so I of course freaked out. When I called lahey, they went through my past tests and confirmed once again that I was fine. Afa sent me this letter not once but twice. I called and they made up excuses saying we thought you were in our care — which I had explained to the receptionist that I WAS NOT and did not make an appts as they asked me to because again, I was not in their care. They do not know what they are doing at all — steer clear of this place and go somewhere that has been around longer and has a better reputation.

During my first pregnancy in a different state, I must’ve been spoiled. There, they made the first ultra sound special (as it should be for any parent and pregnancy). While they also ensured you saw more than just one midwife, they also gave you some semblance of continuity.
At AFA, the first ultra sound was given when my 3 year old had to come with us. It was unplanned to bring her, but we called ahead to ensure it was ok and were told that it was perfectly fine and that other parents did it also. The ultra sound girl clearly had no children of her own and didn’t seem to even like children. She was outright rude to my spouse and my child, removed one of the two chairs so that my spouse had to stand while my child sat. She purposefully did things to make the experience uncomfortable and non enjoyable. She also wouldn’t give us a clue if things looked ok. She just kept saying ‘it’s not my job to say’. I get that, but every other ultra sound tech we’ve experienced will say ‘the Dr or midwife will talk to you more later, but as far as I can see, things look ok’, to help put parents at ease. Not this girl. She’s just a b*tch, for lack of a better term to describe her. She was all smiles and cheerful welcome, until the door was closed. Perhaps she knows better than to be a jerk in front of her co workers? But she had no problems ruining our first ultra sound experience for this pregnancy.
Also at AFA, there are so many Dr’s and midwives that I am now in my 3^rd trimester and have been seeing them since my 1^st 8 week appointment and I have never seen the same midwife or Dr twice. The idea of seeing everyone so that you are familiar with one another in case a particular Dr or midwife isn’t on call when you go into labor is a good idea. However, it only works in offices with a normal amount of Drs and midwifes. When you have as many as AFA has, it would be better to give patients some semblance of continuity. I’m high risk, so you would think they would want to help give me that peace of mind and a Dr or midwife that had some continuity with me, but they don’t. You just get whoever is working on the day you come. They could easily improve that by scheduling you to come when the same 2 or 3 or 10 Drs or midwifes are going to be there instead of fobbing you off on every random person there like you’re on an assembly line. We need continuity and, newsflash, Drs and midwives do too. They might be familiar with similar cases and instances, but they can’t be familiar with you unless they’ve spent any real amount of time with you. NO ONE likes seeing someone different every visit. AFA, you seriously need to fix that.
At AFA, most of the staff are nice. Not necessarily knowledgeable (I had someone trying to check for a heart beat in my upper abdomen during my first trimester and even I knew she wasn’t going to find anything so high). But most are nice. I do agree with the other reviews. The wait is ridiculous. We have jobs and lives outside of these appointments and shouldn’t spend and hour or 2 just waiting to be seen by the Dr. My last visit, I waited 2 hours and 20 minutes before the Dr actually saw me. I waited over an hour to be brought back to the room, then saw a midwife, then waited and waited and waited for the Dr. I’m pretty sure the only reason I didn’t wait longer was because lunch time was nearing. They need to do a better job of scheduling. I don’t have endless paid leave to be able to sit around for 2 hours and 20 minutes to see a Dr that spends all of 5 minutes with me, using a fetal Doppler (which I have at home and could use myself) and then asking if I have any questions — if I did, I would’ve brought them to your attention. It’s note even necessary to see a Dr each visit. A midwife is fine.
AFA could be a lot better than it is if they’d give patients some continuity and do better scheduling. As it is, I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. It’s too chaotic and nice staff doesn’t make up for the having to see someone new each and every visit.
The phlebotomists is awesome and should be praised. She’s always pleasant, but more than being nice, she knows what she’s doing, does it well, and there’s the continuity of her knowing who’s hard to draw from or where she had success the last time with people that have deep or thin veins.
Continuity matters. It’s helpful. I shouldn’t be in my 3^rd trimester yet still unable to recall the name of a single midwife or Dr there bc I’ve yet to see the same one twice.

So I am currently 33 weeks pregnant with my first child and am using the AFA.
I can understand a few of the complaints below but I wouldn’t suggest to let those experiences deter you entirely.
I am a patient with extreme trauma in my past which can make seeing doctors and having physical appointments of any kind very VERY difficult for me. I can honestly say that they have done anything and everything possible to put me in control and every worry at ease.
They do encourage that you see all of the doctors and midwives on staff so that when the day of labor comes that you re familiar with who is there to help you deliver. So no, not everyone knows you inside and out from day one. However, if you find a Doctor or midwife that you prefer, they will 100% accomodate you and revolve your appointments around them. Unless you go in clueless and don’t pay attention to what you’ve had done (which isn’t exactly something i recommend under any circumstance), it’s not really a problem.
In my experience, I have only encountered one midwife that is incredibly unprofessional. When I complained about her and mentioned my experience with her to one of the nurses they immediately encouraged me to formally report it, which I will be doing so next week. Actually reading one of the below reviews I’m willing to bet (though I understand I may be wrong) that this is the particular midwife that put the reviewer on the 100 carb diet. Her name is Mitra Davis and yes, if your first experience is with her, I don’t blame you for running out of the office. She was very demeaning and completely 100% dismissive of everything I had to say. She simply just did not listen to me. She’d ask me questions that she had already decided the answers to herself in her head and did not hear a word I said, no matter how many times I repeated it. She also made me believe that they were drug testing me when they were not and had me paranoid that at three months pregnant, my blood was showing as positive for THC when I was not smoking or consuming marijuana in any way shape or form during any point of my pregnancy. Nor had they drug tested me at all since my initial appointment. She also judged me on my appearance. While most doctors were concerned that my exercise was too rigorous (I do crossfit), Mitra wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was working out at all, even though i told her 3 times and she didn’t actually acknowledge it until my husband finally said it to her. She attempted to put me on the 100 carb diet because I was «high risk» for gestational diabetes.
I will tell you that now, in my third trimester, after following no particular diet, there are absolutely NO signs of gestational diabetes. I never gave any signs in my urine at any point of it and all of my tests for it went VERY well. She claimed I was «high risk» simply based on my appearance. She also said something along the lines of «I know it can be really hard for ‘someone like you’ but I need to you be active and at least try to walk 30 minutes a day.» She repeated this after all three times I tried to explain to her that I do crossfit. I even asked if she wanted me to replace crossfit with this or if she wanted me to do it on top of crossfit, just to see if she was listening, and she just sympathetically nodded and asked me to «try» to walk… You can imagine how frustrating this was.
I do want to stress though, that outside of this one midwife (who is now not allowed anywhere near me during appointments or my day of labor), everyone in this office has been nothing but absolutely wonderful. I have a particular favor towards Sherry and the two Emilys. I’m not unwilling to see others though because each and every person there has been WONDERFUL.
They do a wonderful job of explaining everything to you (which is super important if you’re having your first). They go out of their way to get you as many ultrasounds as you want and need (this I LOVE) and they do it without scaring you. A lot of them are VERY VERY pro natural birth, which was very important to me. They’ve given me every resource possible and are working with me (very well) when it comes to my past traumas. They even planned out my entire day of labor with me making sure I know precisely what and who to expect around. They have my chart clearly written up that there will be NO surprises for me. I’m very happy with them, I truly am.
I obviously can’t say the practice is perfect but every practice has multiple doctors and you’ll find that they all have their own ways of going about things and philosophies. You’re not going to agree with everyone. Like I said, I can’t get on board with Mitra. They are doing everything in their power to keep me comfortable and accomodate my needs.
I’m also finding that the Clough birthing center at Emerson and their labor staff in general are also amazing. I think if you’re birthing at Emerson you’re in a good place no matter which practice you choose

I started my pregnancy off going to this office. (I switched to Concord OB (much better!)). I didn’t like how chaotic it seemed there. Every appointment I had — the waiting room was always packed, no convenient bathroom, and I always I had to wait a good amount of time for each appointment. None of the drs or nurses looked at my charts or knew about my medical history. The first time I went in and got a whole bunch of blood work done, every time I went in after each dr would recommend I get the same blood work, not even realizing I had already taken it AND gotten the results. I was told to go on a 100 carb diet while pregnant. I am not high risk for anything, my new OB was pretty shocked that I was told to go on such a strict diet for no serious reason.
I would not recommend this place. If you want to deliver at Emerson check out Concord OB, much better drs, they all read the charts and are easy to be scheduled with!

HORRIBLE! Dr. Grogin is a dismissive drug dealer; told him five different times/​ways in no uncertain terms that i didnt want the pill/​drugs/​hormones for an issue… pretended to understand, yet still pushed them (hard). Kickback much?
Just terrible beyond anything textbook. He was demeaning, close-​minded and obviously inexperienced with anything beyond perfect obstetrics. It’s disgusting that this man is practicing in this field. Sad.