This review is for a surgery that took place on my husband in Nov. 2011 by Dr. Kit McCalla in Scottsdale. Here are the reasons that I would NOT TRUST my health with Laser Spine Institute.
You are scheduled to be in Scottsdale for 5 days. On day 2 you "meet the surgeon" to review your case. The surgeon my husband met was not the one who showed up to do the surgery the following morning. If I am having surgery I want to Google my surgeon and learn a little about him. I felt this was a BAIT & SWITCH routine by LSI. We had an orthopedic surgeon who I later found out went to community college, then to med school and finished up with a business degree.
We showed up at 6:45 A.M. For surgery. He didn't go in until after 12:30 P.M. Because the patient prior to us "was much more difficult" than expected.
They told me he would be in surgery for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. After 2 hours they said he was coming into recovery. Another 2 hours without a word from anyone. Finally, a nurse said he is having some problems in recovery. The doctor finally came out to give me the rundown. Surgery went fine until his disk on c7 & c6 "popped like a big zit and then we had a tear in his spinal cord which caused a leak of spinal fluid."
I felt as if the doctors and nurses were more focused on getting everyone out of there before closing than they were about his care. He clearly was not doing well but they were all set to release him. I was insistent that he was not acting normal and was in way too much pain to leave. I felt if the doctor that met with him the prior day was actually the person doing the surgery then they would know his personality / behavior and know that he was not acting normal. They gave me some story about the "snowbirds and Scottsdale" at this time of year if we went to the hospital.
Next thing I know they are unhooking his IV and say transport is here ready to take him back to the hotel in an unmarked white van ambulance. One driver shows up. They say he has to stay at a 30-degree angle, can't use the restroom so they will send a urinal with me, and keep him medicated until tomorrow's appointment. I want him transferred to the hospital. I told them he does not look right and he did not complete the tasks that he was supposed to do in order for him to leave. It took 4 people to move him to the ambulance stretcher. How was I supposed to move him by myself in a hotel room?
We get to the ER and he is now in bad shape. Projectile vomiting, blood pressure going through the roof from pain, low oxygen, the list goes on. He threw up all the way to the hospital. The ER Dr. Thought it was crazy for him to go to a hotel room in his current condition.
In the ER waiting room I see the wife of the patient that our Dr. Operated on prior, the 4-hour case that was really difficult. Well, it appears that the same doctor, Dr. Kit McCalla, tore open his spinal cord too! I guess the doctor did not want us to go the same hospital that he already sent another patient to that day. Not so good for the reputation. (After I posted my first review LSI followed up with a phone call. They told me that the first patient was also having trouble with recovery due to another issue that was not caught in the screening process. Another reason that I think that they are very eager to get you in for surgery regardless of your personal situation. Very cookie cutter experience.)
The doctors at LSI do not have privileges at Scottsdale Shea Hospital. They send you to the ER to get admitted. So much for the 'snowbird' story. Another co-pay for you. A big concern of mine was that our doctor was not reachable that evening after we left LSI by the ER doctors.
The next afternoon LSI wanted to see my husband for a recheck, but to make sure we get there by 5 P.M. Because that is when they close. We got there by 4 pm but were told that our doctor would not be able to meet with us for another hour. Seriously, I just pulled this guy out of the hospital so we could sit and wait another hour for them?
We were given pain medication prescriptions. We live in California. LSI failed to mention that we needed to get them filled in Arizona because you cannot fill them out of state. I called LSI from California and asked them to call me back. No one called for three days. Finally my husband called but the prescription situation was never handled.
His pain is back in his neck and arm two weeks later. I guess the steroids/cortisone they injected during surgery are wearing off and now we have a huge bill to pay. I feel that their doctors are not well trained for the surgery they are performing & they get people that are in pain to agree to pay large sums of money for some quick relief. You will notice that all of their doctors are investors in LSI. It just goes to show you that these doctors are some sorts of venture capitalist out to make money instead of personalized patient care.
If you put a Google alert in place you will notice that LSI will release information daily on all of their good deeds. I found out later that companies subscribe to services to protect their online reputation by screening and posting information about them. One way of doing this is to suppress all other information that might be posted about them by piling their own information on top of everything else. I believe that LSI uses this technique to build content for potential clients to view. I know this because 48 hours after posting my first review LSI had Yelp remove it. Yelp is one place that I thought I would be able to keep a personal review available for others to see before trusting LSI with their health.
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