James J Gomez MD OB Gyn

He is the ob/​gyn associated with West Suburban Midwives, but other than one appointment, you’ll only see him for a c-​section or some other big problem.
So we saw him for an appointment. It really was only just to meet him so he isn’t a stranger later on. He didn’t take a pulse or look at charts or anything. I think they could have done this as a group and cut down on time and money. I’m glad Insurance was picking up the tab for this chat.
In any event, Dr. Gomez is very nice and there is mutual appreciation and respect between him and the midwives. I’m comfortable with him, but I hope we’re not in the circumstances to see him again.

I met Dr. Gomez as the back up OB to West Suburban midwives (they are who any expectant mother in the area should see unless you have a medical complication). He was friendly and patient, however the front desk is terrible. They are the reason I only give four stars. A doctor should not tolerate such rude front desk staff. It’s quite a shame, he’d probably do more business if they were a kinder lot.

Dr. Gomez was the surgeon who delivered my 3^rd baby at Gottleib Hospital. I actually was seeing the West Suburban Midwives, but since I was a scheduled C Section, he is the surgeon they have a relationship with and who does their surgeries when needed, generally at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park.
In this pregnancy, I had some things going on that required more specialist care during the birth. The midwive, Gail, told me that she had observed Dr. Gomez in many surgeries and he was certainly one of the most skilled she’s ever seen. I believe that based on how well I healed from my surgery and how quickly he was able to get my baby out, that she is right. The most important thing about a surgeon is having experience and being quick and precise, and he has a lot of experience doing C sections. If you know you’re going to have one, this guy seems to have the most volume under his belt. It was also clear to me that he was incredibly highly respected by the other staff, from the way that they talked about him at Gottlieb.
The other thing is that I didn’t really expect him to be all that nice. Being the chair of staff for ObGyn prior to the merger at Gottlieb, and being a surgeon, being «nice and friendly» often doesn’t go with that. However, he always took the time to call me back personally when I had anxiety before the birth and spent a lot time talking before and after with me, about everything, (which went great). He didn’t do the thing that doctors sometimes to, which is to talk to me like I’m a little kid or something and just saying «don’t worry, we’ll take care of it, etc.» when in fact I want to be fully informed and involved in my care, even in things that are not pleasant to talk about or scary. He answered all of my questions and when he didn’t know he said that he didn’t know but would find out. Honestly, finding a doctor who is that easy to talk to has not been easy. So, I mostly appreciated how great of a job he did with my birth, but secondly the way he treated me as a patient.
Another thing I’ll mention is that he really took a collaborative attitude with me on my care. So it wasn’t like «here is what you need to do», it was more like «how do you feel about this, or how about this?» When it was time to think about leaving the hospital, he allowed me to leave the hospital earlier and made it possible by coming in after hours to do the circumcision the night before I left.
The one recommendation I have to Dr. Gomez is better training for his staff, in terms of customer service orientation. The workers in his office are simply not friendly at all and make you feel like an intruder or a «number». Also, this may be totally typical, but they don’t keep medical records, so it was hard to get specific contextual information beyond what the hospital had. That may be totally normal for the region (I don’t live in Chicago anymore), but I recommend to any doc that they also keep their own records.