Well, I see I'm not alone in my assessment of the jerk that is Dr. Rudolph. He is a fat shamer and…read morea VERY unethical human being. Might be a good surgeon, but that is the ONLY good thing I have to say about him. Wait till you hear what he said to me as I lay in my hospital bed! But I need to set this all up first.
God forbid you are an ounce overweight. My first visit to his office for a possible knee replacement (and this should have been my first clue) was the unsolicited advice he gave me in regards to my being fat. Btw, I don't have a problem using that word. I'm fat and I won't be much longer now that I am getting my second knee done by another doctor and will be able to return to my normal activities of power walking and boogie boarding. I was a competitive athlete, so I know what I need to do that I haven't been able to do for several years now.
He actually said to me, "Why don't you just eat one meal...EVERY OTHER DAY." WTF?! Who gives ridiculously unhealthy advice like that?! I even said to him, "Are you crazy?!" He then said, "I guess I shouldn't be giving out nutritional advice, heh, heh." I then responded with, "You sure as hell shouldn't!"
One more pre op visit before surgery and then he says to me, "Tell me the risks of surgery." And I did. He then said, "Now tell me the risk of surgery being that overweight." I said, "Look Doc, I know how overweight I am, you don't need to say that." Sheez.
Fast forward to two days after surgery as I am lying in my hospital bed at Scripps La Jolla, where he is not on staff, but does his procedures there. He comes in at like 6 am and proceeds to trace his hands over my body in some stupid fashion and all I could say was, "What are you doing?" He responds with, "I'm just trying to figure out how you do it." "Do what?" I say. He says, and I shit you not...."YOU'RE LIKE THE SIZE OF TWO PEOPLE, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A PAPOOSE LYING NEXT TO YOU." And he laughed whilst he said it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I said, "You are the most unprofessional doctor and you have fat shamed me for the last time!! Leave the room now and I never want to see you again!!" I only saw his P.A. Eric, for my post op visits. You know, the one that the other negative reviewer, Lisa S. said on here, is not very personable. She's right, he's not, but at least he never fat shamed me!
Needless to say, I told several of the nurses, who literally dropped their jaws (pretty much the response I've received from everyone I've told this story to!!) and asked me to tell this to the charge nurse, which of course I did. She gave me the number of the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery and several other hospital administrators to report him to. And you better believe I did as soon as I got home. The Chief called back and apologized profusely to me and said no one deserves to be talked to that way. He said he would be speaking to him regarding this matter. I told him that I just happen to be a confident fat girl. Can you imagine him saying this to one who isn't??!
WAIT, IT GETS EVEN MORE CONVOLUTED FROM HERE!
Fast forward 6 months later and I now need to get my other knee replaced, which I knew was coming. I knew I wasn't going back to him, that's for sure. After calling several other surgeons and being turned down, some because of my weight, and others because of my insurance, I got a bit desperate, and decided to call back Rudolph's office to see if there might be another surgeon in his office that might do the procedure. Eric, his PA answered the phone. When I told him why I was calling, he said, "Are you sure you don't want Dr. Rudolph to do it? You think the surgery went ok, right?" Yes, I said, but this is what he said to me in the hospital and I really don't want to see him again, bla, bla. Eric said, let me just see if he will even do the surgery on you and put me on hold before I could even say no way. What he came back with next, blew me away.
Eric said, "I talked to him and he said, if you will call back the Chief of Surgery and tell him you regret all you said, he will do your surgery." WHAT THE HELL?!?! You want me to lie about my own horrific experience with you and compromise MY ETHICS to do so?!?! The nerve of that bastard!! I should report your ass to the AMA and don't think I still won't!
Happy ending to this sad story. The very next day, I found a wonderful doctor who is doing my surgery this coming week. When I asked him why he would do the surgery when others wouldn't, he said, "Recent literature shows that there is no more of a risk doing surgery on overweight patients as there is on thinner ones." He also was blown away when I told him what Dr. Rudolph said and how I was treated.
I sure hope someone in his office, or Dr. Rudolph himself reads this. You need to understand how you are undermining people's esteem and confidence with your fat shaming ways. Take some kind of patient compassion classes, because you are far from being a compassionate person, no less a caring doctor!!