I went to Dr. Shapiro due to a knee injury in Jan. 2017. He did an x ray & said it was arthritis & put me on Meloxican for 2 weeks (which did nothing). I went back to Dr. Shapiro & told him I felt like the extreme pain was more soft tissue than bone, so he sent me for an MRI (which I had to suggest) where it was discovered that I had a torn meniscus. During the follow up visit, Dr. Shapiro gave me two options - one was to repair the meniscus & come in every couple months to have injections in my knee, the other option was to have a partial knee replacement. He told me that only 5% of people are eligible for a partial knee replacement so I was lucky because partial's were not as severe as a full knee replacement & the recovery time was much shorter (12 weeks). I was very unsure of what choice to make & asked him multiple times what I should do & he said he could not tell me (which I understand, but I think he should have at least given me his professional recommendation). I told him that injections in my knee didn't sound like a long term solution & asked if I would eventually need surgery, in which he replied "yes" so I chose to have the surgery to eliminate long term injections, (& inevitably end up having this surgery anyway).
Dr. Shapiro performed a partial knee replacement in March, 2017. I stayed over night at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. I never saw Dr. Shapiro after the surgery. Another doctor came in the next morning to change the incision dressing & gave me instruction on wound care & said he was going to sign release papers. He told me to NOT start physical therapy for 2 weeks because of some unusual pain I was having. A short while after he left, the nurse came in & asked if I had seen my doctor.. I told her that the surgeon had sent an associate; she looked confused & asked his name. She stated that she didn't know who this person was so left the room to check to see if my release papers were signed or if he made any case notes on the computer... nothing was found. She could not reach Dr. Shapiro, so she made some other phone calls & found out that the "associate" was not affiliated with Dr. Shapiro's practice, nor was he a practicing physician at Beaumont at all.. he simply sat in on my surgery as an OBSERVER!
During PT I kept complaining that it felt like "shards of glass" every time I would bend my knee, especially with any kind of weight bearing. The PT's were a bit perplexed & said they had never heard of anyone describe pain in that manner. I believe I wasn't able to make good progress because of this pain. I completed 11 weeks of PT, three days per week, successful in the range of motion but not in strength or bringing back the quad muscle.
13 weeks post op, I had my "final" follow up visit with Dr. Shapiro. He was surprised at the amount of swelling I still had, so he put me back on Meloxican (which again, did nothing) & told me to come back in 3 months. I returned about 2.5 months later because I did not feel I was making the progress I should have been I was still having the sharp "glass" like pain. He did x rays & said they looked good but "something was wrong". He suggested going back into the knee arthroscopically to "clean things up". I decided to get a second opinion, so I made appointments with 2 different surgeons... They both said they did not feel a scope would do any good, as it appears the outside of my knee cap is rubbing against the metal prosthetic (which they both determined from x rays they took, even though Dr. Shapiro said the x rays looked fine). Both surgeons said they would have never done this surgery on me & would have directed me to repair the meniscus & see what happened from there.
A couple weeks later, I made an appointment with another surgeon for yet another opinion. He asked if I had gone through any type of drug or physical therapy prior to surgery & when I told him "no" he said "No one in their right mind should have done this surgery on you without long term therapy of some type". He also feels that if I were to have another surgery, it would only give me a 50% chance of taking care of the problem. He, prescribed a knee brace & sent me back to physical therapy. Eight months later, I am continuing to try to regain my quad strength, but the pain is always there. I will never have my normal active life back. I will never run, jump, kick a ball, squat... the list goes on. In short, Dr. Shapiro performed major knee surgery on me when only a minor meniscus repair would have solved my issue. I take partial blame for not getting a second opinion PRIOR to the surgery, but I have never had surgery & assumed I could trust MY surgeon. Please steer clear of this surgeon! read more
