This is a specific incident around Dr. Nicholas Wills and his team. The front desk staff etc all were very helpful in assisting me to deal with this stressful situation and i really dont hold anything against them and wish them all the best.
I came in may 28th with severe crippling back pain radiating down my leg. Have been trying to wait it out, going to chiropracter and even has physical therapy lined uo but was so sore i couldnt even do the stretches. I was unable to walk or stand/sit regularly for more than 5-10mins withiut fierce pain. So I schedule and apt with dr wills, and he sees me for 5 mins and tells me to schedule and mri and come back... After mri I'm told that every vertebrae in my back has issues, but that one disc in particular is herniated and bulging. They suggest spinal injection, we get an appt on the books and i continue to wait. All this time nothing was brought up about relief from the pain. So i call several times asking what I can do for pain. First call I'm told to take ibuprofen etc; so i try this for a few days with zero relief. Second call I finally am able to get script for muscle relaxers and anti inflammatory meds. Small relief, but enough to make it the week until my injection. I get the injection. I have about 50% relief for less than a week. I call back to ask about pain ramping back up and I continue to wait the 2 weeks to make sure the meds from epidural might kick in later. Still in excruciating pain.
So we get a surgery for a decompression discectomy on the books 2 weeks out. At this point I ask for a Dr's note to excuse me from work since I have been calling in on bad days since april (incident is ongoing and occurred in june/July 22). They send my work a note stating that I am able to work with no restrictions forcthe next month... My surgery date, in the middle of this timespan, and if I was working as their note suggested, I would have had to work the day of my surgery less than an hour after release....... Luckily my work knows what I've been going through, as most people would have been looked at as a liar and let go on the spot.
Then, today; 3 days before the surgery date - I get the expected call to go over surgery info. They ask me if I have gotten a pre op evaluation from my general Dr. I had never been informed of this nor had it been brought up to me in person or over the phone. On the phone I was told id get a call 3 days before surgery to go over what that day would look like. So they suggest we delay my surgery, with no regards for the pain I'm in or the fact that their incompetance is the only thing that keeps causing issues in this process.
The lasting effects from covid wreaking havoc on the medical field and staffing are one thing, but a complete disreguard for a patients wellbeing is another and totally unacceptable. I have had half a dozen appointments at summit. I have only gotten to meet with my Dr. on two occasions, both of which lasted less than 5 minutes where he just walks in, says you need this, let's get it on the books and walks out. I feel a complete lack of concern for patients wellbeing and a total disconnect between what the Dr says in an appointment, compared to what the team says later on the phone. The note they sent my company would have been grounds for termination if my company wasn't very familiar with the issues ive been facing with my back. And that note came after talking to two seperate team members on two different occasions and reminding then that I have been unable to sit at a desk for over 2 months already. I find it highly unprofessional to have to call multiple days in a row and talk to different members of his team to get different answers, only for those requests to be ignored in the end anyways.
I had an appointment for a second opinion today, and they informed me that I would most likley need to be out of work for recovery after surgery for 4-6 weeks. Contrary to Wills team who expected me to work same day as my surgery. And for the following 2 weeks with no restrictions.
I could not in good conscious, recommend anyone go to Dr. Wills after my experience. He seems very genuine and concerned face to face but there is some disconnect between that and his team or something. My first appointment with summit was May 28th. Here I am July 11th, in the same pain after racking uo major bills, still unable to work, hardly able to walk, and no closer to a resolution because I had to cancel my surgery with them for fear of this incompitance spilling over into my surgery.
If you end up with him I can only hope your experience is different than mine. read more