The facility is nice. The nurses and PAs and other staff are wonderful. This rating and review is about one particular doctor and not anyone else there (who are all great). This review and rating is only about my experience with Dr. Kramer.
He is the most egotistical, chauvinistic, and dismissive doctor I have ever seen.
I was a very active kid, so I've been going to orthopedic doctors for years. I'm used to a variety of bedside manner styles. Dr. Kramer's "bedside manner" is no manner at all. He did not shake my hand, he did not look directly at me, and he barely examined me.
I saw him two years ago for a herniated disc and was so distressed by that experience that I swore I'd never go back to him. I injured my ankle last week and needed to go to Murphy Wainer's Orthopedic Urgent Care Clinic, and it's my luck that Dr. Kramer was the doctor on duty.
I had x-rays done, then waited. He breezed into the room and diagnosed me with Achilles tendinitis without even touching my ankle. All of my concerns were dismissed. When I asked any questions about other possible diagnoses, he shrugged them off and simply reiterated the diagnosis he walked into the room with. He did not perform the very simple test to check for a torn or ruptured Achilles, even if it was just to put my mind at ease. Upon my insistence for some sort of exam, he touched my ankle, squeezed my Achilles tendon gently, and then said it was just tendinitis. "It's only been a day," he said, "so of course it's still hurting."
He did not offer any treatment options beyond "ice and Advil." I said that my ankle was extremely painful in certain positions, including walking, and asked for some suggestions to help with that while it heals, since I assume pain means that I should not put it in those positions. He basically shrugged and said that I shouldn't put it in those positions but offered no suggestions to avoid them.
I asked him what I need to do to ensure it heals quickly and properly. He said it didn't matter and was just a matter of how much pain I could stand while it heals. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and can deal well with pain and discomfort. I insisted on something - anything - that would help facilitate healing. He said that I could wear a boot if I wanted to. I asked if that would help and was told that it would prevent my foot from going into the positions that make it hurt. I asked if he'd recommend that and he shrugged.
I ended up choosing the boot as my own course of treatment without much input at all from the "medical professional" that I paid a lot to see. Once I decided on the boot, he asked my shoe size. I said that I wasn't sure and usually wore anything from an 8 to a 9. He looked at my foot and said "So probably a 6 or 7?" I reiterated 8 or 9. He left the room. On his way back with the nurse who was going to fit me with a boot, I heard him say (loudly), "She's the only female I know who doesn't know her own shoe size."
Let me say that again.
A doctor, a medical professional, said, loudly, right outside the exam room I was in, "She's the only female I know who doesn't know her own shoe size."
I was speechless. I wanted to say so much to him in that moment, but I could not think of any words that would adequately describe my outrage at this entire experience that peaked with that one incredibly chauvinistic comment.
As my last desperate attempt at getting anything useful from him, I asked for a note to put my personal training session package on hold while I heal. He said that the nurse up front would take care of that. I asked the nurse for the note and she said that the doctor is supposed to write it and sign it - she's not legally allowed to. I did eventually get the doctor's note.
It's been a little over 3 days since I saw Dr. Kramer. I've stopped wearing the boot because it was making it hurt worse. My foot is now swollen at all times, my Achilles doesn't feel any better, and I'm out a couple hundred dollars. read more
