This review is for my experience at Martinez County Hospital with Dr James.
On Aug 5, I broke my clavicle while mountain biking. On Aug 21, Dr James took a look at my x-rays, entered the room, and the first thing he said to me was "You're about to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life".
As you may understand, I was scared, stressed and overwhelmed. He said I needed surgery to repair my clavicle. Since the injury, he said my bones had shifted and were no longer healing correctly. If I didn't get the surgery within 4 weeks, my bones would heal together incorrectly and I would have very limited mobility for the rest of my life. If I wanted to fix the issue after the 4 week time table, then the surgery would be much more extensive. They would have to re-brake my bones and put them into place. I had never broken a bone or had surgery before. I was freaking out. Dr James reassured me that he had done this surgery thousands of times and that it was only a minor procedure. He was confident he could "fix" me up and give me full functionality of my arm again once the surgery was over.
The ONLY reason I didn't go forward with getting the surgery was because I was uninsured at the time. Without insurance, Dr James said the surgery would coat about $10,000. I almost said screw it, and told him to schedule the surgery. BUT, I had signed up for Kaiser through Covered California and my insurance would kick in on Sept 1. I decided to tough it out so that I could get the surgery done and have my insurance cover the majority of the costs.
With Kaiser, it's standard protocol that they have to re-do the X-rays and have me meet with one of their Orthopedic specialists before scheduling a surgery. I met with a specialist on Sept 10. The specialist had new X-rays done and took a look. Long story short, she said that my bones were healing great and that there was absolutely no reason why I would need surgery. Further, she said that she couldn't understand why any specialist/surgeon would recommend surgery for my situation. This was incredible news for me, but I was worried so I decided to seek additional opinions.
On Sept 16 and 17, I sought out a 3rd and 4th opinion!!! All the specialists/surgeons said I was healing great. No surgery needed for any reason. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, these specialists/surgeons looked at the X-rays that were taking at Martinez County Hospital on Sept 21 and said there was still no reason to state that I needed surgery at that time. There is absolutely no excuse for this. Now, I'm stuck with medical bills for help/advice that was not only poor, but wrong. THREE separate specialist/surgeons said there was no reason for surgery to be recommended to me, whether they were looking at the X-rays done on the day of my appt with Dr James, or on the day I met with each of them.
This is simply unacceptable. As a specialist/surgeon, there has got to be a higher standard. Looking back on the situation, it seems that there may have been a motive behind all of this. What else but $$$money$$$. Induce fear in me to make an impulsive decision and move forward with Dr James performing the surgery.
Avoid, at literally, all costs. read more