Cates-Smith, Pamela, M.D.

Reviews 3

YA

Yaya M.

Upon meeting Dr. Cates- Smith she seemed very pleasant she was sweet and I had a good feeling about her. I started seeing her in March 2015 after my Gyno referred me to an OB due to extremely painful periods upon terminating my birth control pills with the idea of starting a family and not getting pregnant. The first times I visited Dr. Cates-Smith I felt like she addressed my issues right away, but then started to slowly disregard my concerns and began to "solve" my issues by prescribing me antibiotics and Percocet. The first thing she did was send me in for an ultrasound and an HSG. After a month or so she discussed my results and told me that I had pelvic adhesions, scarring and what looked like it couldve been a mass/ cyst on the right side but She was unsure . No further testing was performed after the HSG. She said that the adhesions and scarring were signs of possible endometriosis. Within the next weeks my pain began to escalate, the pelvic pain that I was getting during my period began to happen more often. My physical activities were starting to seem affected by the excruciating back and pelvic pain. I couldnt stand for over half hour, I couldnt exercise any more, I lost days and days of work. I discussed it with the Doctor, she offered me Percocet. I advised her that I couldnt take Percocet because I had a stomach condition and I simply wanted to get to the root of the problem. She had already scheduled me in for an HSG to test my tubes but put me in antibiotics for two weeks prior to the procedure. After my HSG it was determined that my right tube appeared to be obstructed. She said that the fact that I had my right tube obstructed wasnt an issue because I "only need one good side in order to get pregnant". My question was, whats obstructing the right tube? She never answered that question and also refused to do a laparoscopy. Two weeks after my HSG (May 2016) I made an emergency appt. with her as I was again in a lot of pain. She advised me that it was a possible pelvic infection and gave me more antibiotics, she then asked me to see her again in two weeks. I returned, I told her I still felt pain and this time it was going on to my hip along my right side, I couldnt lay or sit comfortably, it just didnt get any better for me. I addressed it again, she told me that it was part of the endometriosis and that if she operated on me itll just create more tissue and scarring and possibly spread to other areas. She advised me that the only thing that would take away the pain would be birth control but since I was attempting pregnancy birth control was not an option. At this point my concern was to get to the root of the pain, I was going to be starting a new job in the next few weeks and couldnt afford to risk the new job due to missing days because of the pain. She disregarded my concerns and asked me to get an ovulation kit, and return in six months if I didnt get pregnant sooner and Insisted on giving me a prescription for Percocet which I advised her several times that I couldnt take. A few hours after I left her office I felt the worst pain I had ever experienced before I spent the next two days in bed. I proceeded to acquire a copy of my medical records from her office which took weeks. I scheduled an appt. with my current OB. After 21 consecutive days of pain I ended up going to the emergency room and long story short that small mass that Dr. Cates- Smith mentioned back in April and disregarded because it wasnt clear enough turned out to be a cyst that had grown to 10cm in size additionally to stage 4 endometriosis. My new OB had to perform an emergency ovarian cystectomy. Needless to say I was very frustrated when I was told what the issue was. My situation couldve been avoided if she wouldve addressed my concerns or even if she couldnt, she couldve referred me to someone who could. Again she is a very sweet and nice person, however in my case, she just didnt work out for me.

EM

Emily Marie

I have gone to Dr Cates Smith for my last 2 pregnancies. She was always a great doctor but this last C-section my incision did not close so they removed all my staples on the second day after my surgery and my husband did my wound care every day for the last month. Mind you my husband is has no medical experience so I was seen weekly in the office to check the progress of my healing and make sure no infection.. Well this last visit they told me it was fully closed they put an application of silver nitrate to finish healing the last bit of my incision where I had excess granulation tissue. That afternoon I started experiencing horrible pain in my incision as if I had just had my C-section. I called to be seen and she looked at my incision and said it looked fine and told me it was probably the silver nitrate thats making me feel pain in my incision.. By that evening my incision was hurting worse and swelling more so I ended up going to Winnie Palmer and the doctor that saw me looked at it one time and said it was infected and was badly inflamed.. The gave me antibiotics and sent me home. By the next morning I came back to WPH because my incision was even more swollen and painful and the Doctor Who saw me said it was not infected at all and that I probably didnt need to even take the antibiotics at all and to just put neosporin on it and they discharged me. The same evening I took ibuprofen for pain and woke up an hour later with a fever of 101.5 instead of going to Winnie Palmer to waste my time I went to FL hospital East where they did a CT scan and found a pocket of infection internally underneath my C-section incision so I was transferred to WPH to be treated for the infection.. But had I listened to my doctor and not my instincts I could have become seriously ill or God forbid worse.. I am giving Dr Cates one star because she did not take the time to listen to what I had to say or really check my incision for infection knowing I had a completely open wound for the last month. I am extremely disappointed with her treatment or lack thereof for that matter as well as the hospital she works for. Up until this past week I thought she was an amazing doctor but this experience was enough to change my opinion.. This is my health and well being and she did not take that into consideration.

SH

Shamari Moore

I gave Dr. Cates two stars because her office is clean and her staff are the best!! As far as Dr. Cates I would not go back. I wish I was treated how all the other reviews say she is. I was so excited to be seen by her in the beginning. I transferred from another office because I had to do all my lab work and ultrasounds at different locations. And I asked that specific question before I made the appointment and I still have to do the same with Dr. Cates. It is VERY hard to get in touch with her. My former OB gave me his cell phone number. I go to the hospital twice a week for NSTs and ultrasounds and Dr. Cates and her associates never know what is going on with me. I begged for a second ultrasound because I thought I was ahead of what my due date was but it turned out I had a condition that could have been caught earlier on. Dr. Cates and her staff are all nice but they dont really care. I never get a follow up on what is going on with my little one. I always inform them of what the nurses say to me at the hospital but they never have any answers to my questions. I called today to ask Dr. Cates what I should do about my situation because the doctors at the hospital are trying to admit me. I still havent had a reply from anyone from the office. Im high risk and I feel alone in my pregnancy other than Winnie Palmer, I would probably be SOL. I never get to see her and if I do it will be for a hot 5 minutes. If you arent having any complications and youre looking​ for a doctors office that gets you in and out this may be the office for you. But if you and baby need extra concern about your conditions and complications​ this is not the doctor for that. Good Luck Mommies​! I wish you all the best!