Denita Speyer, MD

I lost my unborn son at 32 weeks.
I am writing about Dr. Mandolesi, Speyer and Barrett.
I’m not blaming them totally for my loss but I can’t help to think maybe it could have been prevented. Maybe if they informed me better would my son be here today…
The reason why I came to Gariela Mandolesi was because she had such great reviews.
I was already at the beginning of my second trimester when I found out I was pregnant, so I was already nervous about the whole pregnancy. I asked if it was ok to sleep on my back because I had a habit of falling asleep on my back and I read EVERYWHERE that it could be harmful to the baby. She told me it was fine and I could sleep on my back well into the third trimester of it was comfortable for me. So I continued to sleep on my back.
I saw Gabriela Mandolesi maybe 3 times at the most then I ended up seeing Dr Speyer for the most of my appointments, I have met Dr Barrett maybe once. I’ve never been pregnant before and I assumed Mandolesi would be my doctor but she just disappeared.
I noticed my baby wasn’t moving as much and I was worried so I moved my appointment sooner.
Dr. Speyer saw me and I told her I haven’t felt my baby move in a while. So she went to go find the heart beat and she couldn’t find anything. I was CRUSHED and confused. And all she could say was «we always tell you to come in if you haven’t felt the baby move in 24 hours». NO, you or anyone did not tell me that!
She couldn’t even tell me my baby died. She just said go to labor and delivery and have them do an ultrasound to figure out what was happening. Even my husband was confused because she didn’t give us any information. Because of that we had a little hope maybe our baby was still alive.
I waited 2 hours in the delivery room before someone came in. The lady who did my ultrasound that I didn’t even know was the one who told me my baby died.
When I had to deliver my baby that died, Dr. Barrett was the one who was the one to do so. I only met her once before so I felt like a stranger was delivering my baby. My whole experience finding it my baby died and delivering him was a nightmare from HELL.
After doing tremendous amounts of research and reading. I felt like these doctors did not inform me of the dangers and warning signs of stillbirths.
Sleeping on your back was HUGE NO NO and was linked to stillbirths and NO ONE told me to go to the hospital if I didn’t feel my baby move in 24 hours.
I wonder every freaking day if my son would be here if they told me those things… I did not even know what a stillbirth was until my baby died!
My life’s been forever changed and a piece of my soul died.
And even after everything was done I never heard anything from the original Doctor Mandolesi I initially saw. No condolences, no kind words, no card, nothing.
They should have informed me of the risks is stillbirths… maybe my son would be alive today.

I love Dr Speyer! I am new to her practice and I found her to be thoughtful, knowledgeable and comforting (meaning, I never felt uncomfortable during the exam at all!) She also offered some good advice, and even helped me choose another option for medication. Her nurse was also fantastic, though I can’t recall her name. The receptionist was fine — I didn’t encounter any of the rudeness that previous reviews have mentioned, though she admittedly wasn’t the friendliest person ever. Didn’t bother me one bit though. I will certainly continue to see Dr Speyer.

The doctors are friendly and knowledgeable; however, the office staff, namely the officer manager, Lynne Boylan, is abrasive, incompetent and mean. The fact that at one point you may have to deal with this woman, should be a deterrent, regardless of the doctor’s skill.
After my prescribed IUD went missing, Lynne made no effort to delineate the steps the practice had taken to rectify the situation. Lynne claimed FedEx lost the package. The least she could have done was given me some contacts at the shipping pharmacy and FedEx so I could be kept abreast — pun intended — of the situation, since she claimed it was «not her problem and the doctors agree.» I had to google that info for myself. In short, when Lynne refused to give me the tracking number, the pharmacy manager of Teva Women’s Health provided it to me without hesitation. I was able to check on the status of the FedEx investigation, which confirmed that the package was delivered to the hospital a week after order, the concierge signed for it, and someone from Dr. Speyer’s office picked up the package from the concierge. I can speculate that the practice either lost my IUD or gave it to the wrong patient. Meanwhile, I was denied timely access to my prescribed, insurance-​approved, preferred method of birth control. After expressing my frustration and distress to Lynne, I was dismissed from the practice. I wouldn’t recommend this establishment to ANY WOMAN!
*Update: As of Aug. 21, 2015, I was in the process of ordering a new Paragard through a new and lovely OBGYN practice. After hearing nothing from the pharmacy, it was followed up and determined that the «pharmacy would not send another Paragard because allegedly they already sent me one on July 2^nd (before I was even a patient at the new practice), unless I wanted to pay $ 800 out of pocket.» After making some phone calls, it was determined that Dr. Speyer’s office had indeed located my IUD several weeks ago, had been sitting on it, and nobody there had the common courtesy to call and inform me that my medical device, which was prescribed to me, and which I PAID FOR VIA MY EXPENSIVE INSURANCE, had finally been located. I asked Lynne Boylan if I could come retrieve it, and she said no, it has to be mailed to the new doctor. However, the office manager at my new practice said that’s ridiculous and I should be allowed to pick it up. This whole situation reflects the complete incompetence of this practice, and the reprehensible manner in which patients are treated. Shame on them!

I had a very bad experience with Dr. Speyer. I had a autoimmune disease which is visible to the naked eye. Dr. Speyer failed to examine me to detect the disease. I went to another OB/​GYN who saw the disease immediately and told me it was inexcusable that Dr. Speyer would have not seen it! It was years old! I was furious! I went back to Dr. Speyer to see what she had to say, and she said I had a very mild case. This, of course, was not the case at all! I went to another specialist and he told me I was a level 6 out of 10. I had been Dr. Speyer patient for years and never missed my annual visit, yet she failed to recognize or diagnose my condition. Thanks Dr. Speyer for misdiagnosing me and causing irreversible damage!!! Dr. Speyer is a terrible doctor who gives you the rush exam of life and her staff are surly and ill informed. STAY AWAY!!!

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Speyer for the last five years and I’ve been very happy with her as a doctor. But dealing with her billing department, especially her office manager Lynn is a completely different story.
I have been treated with such disrespect, called a liar, and discharged from the office because I refused to pay for Lynn’s inability to do her job correctly. Long story short, Lynn failed to file the claim in a timely manner (90 days) to my health insurance. Lynn kept blaming me for not providing the current health insurance at the time of the service. although I did. And even if I didn’t, my insurance would cover the claim, as long as the office provided proof that they filed the claim to any insurance in timely manner. Which Lynn was not able to provide!
The only thing what she kept repeating to me (in a very condescending tone) was that I sign the consent, and that I have to pay if my insurance doesn’t.
This was one very unpleasant experience… and the most upsetting of all for me was that I was not able to speak with Dr. Speyer. I called and when I asked to speak with with Dr. Speyer I couldn’t pass Lynn «the gate keeper» She answered instead of Dr. Speyer and told me that she is the office manager and she is dealing with the billing issues and the Dr. Speyer is very busy doctor, she can’t talk to me and that I am discharged from the office.
I kept asking Lynn: Did Dr. Speyer really refuse to talk to me, or did Lynn instruct the other receptionists to transfer my phone calls to her? However she refused to answer, and just hung up on me.
I am now in search for new OB\GYN, any recommendations?

Terrible doctor, just awful. Missed a major problem with my daughter and it was clear she could care less. She is not professional at all. I would never recommend anyone see her.

I moved to this area in 2000 and have been using Dr. Speyer for quite awhile. I have had some bumps in the road with them, but was able to overlook everything. Now it’s just been one stupid mistake after another. I am in my first trimester and they are making me extremely angry. I came to them to get a blood test twice to see if I was pregnant. At the second test the ladies behind the front desk were talking about me out loud. It’s unprofessional. If they had an issue or concern they should address it to me directly. Their demeanor completely changed when they found out I was pregnant. I almost got sucked in again. Until I went for my 1^st sonogram and had my run-​in with the billing department from hell. This lady has no customer service skills and they are terribly disorganized. I am 30 years old and she speaks to me like a child. I explained I switched insurance plans and they said that’s fine. They don’t accept my new insurance and now I have to self pay. Which I am fine with… except they keep billing my old carrier. Then they deny they are doing it! I have the statement from BlueCross saying you are! I don’t like being called a liar and I don’t like people lying to me. I am pregnant and they are causing me unneeded anxiety. I was hesitant to tell Dr. Speyer about her ridiculous practice but now I will. Then I will ask them to transfer all my files to my new doctor.

Very friendly and knowledgeable doctors. I’ve used them for both my preganacies (plus one first trimester miscarriage)
This practice delivers babies at Reston Hospital. I love Reston Hospital’s maternity ward — all private rooms and very good medical staff, per my experience. Having their offices on the hospital campus is very convenient, IMO — including the free valet parking.
My prenatal appointments generally ran right on schedule with no excessive waiting. I work full time and ususally have appointments over my lunch break so its very important to me that they are prompt.
Drs. Speyer, Barret, and Mandolessi are usually very courteous, welcoming, and attentive. I used Dr. Speyer as my primary doctor, but you see all three over the course of your pregnancy so that in case you have an emergency while your primary doctor is unavailable for some reason, you know and are comfortable with the other two ladies who may be on call.
Visits are gererally pretty quick but not rushed. They ask lots of questions and allow time to answer yours.
In excpetional cases, they will be late or seem distracted/​even borderline curt — the one time this happened to me, I learned that it was because the doctor was on her way to a high risk delivery. Seems reasonable to me that she was a bit preoccupied — happens to us all. This is certainly the exception not the norm, in my experience.
I ended up having a c-​section with my first child and in the days following my proceedure the head nurse on duty comment that my scar was a «work of art» and that I must have had a talented surgeon. I must agree, as now you cannot even see the scar at all and my healing process seemed quite quick. I had no complications.
During my miscarriage between my two healthy pregnancies, Dr. Speyer had a caring bedside manner, was reassuring that first trimester miscarriages are actually quite common, and explained everything that was happening with great empathy.
Yes, there are some complaints about the reception desk — but its important to underderstand that medical assistance are generally low paid roles and poor customer service is an unfortunately common complaint among medical practices. I personnally have found the staff to be quite good during my visits. If you feel you are not getting the attention you need from a receptionist, you need to push for your rights — that goes for any medical practice. You can’t leave your health up to a «phone-​answerer/​appointment scheduler».
I have not experienced any problems with the medical billing department but I do not doubt the bad experiences of other reviewers, as this too is a common area of complaint.
Overall, I would highly recommend this practice.

Dr Denite speyer is a good gynecologist but her office staff behave and treat everyone like they are morons. I called a few times to get follow up appointments for my wife and they were either extremely rude or gave me a ultra hard time getting an appointment. Really nasty office staff with bad attitude and etiquette .In my opinion needs a complete overhaul.
Also in the past they handled a situation related to insurance very poorly and even though the issue was resolved they made the whole experience a catastrophe.

I am writing this review about the office of Dr. Speyer and Dr. Diane Barrett. The staff is less than courteous, and could learn a thing or two about customer service. I had difficulty finding the office in Reston, and called twice to for assistance, both times stating my name, and I was trying to get to my appointment. When I did arrive, admittedly 20 minutes late, they told me they couldn’t see me as I was late, and the doctor had to be somewhere later on in the day. I inquired why they didn’t tell me this when I called not once, but twice trying to find them? They couldn’t give an answer, and only offered to schedule me back in two months away. And, as I was speaking to the receptionist, I could hear two other employees talking about me around the corner. It is obvious these doctors patients are not their first priority, but are more interested in making sure they, themselves are accommodated. Needless to say, I did not make another appointment, and will not.

Dr. Speyer is nice, but she doesn’t fully understand the physcian’s responsibility of informed consent and full disclosure. Make sure she and any one one of her partners OFFERS you the OPTION of being genetically screened as a carrier for certain genetic disorders. The medical standard is not DOING the test, it is OFFERING the test. Some insurance won’t pay for genetic counseling if the counseling does not precede the testing. Needless to say, I won’t ever be going here again. I don’t like mistrusting my docs and I don’t like paternalism.

Not a fan. In and out fast and never felt fully comfortable with the staff. She doesn’t service Fair Oaks hospital anymore… just Reston (which I wasn’t comfortable with either).

Excellent OBGYN practice. Dr. Speyer is very knowledgeable and caring. I’ve been going to her practice for 10 years now .She promised to deliver my baby even if it is her day off and she did .Dr.Speyer is very easy to deal with and make sure that the patient needs are met. I have to say that for some reason Sterling staff seems to be always more friendly than Reston office staff. If that’s matter for you, then go to the Sterling office.

Dr. Speyer is great, but the billing practices of her office are awful. No matter how many times I call their billing department, I cannot seem to get things straightened out between Dr. Speyer’s office and my insurance company. As a result, it has been 6 months since I went there, and my claims have still not be paid. I have never had any problem with my insurance claims being processed properly with any other doctor, so I do not think it is likely that the insurance company is the cause in this case.

Awesome Dr! My longtime OB/​GYN received recognition for her excellent care and bedside manner, so Dr. Speyer had some big shoes to fill. I was impressed at how welcoming and thorough she was during my exams.

The Doctor seemed nice, but be careful to watch your billing statements. My insurance negotiated discounts based on the contract they have with the doctor, so according to my insurance I should not owe them anything because it was something covered 100% for preventative care but the doctor billed me anyway for what the negotiated «discounts» were. I spoke to their billing dept and the lady was really rude and said that’s just how things work. My insurance company was shocked and said they will have to deal with them directly, but it’s just annoying to have to deal with. Doctor should be someone you trust, not someone trying to rip you off. If they made a contract agreement with the patients insurance company, they should not go charging the patient outside of that.

Dr. Speyer is one in a million. I had difficulty with finding an OB/​GYN that I could really TALK to — and she has been my doctor of choice since 1990 (at least!). She helped me get pregnant with my beautiful children (I had VERY irregular cycles), she delivered my children, and has taken great care of me ever since.

Dr. Speyer seemed like a great doctor during my initial visit before we tried to get pregnant. However, during the first weeks of my pregnancy I started having issues early on and her care got worse. The staff there makes it impossible for you to just ask a question instead I got a «come in and see whatever doctor is here» everytime I called. During one of the hardest appts. of my life (finding out it was a miscarriage) Dr. Speyer actually thought this was my 3^rd time and was explaining all of the things we should do test-​wise without knowing who I was or my situation. This frustrated me a bit being that I had seen her 4 times before and she had my file in front of her. On top of this, the nurses could never get blood from me, so it was very frustrating. I am changing Dr.‘s now that my ordeal is over.

I love Dr. Speyer! I came to her after having some horrible experiences with my previous GYN doc, and I definitely made the right choice. She’s patient, she listens, and she offers great advice that my other doctors wouldn’t even consider giving to me. She’s super gentle with her exams, and she treats me with respect. I’d definitely recommend coming to see her! She also has an office in Sterling FYI.

Dr. Denita F. Speyer is great. My mother goes to her and when it was time for me to visit an OBGYN, it was a no brainer to go to her. This location is super convenient to my parent’s house, and there is also another office location (not sure where exactly as I’ve never needed to go there). This is located in the adjoining building to Reston Hospital. Even now that I live in Boston, I make sure that I see Dr. Sepyer for my yearly appointments.
I’m not sure if Dr. Speyer is taking on new patients or not, but she also has two associates at this office, one being Dr. Diane P. Barrett. I have seen Dr. Barrett once when Dr. Speyer was not available and she also did an excellent job, and had great bedside manner.
The office waiting room is comfortable, all the staff are very pleasant, and they are very good about keeping appointments running on time.