Ankle fusion-complete recovery would take 3 months, pain meds would be needed "for a few days." Instead, 15 months, 3 surgeries, months in wound care treatment, in and out of a wheelchair, off and on crutches. Administered my own IV antibiotics over many weeks, wore a wound vac for 2 6-week periods - all due to Berson's failure to diagnosis infection, rather than slow healing. He threatened to stop treating me when the infectious disease specialist disagreed with him; no other surgeon would have taken me on at that point. He repeatedly undercut the acumen of MIddlesex Wound Care and Infectious DIsease personnel, describing them as "hysterics" who frighten his patients with dire predictions. These women saved my foot through their vigilance. He could not remember my name from one appt. to the next, telling me that I should "put a bandaid" over the gaping incision and "walk around on it." His PA applied twice-dropped gauze to my incision before applying an appallingly tight cast that damaged the soft tissue and allowed infection in. My complaints of ever-rising pain levels were met with multiple opoiod Rxs, rather than an inspection of the site. Office is dirty and poorly run. Practice manager did not have the decency to meet my request for a family meeting - an option advised by the president of Middlesex Hospital. Amputation will always be a threat if further foot infection occurs. read more
