No Location Provided
No Phone Number Provided
No Website Provided
Facility Affiliations
Dr. David L. Principe's Credentials
Accepting New Patients
Yes, this doctor is accepting new patients
Education
- Ecfmg
- St George',s University (Grad. 1991)
- St. George's University School of Medicine (Grad. 1991)
Areas of Expertise
- Gestational diabetes
- Diabetes
- Pregnancy
- Obesity
- Lupus
- Anemia
- Birth Defects
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
Insurance accepted by this Doctor
Other patients have successfully used these insurance providers, please call the Doctor's office to find out if your insurance plan is accepted.
Aetna
Blue Cross / Blue Shield
Cigna
Medicare
Oxford
UnitedHealthcare
I went to Dr. Principe for a high-risk pregnancy appointment as I am epileptic and am looking to get pregnant the end of 2023. I have never had such a horrible medical experience as I did with him. This will be my first pregnancy as I am recently married, and I am 33.
First, when DP (Dr. Principe) entered the room, he barged in with terrible arrogance that immediately made me feel uncomfortable. DP started to begin our appointment with the door open, after which I had to ask him to close the door (he rolled his eyes as if I was being dramatic.
We began the conversation and he was constantly interrupting me. I took out a small notebook that I had listed questions on - there were questions appropriate for the appointment, such as 'will I need to have a C Section as an epileptic' and 'how do I choose an OBGYN that meets the needs I might have?'. He ripped my notebook out of my hands and ran to the nurse's station & made fun of me for bringing it in & having too many questions (I didn't even start asking anything yet). The door was open and this was absolutely a HIPAA violation as I do not want anyone knowing I am looking to become pregnant.
He comes back in and I ask for my notebook back - he said no. DP then crossed out my questions, writing that some are irrelevant/too soon to ask (such as 'how would I choose a hospital/OBGYN as it relates to me being high-risk'), making fun of me the whole time. He then states that I am asking him everything short of where to send my kid to college. I was made to feel like a complete idiot.
He then gets mad at me for being 33, saying that at 35 the quality of my eggs goes down and that I should have seen him at 22, but I didn’t, and now I am 33 so I made a big mistake.
DP tells me that my epilepsy doctor is a fool for not running a specific medical genetic test on my epilepsy to find out if it is truly genetic as I am saying. I am telling him it is as my epilepsy doctor told me it is, and as I have 4+ family members with the same type of epilepsy. She has me on Sertraline as it relates to my epilepsy and is encouraging me to get off of it before I am pregnant. He told me I should be talking to a psychologist about that, which I said I did speak to one and that doctor recommended the same. He then shamed the psychologist and said that doctor didn’t know what they were talking about either.
He asked what specific type of epilepsy I have – I told him primary generalized & I have tonic-clonic, grand mal and myoclonic seizures. He didn’t think that answer was good enough & put down my doctor.
DP said we need to consider IVF so that we can choose an embryo that does not have epilepsy. This is something I am 100% not interested in, but he was forcing the idea on me. I never vocalized this is something that I wanted to do. He then told me I need to schedule an echo scan, which I did not understand why as I do not have a history of heart problems. He then walked out the room without telling me & called my primary care doctor (I’m still unsure why) to get some information from her on genetic testing?
I said my cousin was just diagnosed with MD recently & I was waiting for a test to see if I was a carrier; DP grew very angry and said I should have had genetic testing for this as well, and that I needed to wait until I get the counseling before I get pregnant. I called the genetics locations he told me to, and they said they don't take on patients unless they are pregnant. How do I have genetics testing for things I didn't know of?
DP then made a comment something to the effect of ‘watch, you won’t listen to anything that I say you should do." It was a vastly incorrect and offensive assumption as it shows he doesn’t know patients properly & misreads them, aka he doesn’t know what he is talking about.
DP then said he is the only high-risk OBGYN in the state that delivers babies, insinuating that he would definitely be my doctor, so I felt pressure to be his patient. He said he would likely not be delivering my baby which doesn’t make sense why he would bully me into being a patient. I am completely uncomfortable with him being my doctor.
As we were leaving he shook my husband’s hand but not mine – I had to stick my hand out and he looked down for a second, then shook my hand. It was completely disrespectful especially as I will be the one pregnant.
I left in tears and spent the whole uber ride home crying, and I called my friends/family sobbing. My husband was distraught and we have never been more caught off guard by such terrible treatment. Had I been better prepared emotionally for his attitude, I would have walked away at the first sign of something bad happening. This was my first true pregnancy appointment and it left me shattered and I would not wish this upon anyone.
Submitted Nov. 8, 2023