Geneticist

Has anyone here taken their child to a geneticist? If so, what type of tests should I expect? Did your insurance cover them all?

Re: Geneticist

I saw Bialer at LIJ, Angulo at Winthrop and Hyman in Smithtown. I have nothing but good things to say about ALL of them! I felt Dr. Angulo was more "loving"...he actually kissed my DD on the head at the end of our appointment. Dr. Bialer was very informative, and covered all bases, but not as 'warm". Dr. Hyman was so soft-spoken, and gentle with DD, and his genetic counselors gave me so much information and did so much research on DD's condition and really prepared me with so much help that I was shocked; his receptionist on the other hand - I HATE!! And is actually the reason I won't go back to him. She actually refused to give me results of my DD's bloodwork because my DH brought them a check from the insurance company for the wrong doctor by accident, and I didn't rectify it quickly enough for her; and while I was waiting for insurance to reissue their check, I needed a copy of her diagnosis labwork (that I actually provided to them) and she refused to give it to me unless I paid her out of pocket for the visit they were waiting to be paid for.

I can't speak to what tests they will run, because I don't know what you're looking to have answered. When I went to them, we already had a diagnosis of DD's condition, found by "DNA Microarray", ordered by the nuerologist. We were sent to geneticist to find out genetic implications for the rest of the family, as well as to try to determine how/why DD got what she did.

Re: Geneticist

Thank you. It seems like Dr. Hyman is now working with Dr. Bialer from the Northwell practice, I have an appointment for my son to meet with Dr. Hyman in less than two weeks. My sons developmental pediatrician referred us to the geneticist to see if there were answers behind his ASD diagnosis. I started thinking about if it was worth it or not since my son is horrible at doctor's office and impossible to draw blood from and I asked a special needs parent FB group and it was pretty much mixed reviews- some said it was worth for them to know (for example one mom said her son had a microdeletion) and the others said it was a waste of time. I've decided we will take him and see what happens. Thanks for your feedback on Dr. Hyman! Hopefully the receptionist at the new practice he is in, isn't a nightmare!

Re: Geneticist

I say to take him. You have nothing to lose. My developmental ped gave us a script for 2 blood tests that are usually covered by insurance. I think it was the microarray and fragile X. My son is usually awful at doctors too. We took him to a Northwell lab for the bloodwork and they were great. Super fast and he whined for a second and it was done. I figured why not just to check.

Both came back negative and we didn't pursue anything else. But if one had come back showing something we would've def followed up with a geneticist.

Re: Geneticist

We started with Dr. Bailer at Northwell but left because he was forceful when examing DC. I was very very unhappy.

We are now seeing Dr. Particia Galvin-Parton at Stony Brook. We have been with her for several years and have been very happy with her and the practice.

After switching from one practice to the other, we realized that Dr. Bailer was not as knowledgeable about the most recent research and practices. I'm so glad we switched.

Message edited 2/11/2017 4:02:49 PM.

Re: Geneticist

Re: Geneticist

Re: Geneticist

yes, we see Dr. Victoria Chen at Cohen's (part of Northwell). She gave us the script at his last appt and said just to go to a lab to get these 2 tests done and if they showed something then we could pursue further testing and following up.

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Re: Geneticist

Holy moly! I just got the EOB for the blood test for the 2 tests for my son and it was $1500. Granted, the insurance isn't paying it because they have a contractual rate with Northwell labs, but omg.

Re: Geneticist

Posted by Dolphinsbaby

Holy moly! I just got the EOB for the blood test for the 2 tests for my son and it was $1500. Granted, the insurance isn't paying it because they have a contractual rate with Northwell labs, but omg.