I told myself I would never write a review regarding my medical experiences, considering one can get sued due to the whole patient confidentiality thing, but I just have to give Dr. Dinome 5 stars. (This is a review based on my personal preference, experience and is not something that should be taken as anything more then a positive opinion. It is not a guarantee that things will follow the same course for you).
I discovered a small lump on the left side of my mid-back near my spine area. At first I was alarmed, but that quickly subsided when I remembered I had a similar occurrence on my upper right arm when I was about 13. It was removed safely, and turned out to be a lipoma, the most common of benign tumors. Lipoma's tend to come in groups over time, rarely do you ever just get one.
So as you can see I knew a thing or two about what was on my back. I had just gotten health insurance too by the way, after being insurance-less for one year prior. First I went to see a regular physician for a general diagnostic exam, that experience was atrocious, but he referred me to a surgeon in his building. I went to see him the next day, he said he wanted to put me in twilight sleep to remove the lump. I thought that was a little unnecessary considering I didn't need anything but local anesthetic for the lump I had on my arm. Also when his office staff didn't return my phone calls after 3 weeks, I was pissed needless to say, so I decided to strike out on my own and that's when I came across Dr. Dinome.
I made an appointment with her. And then did some research, discovering that Dr. Dinome is the Cheif of General Surgery at St. Johns. From this website:
http://www.maggiedinomemd.com/
I liked that I was able to find information about her online, typical yelper.
Although the medical building that her office is located in, is one of the worst in all of LA (the elevators are slow & are often broke, and the parking is outrageously expensive) the consultation went exactly the way I wanted it. No fussy baby talking, and she exuded confidence and seemed right at ease, like she really was at the top of her profession. I felt comfortable in Dr. Dinome's presence something I haven't been able to say about medical personnel in a long time. She also didn't try to convince me that I needed be in twilight sleep, she assured me that a local anesthetic would be fine. I really appreciated her straight forwardness and friendly attitude.
I made my surgery appointment for around 6 weeks later, since I learned that I was going to have to front the money for the whole surgery because insurance companies are mo-fos, I needed some time to save up the cash. In that 6 weeks, I received a bill from the first surgeon I had seen, who wanted $500 for the consultation, while Dr. Dinome only charged me about $240. I got on the phone with this other surgeon's billing people and screamed until they dropped it to $130. So the head of surgery at St. John's charges less then half of what a random surgeon from Marina Del Rey charges? Just proof that you should really do your research when it comes to cost for medical services. Ask up front what your doctor will charge for anything, and I mean anything. Having said that, this charge of $240 could have been specific to just my situation, I am not responsible and neither is Dr. Dinome, if your charges are more or less. I don't want my $240 to be taken as the average, it's probably case specific.
Dr. Dinome is part owner of the Santa Monica Surgery Center on Wilshire in Santa Monica, and that is where I went yesterday for my procedure. Now this is a review of Dr. Dinome, and not the center, so I'll just stick to everything involving her. She was great, so were the staff she had working with her. Again I felt right at ease in her confident, easy going yet systematic approach. Everything was explained to me while it was happening, and everyone was in a cheerful mood. They even played the radio while they worked on my back. The entire thing took less then 30 minutes (like was planned).
Afterward, while the nursing team cleaned up my back, Dr. Dinome sat and filled out paper work by my head. I then noticed she was pregnant! Women are amazing! She told me all the things I needed to know about my dissolving sutures, the dressings and the tape that is covering up the small incision on my back. I was happy she was the one explaining all the instructions. I'm looking forward to seeing her in the next couple of weeks for a simple check on the healing progress.
So in Conclusion:
Although I'm super sore today (normal), I feel really relieved and happy I found Dr. Dinome. For my case, and personal taste, she was exactly the doctor to do this procedure.
If I can give you any advice, always know your billing situation before you agree to anything medical related, and always go with the doctor that fits your preference. read more