HRC Fertility - West Los Angeles, United States

I rarely write reviews, but my experience at this clinic made me feel that I needed to share it. Fertility treatment is already an emotionally demanding and extremely expensive journey, especially when paying entirely out of pocket. Patients deserve care, communication, and the feeling that they matter. Unfortunately, I did not receive that here. From the beginning, there were ongoing problems with scheduling, communication, and excessive wait times. On one occasion, I sat in the examination room so long that the lights automatically turned off before anyone came in. During a procedure, I was left in the procedure room for about 25 minutes before the doctor arrived, with my legs raised and completely exposed from the waist down. I remained in that position so long that my legs began to go numb, and I had to tell the staff I was uncomfortable and ask, "Where is the doctor?" Being left waiting in such a vulnerable position for so long was humiliating, embarrassing, and frankly absurd. The final straw was a scheduling error that directly affected my care. I saw the doctor on 5 18, and the doctor clearly told me to return on 5 22. I rearranged my schedule and arrived on time, only to be told that my appointment was not on the schedule at all. The mistake was on their end. What was most upsetting was what happened afterward: nothing. My last contact with the clinic was on 5 22. By 6 23, more than a month had passed without anyone contacting me to apologize, explain what happened, discuss next steps, or even check in. No call, no email, no response at all. I now genuinely feel as though no one cares. This is heartbreaking because this was not just a routine doctor's appointment. This was fertility treatment. Becoming a mother is something I have wanted for years and poured everything into. I paid for my care out of pocket, invested my time, and entrusted this clinic with something deeply personal, only to feel that I did not matter at all. I do not know why my experience was so poor, and I do not want to speculate about anyone's intentions. I only know how I felt: ignored, forgotten, and never treated as a priority. When you entrust a clinic with something as life-changing, emotional, and consequential as building a family, a lack of communication, accountability, and compassion is devastating. I will never return to this clinic, and based on my experience, I cannot recommend it.

Highly recommend!!

We had an excellent experience with Dr. Mandelbaum and her team. From the first consultation, she listened patiently to our concerns, clearly explained every option, and guided us through each step of the process. She was both compassionate and thorough, making what could have been a stressful experience feel easy and positive. The clinic staff were equally outstanding: professional, responsive, and always willing to answer questions promptly by phone or email. We greatly appreciated how organized the entire process was. Clear instructions and regular updates put us at ease and gave us confidence in our decisions. 10/10, highly recommend!

I had a wonderful experience freezing my eggs with Dr. Mandelbaum. She was very kind and took time with me. She performed every ultrasound herself and closely monitored me throughout the process. Her needle-free medication delivery system was amazing. I am very grateful that someone recommended her to me. 10/10.

I am currently freezing my eggs with Dr. Mandelbuam at HRC Fertility, and I am extremely pleased with her and the entire staff. I am 37 and learned through this process that I have low ovarian reserve, so egg freezing has not been easy. I began at UCLA and found the process impersonal, expensive, and difficult. After transferring to HRC, I was struck by Dr. Mandelbuam’s attentiveness, knowledge, and kindness. At our first meeting, she spent more than an hour explaining the process and my condition in a way no one had before, using visuals. Dr. Mandelbuam performs every scan I need. After one cycle did not go as hoped, she personally called on a Friday evening to check on me. Whether you are freezing eggs with low ovarian reserve, undergoing IVF, or managing another infertility issue, this journey is very emotional, and you want someone like Dr. Mandelbuam on your team. She even invented a needle-free IVF catheter system, which is amazing for people uncomfortable injecting themselves day after day. Other staff, including her nurse Jasmine and financial counselor April, are kind, supportive, communicative, and helpful. Jasmine responds quickly by email or text to every question or concern. She explains how to take medications and even offered to FaceTime during my first dose to ensure I was comfortable. Everyone who drew my blood was wonderful. Special thanks to Leah at Encino Surgical Center, who held my hand during a painful ovarian cyst aspiration—my advice is to pay for anesthesia—and was exceptionally kind. In summary, I highly recommend HRC Fertility!

I am not someone who writes negative reviews. We scheduled an appointment here several weeks ago. Before it, we went off-grid camping in Arizona. Without prior notice, they said we had to reschedule because we had not quarantined for 72 hours after returning to the state. We both had antibodies as well. They made us wait 30 minutes in the waiting room and pay $8 for parking before telling us. Having rules is fine, but it is completely unreasonable not to disclose them. The office was also dirty and dusty. Find somewhere else to spend thousands of dollars.

I first went to HRC in July 2018. I had just been treated very improperly at Pacific Fertility, where they prescribed medication without bloodwork. I had already begun an egg-retrieval cycle and thought I might need to start over. In a panic, I saw Dr. David Tourgeman to learn whether the cycle could be saved. I was immediately impressed by his manner and knowledge. He took time to explain where I was in the cycle and how he and his team could help. He assigned me a team, and I received 24/7 care that made me feel like their only patient. We ultimately saved the cycle, and I was pleased with the egg-retrieval outcome. Years later, in April 2022, I returned to HRC and Dr. Tourgeman to use the eggs I had retrieved. We ultimately needed another retrieval and two transfers. I was very pleased with the care and outcome: spoiler alert, I became pregnant. He was not only very kind, as before, but the team assigned to me made me feel like their top priority. My care coordinator Mei was consistent and reliable. I could always count on her to answer my many questions and emails, usually within 24 hours and often within a few hours. My nurse Maria was always kind and professional. She drew my blood many times throughout the process and never hurt me; she has such a gentle touch with needles. Maira handled finances and was always helpful and answered my questions. I always understood the costs associated with my care. I highly recommend HRC, Dr. Tourgeman, and his team. They were very supportive and helpful. Dr. Tourgeman is attentive, caring, knowledgeable, and available. Most importantly, he assembled an incredible team that demonstrated the highest professionalism and dedication to my care.

HRC is the most disorganized medical practice I have encountered, and the extreme carelessness I witnessed made an already painful IVF experience far worse. I recently read a news article reporting that HRC was sued for implanting the wrong embryo. I cannot link it here, but searching Google for "HRC wrong embryo" should find it. Given how incompetent their staff are, this does not surprise me at all. The practice has some positives: short waits, doctors who seem kind enough, and friendly nurses at the surgical center. However, these are outweighed by HRC's errors, which ranged from highly irritating, expensive, and inconvenient to emotionally traumatic. First, dealing with HRC's financial adviser was a nightmare. She made countless errors on my account that cost me extra money. It took substantial effort, including escalating some matters to management, to get anyone to acknowledge her mistakes. She forgot to issue an owed refund and failed to provide records and bills; I suspect she hoped I would overlook the extra charges. A simple question should not require multiple emails to receive an answer. Whenever I requested clarification or information or asked her to investigate a possible error, she either refused or gave an answer that appeared to be an outright lie, as shown when her manager provided a completely different explanation. She could only claim that a quote was "no longer valid," which was impossible given the timeframe. Other questions were simply ignored, or I was told to contact someone who never replied, replied weeks later without answering, or hung up. Their inability to communicate clearly or promptly is shocking. Although the billing and recordkeeping problems were frustrating and expensive, they pale beside the apparent extreme carelessness on the medical side. All treatment and medical communication went through a nurse coordinator, which was frustrating because she made many errors. I identified many and replied to her emails requesting clarification or correction, but these requests were often ignored or severely delayed. For example, she overordered nearly $1,000 of one medication. I emailed about it, but the question was avoided until my next office visit with her. When I pressed, she admitted that HRC "estimates" medication and often deliberately orders, and charges patients for, too much. I found no disclosure of this in their medical forms and was not told verbally. She then said my only option for the extra medication she ordered without my agreement was to sell it on the "black market." She even suggested Facebook groups as a good place to sell excess fertility medication. A PA gave me the same advice, making me think that miscalculating medication and encouraging patients to do something questionable and illegal to cover HRC's errors may be common practice there. She also failed to provide key details, including changes to treatment timing and schedules. Instead, she pretended this had always been the plan until forced to admit she changed things without telling me. I also had to remind her to send necessary laboratory request information for my treatment and testing and to perform other critical administrative duties. The final straw was an error in my transfer-procedure instructions. Again, the nurse coordinator failed to provide basic details about the requirement for taking Valium, leaving too little time to correct the error so I could take it during the extremely unpleasant and invasive procedure. This added unnecessary pain and trauma to an already stressful day.

I had an appointment at 8:00 a.m., but no one arrived at the office. It is now 8:45 a.m. This level of unprofessionalism and lack of respect for clients is unacceptable and does not meet good customer-service standards.

They never answer the phone, and I felt they cared only about selling me egg freezing rather than what was best for me. The doctor was terrible and recommended IVF without even reviewing our test results.