To anyone looking for a surgeon for a broken foot/ankle, please read this review:
I had an appointment at Coastal Orthopedics at their West Bradenton office on 3/30th at 3:40pm for a broken ankle. We got to see Dr O'Daly by about 5:00pm. Since we were being seen so close to the end of their day, the staff was notably chaotic. Dr O'Daly, also notably chaotic and rushing, came into our room and gave very little detail on what was needed outside of "you need surgery". When asking my questions, on multiple occasions, he gave little detail and said, "you will be fine".
The team rushed me over to the technician who put a VERY heavy "splint" on (very much like an open cast). Once the splint was on, I was told by the surgery scheduler, Jessica, that I was scheduled for 15 days out, April 14th. The reason I was given was that "Dr O'Daly was out-of-office next week". I told her that I was very worried about waiting so long for surgery and asked if there was another surgeon that could do my surgery; her answer was "well, I don't do his schedule".
The very heavy splint kept me up all night long, causing so much pain. I was not able to move the leg at all, as the ankle would get shooting pain due to the heavy weight of the splint. Due to some very good luck, I was able to get into 360 Orthopedics the very next morning at 10am. (3/31st). In the meeting with this surgeon, who was a board certified DPM (which I've learned is a specialist in podiatry, unlike an MD who can do surgeries on various bones). Contrary to what Dr O'Daly said, it is important to have surgery as soon as possible for recovery. Additionally, this DPM immediately removed the very excessive "splint" and replaced it with a simple compression sock to be used with a boot that could be removed while in bed. My surgery with 360 Orthopedics was yesterday, 4/6th. To think that Coastal Orthopedics was going to keep me in that very painful, heavy splint for 15 days to wait for surgery is very alarming. Also, Dr O'Daly said that I would have 2 incisions on either sides of my ankle. Since my surgeon was a specialist and NOT a MD, I have 1 incision.
Here is my feedback to Coastal Orthopedics:
1. When someone tells your employee that they would like a manager to call them to provide constructive feedback, call them, as then we have no way to give you a chance to fix the situation and have to post on Google to protect other potential patients. It's been over a week and no one has called after I asked Jessica on 3/31st.
2. Out of 19 doctors, all of which are MDs, it's time to get a DPM in your practice. No one wants their ankle surgeon rushing you off to get to a "98 year old who needs a hip replacement" (per Dr O'Daly)
3. Given that your staff was rushing and in such chaos, I think it's time to assess how you are doing business. It was quite obvious that your staff, including the doctor, is over worked and burned out. There were too many mistakes in the 2 hours that we were there. I feel terrible for people working in this condition, and I feel that management needs to figure out how to take care of patients AND STAFF better. Maybe schedule less patients until you can get more staff.
4. Educate your technicians on what type of splinting/casting is needed. You were very wrong with me.
5. Stop trying to fit patients into doctor's schedules and do what is right for the patient. As I sit here post surgery on 4/7th, thinking that I would have to wait an entire week longer in my previous condition is a nightmare.
6. Coast Orthopedics (from the doctor to all the staff), how dare you care for people like this when they are in such a vulnerable state? This visit was not worth the $200 I was charged, and I would like a refund. read more