Emily Norland, MD

Wow, I’m shocked about this provider’s reviews. I saw her for my high risk pregnancy and she and her staff were wonderful. I had severe post-​partum depression and went to see her, her office had me set up with psychiatrist that day and made sure to make me know that I did the right thing by coming in. I honestly feel she and her MA saved my life that day and I will always be grateful to them.

When I attempted to schedule my first appt with Polyclinic ObGyn at the Madison location in 2015 with a highly rated physician, I was advised that physician doesn’t see patients for routine exams so I was scheduled with a physicians assistant. At arrival I checked in and learned the PA wasn’t available, because she had to take maternity leave. I was scheduled to see Dr Norland, instead, for the same time slot. I consider it my good fortune that the PA wasn’t available. Dr Norland was helpful, kind, funny and knowledgeable. She was able to perform a procedure during the same visit and timely follow up with results. Before Dr Norland left the exam room, she hugged me! That took me by surprise as I’ve never had a physician hug me.
The negative reviews I read about this physician are perplexing. I guess doctors have bad days too and don’t always leave the best impression. For what it’s worth, I’d like to reassure anyone considering this physician for their care that I have personal experience that this physician offers the highest level of care and compassion. Best wishes!

So this is going to be long, but after 4 months I feel like I need to get this off my chest.
I started my pregnancy journey with the Polyclinic after conceiving twins with the help of IVF. It was a long and arduous journey, but so worth it now that I get to hold my little boys.
I dreamt of a natural twin birth and joined a support group of other twin mamas who had come before me. Dr. Norland and I talked at length about my birth plan… She was sometimes resistant to my goals but I knew my rights as a birthing mama and hoped I would be supported at the hospital. She continued to tell me to trust her, that she had the best interest of me and my babies in mind.
Fast forward to my 38^th week… I left the doctors office after an appointment and drove home. Halfway there I felt a tearing pain on my right side and had to pull over the pain was so intense. I became excited thinking I was in back labor and continued home to labor there and time the contractions. When I got home my mom called and we tried to time the contractions together but there was no rhyme or reason to my pain, so she came over and we called the doctor, she instructed us to come in. By the time I got there I was fainting and vomiting and in searing pain. They could tell that I was not having contractions and sent us to the hospital.
Once at the hospital things took a turn for the worse. We arrived in the afternoon and they ran test after test on my kidneys and gall bladder while I was thrashing around in pain. At one point, after a few hours and finding nothing, my husband heard a nurse ask if it was all in my head.
By midnight the doctor instructed me to try and get some sleep. She said that she was sure I had a kidney stone (even though every test had come back negative) and we would test again in the morning.
I laid down, but had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. They hadn’t found anything wrong with me… There had to be something wrong with the babies. I asked the nurse to get the doctor and demanded a c-​section right then and there. They prepped me and we were in the ER within 30 minutes.
Just after beginning the procedure the doctor looked at my husband and I and said so calmly, «it’s really good that we’re doing this… Baby A has an abrupted placenta. If we would have waited until morning he could have been dead.» At the time I was so relieved to no longer be in pain and was so excited to meet my little ones that I didn’t think twice about the comment. It has taken me months to process everything that happened and to come to terms with it all. I heard baby A (Bodhi) cry once before he stopped. I looked over and I saw tubes and blood as they tried to get all of the blood he had swallowed out of his lungs. My husband and I kept asking what was wrong as they wheeled him off to the NICU. Baby B (River) was healthy and I was able to hold him. Bodhi was brought back to me within a few hours.
It was later, when I was clear headed and able to put the pieces together that I realized that incompetent doctors almost killed my son. I had been with those doctors since noon that day. Never once did anyone mention the words «abrupted placenta» as a possibility. If someone would have told me that there was the slightest chance that my babies lives were in danger… We would have gotten them out right there and then. My babies were almost 8 pounds each and I had reached 38 weeks. There was no reason to try and keep them in longer.
When asked later why it wasn’t mentioned to us, the doctor became incredibly defensive and couldn’t even own up to the mistake that had been made.
I have never felt more fearful of doctors than I do now. The woman who asked me to trust her with mine and my babies lives made an agregious error and showed absolutely no remorse.
I am writing this in the hopes that other mamas will read it and know to trust their mama instinct. These doctors (mine in particular) act as though they know everything, but you know your body… Trust it!

We found Dr. Norland to be very condescending. She was very defensive when asked questions that made her uncomfortable or question her judgment. My daughter was in extreme pain due to a placental abruption with twins. Dr. Norland kept insisting that it was a kidney stone and never mentioned a possible abruption. Several hours were wasted with unnecessary testing while my daughter suffered in pain. Following the emergency C-​section that my daughter ended up asking for, her intuition telling her that there was something wrong, they discovered the first twin in distress as his placenta had been tearing away from the uterine wall for hours. When asked later why she never suspected an abruption, Dr. Norland said that it was because there was no external bleeding. After checking out her comment on the internet, apparently the bleeding with an abruption can be internal or external. I was very disappointed in the physician, and would never recommend her. There are many other excellent OB physicians in Seattle, you can do much better. If my daughter would not have sensed something to be very wrong and requested a C-​section, we could have lost my grandson.

I had a terrible experience with this doctor. She came in unprepared, made a sarcastic remark and then left for about 20 minutes. When she came back, she was again hostile, and only did a cursory exam, and let out a deep sigh when I asked her to actually do a full exam and treat me for the issue I came in about. I had scheduled my appointment through their MyChart tool, and made it very clear why I was there, but she claimed that she never looks at that, even though I think the Polyclinic doctors are supposed to monitor patient communications through it.
A couple of times during the appointment I brought up the medication that I was currently on (which she had prescribed about a year ago) and asked her how it was pronounced. She kept deflecting the question and finally admitted that she didn’t know how it was pronounced. At the end, she told me she would follow up with me in a few days, but of course she never did. Her demeanor was so abrasive that I really wish I had just gotten up and walked out. Probably the worst experience I have ever had with a doctor.

I’m preg. with my first baby and Dr. Norland has been with us every step of the way. When I first saw her I was only 6 weeks along and a hormonal tearful mess (LOL). Instead of rolling her eyes and trying to get me out, she gave me a big hug and explained everything to me and made me feel really comfy. She even personally called me the next day to see how I was. 6 months later and we still see her and she still hugs me at the end of every appointment. She is def. dedicated to her job and insists I ask questions. She also made sure I was 100% ok (bc of my medical history) and had me see a high risk dr (just to be safe). The only nervous part I have is she may not actually deliver our daughter bc she may not be on call that day, but that is with any clinic. I will never see a diff. OBGYN now or in the future. Plus, she’s super down to earth and doesn’t judge. She believes there is more than one right way to be pregnant and wants you to be comfy. I love her! To all the people who are complaining about the long wait: yes, there can be a long wait, but that is only because she has a lot of patients and actually cares about each and every one. Do you really want a dr. who rushes you out the door and has a 0 min wait bc they have no patients? I know I don’t! All the best dr. s in Seattle have a long wait bc they are good docs. I think of it as a good thing. Plus, it teaches us patience :)

i also think dr. norland seems pretty good at what she does. i think however, she’s over committed herself. she is nice and knowledgeable when i’m there, but waiting over an hour for a scheduled, routine appointment and her lack of follow through also rubbed me the wrong way. i imagine she would be much better if she had fewer patients and could focus on quality time. she was not working when i had a miscarriage and the on-​call doctor was great. she called back within five minutes after i called the operator (it was after hours). she was calming and the following day called to talk about the ultrasound results. she answered all my questions and told me dr. norland would call me the next day. it’s now almost two days since my ordeal and still no call from MY dr. (dr. norland).

I had the good fortune of getting Dr. Norland during my delivery at Polyclinic. She is THE BEST! She was encouraging and supportive throughout my entire (30+ hour) labor. As another reviewer mentioned, she is so sweet, and that is exactly what you need when you’re having a baby. I would highly recommend her.

Dr. Norland is an OK doctor. She is extremely busy so the appts are very quick (less then 10 minutes each) and impersonable. I didn’t exactly get the warm and fuzzy feeling from her, but we still stayed with her half way through my pregnancy because we were trying to be polite.
However, what really did it for me was her office staff. They don’t call to remind you of the appointments at all, so you are on own your to remember them and they’ll be sure to let you know that without hesitation. You’ll have to wait at least 15 – 20 minutes before they actually call you in for your appt. I was late for an appt once ten minutes and the receptionist was extremely rude to me and made me feel like I committed the crime of the century. Try being 30lbs heavier during pregnancy and see how fast you can get anywhere. Anyway, I am changing my doctor and hoping to find someone who I can feel a bit more comfortable with as I am getting closer to the due date and it doesn’t help that my doctor isn’t someone I can be open with and her staff treats me like that they are doing me a favor by letting me have an appt with this doctor.

Dr. Norland at the Polyclinic seems to be a good Dr.; however I found that her office had no follow through. After one appointment she promised that she (or her staff rather) would call me with results, but only received a letter by mail. After another appointment, I called to complain that I still had a sore throat. The nurse said that the Dr. would call me back to follow up which never happened.