I am going to write a rather negative review here of Dr. Cunningham and one of his staff members. However, in doing so, I need to stress that Dr. Cunningham is a very capable doctor and it seems very apparent to me that he runs a respectful practice. I just didn't have a very good experience under his care for the past 6 years as a workers comp patient and I want to warn other potential workers comp patients about the experiences I had.
To start off, Dr. Cunningham is one of the very few workers comp docters in the Monmouth County area. That fact was the reason why I chose him. It was also the reason why, when frustrated, I couldn't seek anyone else. There just isn't any Orthopedic workers comp doctors in Monmouth County other than Dr. Cunningham.
In my case, I hurt my shoulder in 2013 while lifting heavy equiptment at my Post Office job. I was seeking a workers comp doctor simply to evalutate and maintain my injury claims. Again, Dr. Cunningham was the only doctor in the area.
On my very first day visiting his office, I met with his staff member, Christine, to possibly persue surgery to fix the damage. I had to sit and listen to Christine openly complaining that she had to take care of workers comp clients that weren't sick but merely trying to use the system. I could not believe what I was hearing. It made me feel rather uncomfortable, as here I was, a new workers comp patient listening to otheres being belittled.
So apparently, the created atmosphere at Dr. Cunningham's office was that those seeing workers comp were simply doing so to get out of doing work.
Furthermore, after telling Christine that I wanted to wait on having surgery done to see if the Postal Service would actually approve it, she told the Doctor something completely different than what I had expressed. This resulted in Dr. Cunningham giving me a stern talk about cheating the system -- which I never was intending to do.
Now on to Dr. Cunningham...
While I think Dr. Cunningham is an excellent, capable doctor, his unprofessional bedside manner made me feel very uncomfortable. He often made a joke about my ongoing condition. He would walk into the exam room and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Let me guess, your status hasn't changed." This made me feel very uncomfortable. Of course my status hasn't change. I have an injury and it isn't going to get any better --- especially for the fact I was still working with the injury despite the restrictions he put me on.
For years, I resisted having surgery done on my shoulder. Nobody wants to have surgery unless they are in God-awful pain. I was not. I was living with the injury and the minor pain. However, after 6 years, when I told Dr. Cunningham I would consider doing the surgery, he laughed for a good 5 minutes as if it was all a joke. I had never feelt so uncomfortable in my life. How could a Doctor laugh at me like this and treat my decision like a joke?
I am retiring in two weeks. I don't need to see Dr. Cunningham anymore, and in a way, I am very happy about that. Neither he or his staff made me feel as if they were taking my injury seriously. I don't need a staff member openly complaining that comp workers are looking for a way to stop working. I don't need Dr. Cunningham to make jokes about my condition every time he sees me. Had I had the chance to switch doctors I would have gladly done so, but he was the only one handling workers comp in the area.
For six years, I was made to feel uncomfortable about my injury. No-one should be treated in that manner.
The one staff member that was a Godsend was Debbie. She's a real sweetheart and you will be very happy to deal with her if and when you visit the office.
If you don't have a workman comp case, you will probably meet a really fantastic physician who will be sympathetic to your needs. In my case, I feel as if I was ridiculed over and over again. I am glad that I no longer have to visit that office. read more