Printer-friendly format

Son of Cuban Refugees Known for Caring, Compassion

Alejandro Peña, MD, has a family history fit for the history books. After his parents fled Cuba in 1962 shortly after Fidel Castro took office, his father trained with the Central Intelligence Agency and took part in covert attacks against Cuba.

The missions were launched from the Florida Keys before the Bay of Pigs, and long before the public fully knew our intentions against Castro. But after one harrowing adventure, Peña's dad said the risks to his new family were too great so he settled into a family life and started a roofing business. For a short period the family lived in Puerto Rico, where they were very poor.

Now Peña, the son of a CIA-Cuban operative, is a leading OB/GYN at Dr. P Phillips Hospital in Orlando. Like many doctors coming out of medical school, Peña discovered his chosen field somewhat by chance. He knew he cared for delivering babies and the human bonds he would make with his patients. But how he came to obstetrics and gynecology involves a cadaver and a rotation in urology Peña describes, as only a doctor would, as "a blast."

Peña grew up in Miami and attended an all-male Jesuit high school. The cadaver was his first medical assignment at University of Kansas and how he met a good friend, a fellow Cuban-American whose family in Kansas City treated Peña like an adopted son. After graduating from medical school in 1990, Peña went on to various medical rotations, including urology. But it wasn't until experiencing childbirth and the role of an obstetrician that Peña fell in love with the job during his residency at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

"Giving birth to a new life is amazing," Peña said from his office at Physicians Associates of Florida, a 65-physician practice in Orlando. Peña is one of 15 OBs who deliver about 2,500 of Orlando Health's 12,000 babies a year. "Most of the time you're seeing young healthy, happy patients. For the most part it is a happy field."

He enjoys the emotional connection with his patients. "You're almost a woman's psychiatrist," he said. "The same thing you hear from your mother or sister or your spouse, you're hearing from your patients."

At a time when the number of men entering the field of women's reproductive health is diminishing and more women say they prefer a female doctor, Peña said that his Hispanic ethnicity – though he was born in Miami – makes his situation somewhat different.

Roughly half of Peña's patients are Hispanics who traditionally are more inclined to prefer a male doctor who speaks Spanish. But that's changing. More younger Hispanic women prefer females, Peña's noticed.

"I knew my population was going to be Hispanics," Peña said. "The population is only growing. Over here it's little San Juan (Puerto Rico).

There are plenty of tough times. Miscarriages and premature births are always difficult. Peña said that while he's seen an improvement in our ability to save premature babies, the rate of premature births has hovered between 9 percent and 11 percent.

"Unfortunately we have not been able to change that prematurity rate," Peña said. "We have only been able to keep babies alive and healthier."

The United States still falls behind in infant mortality rates compared to other industrialized nations. A report by the Centers for Disease Control in October found that 28 other countries now have lower infant death rates in the first year. That position has been slipping since 1960. The report also found the level of infant deaths in America reached a plateau between 2000 and 2005.

Peña said access to prenatal care is still the number one barrier to improving this performance. But sadly, too many pregnant women do not know they are eligible for Medicaid. In Florida, for instance, eligibility starts for women who are pregnant and earn less than roughly $32,000 a year.

Women without prenatal care show up at the Emergency Department in labor where Peña is often on-call. He also volunteers at Shepherd's Hope in Orlando.

Peña clearly has a fond reputation. "You don't see many doctors with the bedside manner that he has," said Melissa Figueroa, Peña's patient care coordinator. "No matter how long it takes, he's always there. Sometimes that's hard to find. He's like that with all his patients, everyone is treated the same."

Figueroa said Peña spares no expense either, even when insurers are cutting costs by eliminating coverage for certain diagnostic tests. "Dr. Peña will cover everything he's got to cover to make sure his medical care is superb. I've worked for numerous physicians throughout the years, he's definitely unique."

While insurers are tightening their belts, OBs such as Peña are continuing to face eye-popping rates of medical liability insurance, though only in the past two years has Peña seen a reprieve from six-figure rates. He now pays around $60,000 where couple years ago he paid close to $100,000.

"In my practice there are 15 other partners, five or six of us in our early to mid 40s, and all of us say by age 50 we want to be done with OB because of the liability," Peña said. "Every time you deliver a baby you say you're liable for the next 10 years. You hear commercials from personal injury attorneys, saying disabilities could be because of the birth and an untimely C-section. Unfortunately nowadays that's why our C-section rate is so high."

Peña fears that over time the U.S. may end up like Brazil, where doctors routinely do C-sections on-demand. "About 10 percent of women want a C-section from day one," Peña said.

When he's not in the doctor's office or performing surgery, Peña enjoys spending time with the 40-plus members of his extended family, playing golf and a fishing boat in Daytona Beach.

Tags:

Alejandro Peña, Dr. P Phillips Hospital

Login and voice your opinion!