TERRIBLE!!!
Dr. David Herson was my very first pain management doctor. I'd just been told I had 3 herniated discs and degenerative disc disease and was sent to him in Dec 2005.
Problem #1: Even though his specialty is pain management, he regularly had everyone in the waiting room wait 1-4 HOURS to see him, even if I got the first appointment of the day at 8:45!! How can a pain management doc not understand PAIN?! I was ALWAYS late to work, even though I didn't start until 10am.
Problem #2: Dr. Herson would spend only SECONDS in my room! He'd rush in, ask my pain number on a scale from 1 to 10 and rush out. The first time he did it, I sat there waiting for him to come back and he never did! I had to ask the assistants to catch him between other patients so I could ask him questions! Another time, I started asking a question and he STILL rushed out of the room! I wasn't going to wait twice again, so I literally chased him down the hallway, having to ask my person questions in a place where everyone in the waiting room could hear me! What kind of doctor does that??!! A bad one!
Problem #3: This is the biggest problem, yet! I was taking big, white Vicodin pills at one point and had a gastric bypass surgery in 6/2006. After 3 days in the hospital, I was sent home to resume my regular pain meds. I found out quickly that I couldn't swallow them! I called Dr. Herson's office right away and was met with his usual procedure of having to leave a message with his secretary. I ended up breaking my pill in two so I could swallow it a piece at a time. No call back. I called the next day. And the next. And the next. While I didn't hear anything, I continued taking my pills in halves since there was no other way. My stomach was now the size of a lime. It took 5 and a half DAYS to get a return call! Even then, I still didn't hear from either the doctor or his secretary! His office was at Florida Orthopaedic's building at that time and someone else, I think Quality Assurance for Florida Orthopaedic, realized that apparently, the secretary was out on vacation for over a week, so they decided to check her voicemail and call me back. I pleaded with the man to reach doctor Herson for me because I needed a new pain medication due to my stomach size. I was finally put in touch with Dr. Herson (now at about 6 or 7 days after cutting them in half) and he tells me I should NEVER cut Vicodin in half because it is a time-released drug and breaking it in any way messes that up and can cause too much of the medication to hit me at once. He prescribed me a new liquid medication. Now, never once in any of my messages did I use foul language or do anything other than beg for a call back. I worked in customer service for 8 years and I would never, ever be anything but professional. Still, now here's the best part, a week later, I got a letter from Dr. Herson's office stating that they're dropping ME as a patient!! Seriously??? If anyone deserves to be dropped, it's him and his lousy secretary who doesn't know how to put on an out of office message! I was treated HORRIBLY by this quack and now I'm dropped??! It turns out that he did me a favor. I've gone to other pain management doctors since and while most of them still make me wait WAY too long in the waiting room in agony, NONE of them (I've seen 5 since him) have treated me as terribly and thoughtlessly as Dr. David Herson! I hope his practice goes under. read more
