I thought I may have ruptured my Achilles in August 2020. I was referred to Bucks Co. Ortho through a friend. They assigned Dr. Susan Griffith to my case. It turned out I had not ruptured it at that point, so they sent me home with no care recommendations of how to avoid further injury. During that time, I had some calf pain and found out I had a DVT in a small vein in my calf. Shortly after this discovery, I did indeed rupture his Achilles. I went back to Bucks Co. Ortho to have this confirmed. Once receiving an MRI, Dr. Griffith sent me home without a boot. Upon my next visit to follow-up and review my MRI she was surprised that she herself had not already fitted me for a boot upon my last visit and finally gave me one.
My vein specialist would not sign off on the surgery, and recommend I wait at least 3 months after starting a blood thinner. I was worried about waiting that long and was under the impression that I could move forward with surgery regardless. Bucks Co. Ortho scheduled the surgery for a Monday. They assured me that they would be coordinating with the vein specialist to get the paperwork they needed. The Friday before surgery, Bucks Co. Ortho called to let me know that they still hadn't received approval from the vein specialist. They told me to call him and get the paperwork they needed. Dr. Griffith then got on the phone with me and was extremely condescending. She told me that if I couldn't get approval from the vein specialist then she could not do the surgery and that would be 'ruining her schedule for the week.' She also said to me, "If my boss knew I were spending this much time discussing this with you I would be in big trouble." She then told me how to get approval from the vein specialist. She said, "Get a piece of paper and write this down: LOW...RISK...he needs to give you something saying LOW...RISK, did you get that?" She continued to speak me in a very passive aggressive tone. I spoke to the vein specialist and he said he would not be signing off and that he truly didn't recommend the surgery right now. It really floored my wife and I that this doctor was willing to move forward with the surgery with no regard to the blood clot in my leg and the risks of the surgery.
I let Bucks Co. Ortho know that the vein specialist would not sign off. From there, surgery was obviously cancelled. Bucks Co. Ortho NEVER followed-up with me at any point after this. Not to see if I was okay, after the 3 months to get me scheduled for surgery, nothing. I then went to Rothman where they created a thorough care plan with instructions until surgery. We continue to receive bills from Bucks Co. Ortho that have been paid for. My wife works in healthcare and particularly guaranteeing patient satisfaction and we agreed that this practice, and particularly this doctor made it very clear that they were not interested in my wellbeing. Any doctor that can talk to a patient like that and think that they are interested in being under the knife with her, needs a refresher in bedside manner. read more