Married to Medicine: Coastal Orthopedics’ Dr. Ottaviani and Dr. Schafer

It all started on the spinal cord injury floor.

Dr. Laura Ottaviani and Dr. Steven Schafer were both completing their residencies at the University of Missouri. They were working at the same hospital, but they didn’t know each other.

One day, when a patient came in after a car accident and Dr. Ottaviani noticed some glass in her hand, that all changed.

She called a plastic surgery intern to take a look at the patient. When Dr. Schafer came to her floor, he took the glass out of the patient’s hand and he met Dr. Ottaviani for the first time.

“He came back several times to check on the patient,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “He kept talking to my friend, and we thought he liked her, but it turned out he liked me.”

They became friends, talking when they bumped into each other at the hospital, and soon they were going to comedy clubs and eating together.

“I wanted to go out to eat one night, so I called him and asked him if he wanted to go to dinner,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “Since I asked him, I paid for dinner, and he said that was okay as long as he could take me out the next Friday.”

That next week, they went to dinner and a movie.

A few years later, in 1996, they got married. In 2001, they both started at Coastal Orthopedics, where they’ve worked since. Dr. Schafer is an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, and Dr. Ottaviani is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist.

“You do see some couples in medicine,” Dr. Schafer said, “There are more marriages between doctors in primary care practices, but marriages between doctors in similar specialties at the same practice are pretty rare.”

In fact, marriage in medicine is the topic of a hit Bravo reality show called “Married to Medicine.” The fourth season of the show premiered Nov. 6 and features women in Atlanta who are doctors or married to doctors.

But Dr. Ottaviani and Dr. Schafer’s daily reality involves fewer stilettos and galas than are featured in the world of “Married to Medicine,” and more, well, soup.

“I work through lunch, so sometimes my husband brings me soup,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “The lobster bisque and clam chowder from Blake Medical Center are the best.”

And although they don’t work together at the office on a daily basis, they do have some mutual patients and sometimes refer those patients to each other.

“Her treatments can help my surgeries be more successful,” Dr. Schafer said. “And sometimes a patient could be experiencing two separate problems that the other could help with.”

He said often patients are excited to learn they are husband and wife.

“Most people who know you as a physician want to go to someone you know and trust,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “I often recommend my husband, but for full disclosure, I always tell people we’re married.”

After work, they try to keep shoptalk to a minimum.

“If you’re stressed about a case, it is easier to talk to someone who understands,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “But we try not to talk about work at home. We talk more about our kids.”

They have three children – Jessica is a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Michigan, their son, Drew, is 17 and their younger daughter, Kaitlyn, is 14.

They also like to get together with other physicians from Coastal Orthopedics after work and on weekends.

“I like that we have the same group of friends from Coastal,” Dr. Ottaviani said. “I enjoy the group, and I like having a spouse who is good at what he does and who has a lot of respect from his patients.”