Choosing a spine surgeon

You might also ask the doctor how many times they’ve been sued by failed surgery. As other readers have responded don’t depend on the reviews. Look into their backgrounds i.e. where they trained, where did they do their fellowship training, how many do they do a year, will he be assisted by anyone. Reviews are a one-time shot of feeling from a patient. Do your research instead.

@sherrym25
I asked if he had any expertise with osteoporosis and they said no, so I don't think this will be the best fit. Did you say you have osteoporosis ?

@jenatsky
Hi,
Was it you that had surgery at Northwestern for twitching, throbbing etc. ? Someone on here told me the name of the surgeon at Northwestern that helped them, with osteoporosis I believe also and now I can't find that message to me. If it was you please send me the dr's name again.
Thanks so much

I found him to be extremely kind and patient during my evaluation. As a matter of fact, his normal assistant was out sick, and the covering assistant told me she loved working for him because he took care of so many of the scheduling details. When I told him that I hoped to schedule surgery by the end of the year because my co-pay had been met for the year, he went out himself and grabbed the scheduling book and came in and sat down with me and entered everything in the computer himself.
My surgery was eight hours long and while I was in recovery, he grabbed a candy bar, because he said he was starving. and then ran 5 miles. Then he showed up in my recovery room to tell me how well everything went. Every single nurse and assistant that I dealt with at the hospital with all of my pre-testing all the way through my recovery could not say enough about good about him. They absolutely love him. They would smile and say “oh Dr. McClendon we just love him. He’s the best.” I was certainly happy to hear that since everything was already scheduled!!
I’ve had three zoom follow up appointments with him and each one. He has been kind and spends as much time as I want asking questions.

@annie1 Medicare does publish success rate information for certain procedures (not all) for surgeons who accept Medicare and also similar rates for medical centers and hospitals. You also can check if a doctor has been disciplined by looking up the licensing board for the state. When I asked my surgeon his success rate for the procedure he recommended, he told me. They do know their statistics. Insurance companies also know this information or at least they know who the better surgeons are. You should look for medical publications they have authored. Ask your personal physician how they would look for a good surgeon.

@annie1 I’ve had osteoporosis and went through 2 separate lumbar fusions, one in 2021 for L4-5, and one in 2023, a revision to the prior one, then extended to L5-S1.
Initially the last one was successful, but a year later I experienced pain again in my left hip area, extending down the left leg with pain numbness, and pain, burning and numbness in both feet.
This pain coincided with severe pain in my neck when I started riding my bike, which I thought was the cause. I went through PT, ablation and nerve blocks on the neck for months. It was my cervical area causing the problems. I went to a new NS after all these tests, MRI’s, SPECT scans, to a well respected doctor here in my city. He told me I needed a 3 level anterior fusion, C4-7. I went through this in July, unfortunately one of the screws loosened and 8 weeks later I had a posterior fusion after removal of the front hardware. The consensus was the hardware was defective, because I was the 5th patient this happened to in the past year and there’s been a problem with equipment ever since the pandemic. Scary thought, but everything changed then.
They did not think this was caused by my osteoporosis, and now it’s been about 12 weeks since the last surgery and it’s holding up, I am healing, although it’s slow. The pain has been much worse than the anterior fusions, because they cut through muscles in the shoulders.
But what is significant is my pain in my left hip area seems to be gone.
Choose your surgeon carefully. But you can have a successful recovery with osteoporosis.
My osteoporosis has improved over time, my last scan showed a slight improvement to osteopenia, I only took supplements and ate well.

@jenniferhunter
I am frustrated with not getting direct answers from any of the surgeons I have consulted about their complication rate. I saw the head of spine surgery today at a notable hospital in NYC and asked him how many patients with similar symptoms like mine and osteoporosis that he has done fusion on and he said he couldn't remember any. He said he's done about 1,000 fusion surgeries in his career. Another surgeon also said he has had "none." Can anyone tell me how to get the real numbers from these guys ? The former surgeon I mentioned was recommended here by someone, although that person didn't have osteoporosis.

@annie1 The best I can tell you is to keep your question about statistics more general, such as what is the success rate for this procedure for a person with my health conditions that includes osteoporosis? You may want to see a specialist who also considers osteoporosis as part of the treatment plan. I do know of a surgeon like this, only because another member had seen this surgeon and confided that information with me. I don't have experience with him, but I will share his information.
https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/19982/stuart-hershman

@ga29
can I Ask who was the surgeon and where in the country?

@jenniferhunter
Jennifer I am very grateful that you sent me that link. He sounds like a great surgeon for me to see. I'm excited now after listening to his video also. Thanks again and happy holidays!