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Hello All. How many people have arranged for a more thorough medical evaluation (physical, developmental, etc.) after accepting a referral, and prior to pick-up? Just wondering how common this is. Also, how/when did you arrange for this and who was the doctor? Was the doctor trained in the US? Thanks!!
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We had a medical evaluation with Dr. MOntiel which we paid for seperately from the other costs of our agency. From our perspective he did a great job. He provided detailed developmental info, he ran a series of blood tests which we wanted done, and he was able to give us more precise information. I wasn't happy getting just hte hlength, weight and head info we were getting from our agency. We are also using a physican for a pre-adoptive medical consult. Frankly, this whole process was very inexpensive, including having significant blood testing done that would have been very expensive in the U>S. Also, Dr. MOntiel will contact you directly with informatio\n, rather than have to have it filtered through your agency. Best of all, (but really an added bonus) he will email digitial photos of your kiddo. If you check the archives you will find his contact info, but in all likelihood, your lawyer there will be familiar with him. Best.
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Our child also saw Dr. Montiel. We received medical reports and pictures just about every month (keep in mind that how often your child sees the dr. is up to your lawyer/facilitator, NOT Dr. Montiel!). This is nothing against Dr. Montiel, but the reports said very similar things from month to month, as far as developmental progress. This may be his style, and I realize he writes hundreds of these reports each month! So please understand that I mean no disrespect by saying this. The weight, height and head circumference was always updated. The only way to really know how well your child is doing is to view them yourself, if you ask me. That said, our child was born with a medical condition, and we contacted the International Adoption Clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. For a fee, they review the information about your referral (including video if you get one) and make assessments regarding the child's health. They can't tell everything from pictures/video or other doctor's medical reports, but there are things they can tell you. For instance, a friend of mine was offered a referral and Children's informed her that they were pretty sure the child had fetal alcohol syndrome. In our case, the dr. at the clinic read the cardiologist report and made us feel at ease that our referral's condition was mild to moderate, not life threatening, and easily fixable if necessary once she came home. Once you pay the fee, you can continue to send medical information throughout your adoption process, and if they notice anything worrisome they let you know. I was impressed that the dr. had charted our child's progress throughout the year it took to get her home. If I'd known she was going to that level of detail, I would have sent every medical update, not just every third one I received! I didn't send all of them because we were not concerned about her health after the initial first few months. If it will make you feel more at ease about the health of your referral, contact one of the many adoption clinics, there are I think 12 throughout the nation. If you search on Yahoo! under "international adoption clinics" you should find the list. Tina
Holli Actually they caught it in the hospital. She had a PDA, which is a common condition when a vessel between the aorta and pulmonary arteries doesn't close after birth. When the attorney mentioned it to our agency, they told him to take her to Dr. Montiel. I am not sure if the attorney usually uses Dr. Montiel, but I do know of other ppl who had referrals from this attorney who had Dr. Montiel as the pediatrician. Dr. Montiel confirmed the PDA, and referred her to a cardiologist, who did an echocardiogram. At six months of age, the cardiologist said the PDA had healed on its own. They can and do frequently heal on their own. But now our pediatrician here says she heard a murmur this week, so I called today to make a cardiologist appt for our daughter. I should probably mention that Dr. Montiel said that Alie never showed any signs of distress as a result of the PDA. Sometimes, children can be short of breath, have trouble gaining weight, appear sluggish and inactive, etc. She had trouble gaining weight at first, so he switched her to prenan, and he was much happier with her weight gain after that. When we visited her the first time at 6 months of age, she was alert, active and pure joy! Tina
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IMHO, Dr. Montiel is a very good and knowledgeable pediatrician. On our second referral, he was able to detect something going on with the baby's eyes, and immediately sent the child to have a thorough exam by an opthalmologist. We did have other doctors look at the results. One opthalmologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital said that the eye problem that was detected usually is not diagnosed until much later in a child's development. Rhonda Roo