1997 Annual Report
Mary Ann Sarda-Maduro, M.D.
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For Mary Ann Sarda-Maduro, M.D., even grocery shopping can be a life-affirming experience.
Dr. Sarda-Maduro, of PAMF's Fremont Center, explains that the relationship between a mother and her obstetrician is unlike any other doctor-patient relationship--and that uniqueness becomes clear whenever she meets one of her patients.
"There's a special bond that develops that transcends the usual doctor-patient relationship to a much more personal level.
"I see my patients here in town, at the grocery store, at the gym--and you just know. You both know. It's a special bond. They introduce me to their kids, and when I see how they've grown it does something to me inside. It touches my heart. I think to myself, 'Wow. I actually had something to do with bringing this child into the world.' It's a pretty neat feeling."
Dr. Sarda-Maduro has been an obstetrician and gynecologist at PAMF's Fremont Center for five years. For her, being a physician is the fulfillment of long-held dream: "I decided in the eighth grade to be a doctor," she says brightly.
"OB/Gyns are in a unique position because we're responsible for two lives at one time. We're not just worried about the mother but also must keep in mind the baby. Occasionally, we're put in a position where we need to decide how best to treat the mother without compromising the baby. But on the whole it's a happy field with good endings, and I like that."
Birth can be both exciting and scary, and that seems to be a good fit for her personality, Dr. Sarda-Maduro notes. "I learn something new every day from my patients. No pregnancy is the same, which means I really need to listen closely to my patients.
"If I've learned anything in this business it's really to listen to patients,because they often know that something is going on, even though the symptoms may not be suggestive of it. A mother's intuition is a very valuable diagnostic tool. I have learned always to take a patient's complaint seriously."
That lesson was driven home, Dr. Sarda-Maduro says, both times she became a patient and gave birth to her two daughters: Daniella, Gabriela, 2. With her first pregnancy, she went into early labor and delivered a two-week-premature baby via cesarean section after a breech presentation--not exactly the type of labor and delivery an obstetrician envisions for herself, Dr. Sarda-Maduro observes.
The second pregnancy was a much more frightening experience--one in which she learned what it was truly like to be a patient: "I had severe pre-eclampsia, which can be a life-threatening condition for both mother and baby. Things can turn bad very quickly." Gabriela was born more than three months premature, and spent those months in the hospital. She is now home with her family and doing well.
"During this frightening ordeal I learned what it really meant to be a good doctor from a patient's perspective," Dr. Sarda-Maduro recalls. "As a patient with a serious condition, decisions are often taken out of your hands and you are told to do just as the doctor tells you. At one point, I was told I would have to deliver my baby immediately at 26 weeks, without the baby receiving the full benefit of steroids being given to me to help mature the baby's lungs." Dr. Sarda-Maduro said she disagreed, but even though she was a physician she had a difficult time being heard: "I experienced for the first time how it felt to have decisions made for me and, I have to tell you, it was unsettling.
"I believe it is very important that patients take an active role in determining how their care is managed. In my case, it made all the difference in the world to be able to participate in the decision-making. My perinatologist listened to what I had to say and we were able to arrive at a plan that both optimized my condition and gave my baby the best possible chance of survival."
Dr. Sarda-Maduro was born in Baltimore. Her mother is Filipino; her father is East Indian and Filipino. She now resides in Fremont with her husband, Douglas (who is from Panama), and their two daughters. "It's an interesting mix," Dr. Sarda-Maduro says. "People look at my name and get confused. I tell them just call me Dr. Sarda, or just call me Mary Ann."
She received her M.D. from Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock, Texas, in 1989, and completed her internship and residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. "Initially, I thought I wanted to be a cardiologist. But I discovered I really enjoyed OB/Gyn during my first rotation, as a third-year medical student," she recalls.
"It was funny, actually. I went to the chairman of the department and told him that I knew I wanted to do OB/Gyn." He told her to see how she felt after doing rotations in all the other specialties. But she found herself comparing every rotation to OB/Gyn. "Finally, at the end of my third year, I came back to the chairman and he had to take me seriously," she says,smiling.
During her residency in Miami, she worked at a public hospital where she saw primarily indigent patients--a lot of them: "The hospital did 17,000 deliveries a year," she says. "In my second year of residency, I added it up: I did 600 C-sections (cesarean sections) that year. I received excellent training experience. High-risk obstetrics was the norm there, not the exception."
Dr. Sarda-Maduro still remembers her first "solo" delivery, in her fourth year of medical school. "I was terrified," she says now, smiling at the recollection. "I wasn't sure I could do it and yet I knew I wanted to do it. I was terrified and excited at the same time. The delivery went very smoothly. I delivered a little girl. I remember thinking, `I can't believe I helped bring another life into this world.' What an incredible feeling!
"There's nothing like it--except perhaps having your own baby. And it's never really lost its luster. Seeing the joy on the faces of the mom and dad, the tears of happiness when I put the baby on the mother's abdomen, it's an amazing feeling to me.
"It's the same feeling every time.