Oh man, this guy is an awful person - arrogant, rude, and cold. I've been hearing bad stuff about him for years, but there's a shortage of neurologists in Mt. P., so I gave him a try. What a mistake. Avoid at all costs!
After all the negative feedback I'd heard, I was nervous about seeing him. When he first walked in the examining room, I thanked him for seeing me and made a little joke about being a klutz and spraining my ankle while roller-blading. I told him I thought I might have nerve damage in my arm from using crutches for a month. I also told him I was in severe pain and I needed his help. Incredibly, he raked me over the coals for offering a diagnosis. He actually said, "You're not the doctor. I'm the doctor!" Then out of the blue he said, "I don't prescribe narcotics." (Um, I hadn't even mentioned wanting pain meds - I can't tolerate narcotics anyway.) Then he went off on a tangent about patients who look up their symptoms on the internet and who attempt to diagnose themselves - how we're a society of charlatans, blah blah. Then he blurted out, "You have tendonitis. There's nothing that can be done for that, and it will probably bother you the rest of your life." He turned around and left without giving me a prognosis or any advice. The physician's assistant who was with us just shook her head and left. It was all I could do to keep from crying.
Just because a patient is in pain, doesn't mean they're trying to get a Rx for narcotics. Most of all, I could have used some encouragement - or at least a decent diagnosis and plan for recovery. I got nothing. I ended up going to a neurologist downtown who, after extensive tests, diagnosed me with frozen shoulder, gave me an order for physical therapy and a ton of great advice on self-help. He was kind, gentle, understanding, and even encouraged me to research my condition on the internet.
Since all this happened, I've heard a couple of dozen similar stories about Dr. Hughes. One woman felt like taking her own life after a visit with him. He coldly and un-diplomatically blurted that she had Parkinson's disease and then left the examining room. Wow.
Dr. Hughes, if you're reading this, you need to re-evaluate why you went in to medicine to begin with. Maybe you should consider research or another area in which you won't have contact with patients. read more