Wegner, Douglas A, Md - Tucson Orthopaedic Institute

My wife has a number of spinal issues. About 3 years ago, she was having such severe lower back and leg pain that she couldn't ambulate without a cane. Although in her late fifties at the time, she is a vegetarian, and exercises very regularly. She has always maintained the appropriate body weight for her height. We went to TOI on Grant based on a referral from our PCP. Extensive Xrays and an MRI were ordered. After taking the usual inordinate amount of time to get an appointment, and enduring the staggering inefficiency in the administrative area, we finally got an appointment with one of the surgeons (whose name I won't mention for legal reasons). He reviewed the xrays and MRI with us, and stated that he really didn't see anything that would cause her level of pain. Interestingly, since all patients receive the written radiology report, we noticed that it clearly stated ""senovial cyst at L5"". The TOI surgeon also had the audacity to ask her if she ""normally had trouble with pain tolerance"". Not only does she have great tolerance for pain, but even if she didn't, we found this statement patently insulting. We just couldn't imagine that nothing could be done (she had had 3 epidural injections by that time), so the next week we resolved in desperation to go to Mayo clinic in Scottsdale. We were seen promptly. The MRI was initially reviewed by a Physician's Assistant (not even the surgeon). It took him about 3 minutes to tell us that she had severe lumbar stenosis AND a very obvious senovial cyst on her lower spine. When the surgeon reviewed the case, he immediately recommended surgery. She had surgery on her lumbar area, and the results were great! Anytime we mention TOI to anyone who has been in Tucson for any length of time, they usually visibly cringe and give us an ""Oh my God"" reaction. We are very non-litigious people, but did investigate malpractice suits against TOI for the misdiagnosis in the case. We decided that the time and resources required wouldn't be worth the trouble. Since we wanted to so what we could to try and prevent others from our fate, we met with one of the principles at TOI to make him aware of our experience with this particular doctor. He just sort of tried to smooth it over and said he would ""look into the situation"". We learned last week that the doctor involved is still at TOI and still doing surgeries. Bottom line...avoid this quack house at all costs. It's a dangerous place. more

The experience related below does not sound typical for this organization. In fact a recent comment to the TucsonOrtho website says ""Please share with the staff at TOI, my appreciation for their fine help. Everyone with whom I came in contact was most pleasant and made their part of the process go smoothly. Again, thank you for your fine work."" Another patient says ""They are very caring compassionate physicians.."" To read more, visit the TucsonOrtho website or Facebook page. more

Dr. Good, Liz (his asst), Cassie M (scheduling clerk), all work together to take care of one patient and none of them communicate with each other or have an idea what the other is doing. The negative comments are absolutely true!!! I was told by Dr. Good over a couple visits that my I could have my surgery on Thurs/Fri and be back to work by Monday. I was in desperate need of this information to deteremine how to meet my needs inb terms of loss of pay, coverage for my position at work, care for my kids, etc. Cassie his assistant has a reputation on the bottom floor where surgery is conducted of the same treatement that she gave me, loud and rude when I told her the Dr. Good told me I could have my surgery on Thurs/Fri to be back to work Monday. She was unprofessional in venting that she will have to call in favors of other doctors and staff to make that happen. All I was doing is seeing if I could be scheduled as Dr. Good promised. After dealing with her yelling at me (she has her own office with closed doors), she refused to answer any questions stating that I will recieve information by email and call then if I have further questions. When I get the email a couple days later she moved my appt without confirming with me, and it was on my husbands birthday, which I would have opted out of. \r \r Dr. Good told me I should be able to go back to work on Monday, yet the Friday before my Wed. surgery, the nurse calls me with pre-surgery instructions and says, ""oh no, you won't be released back to work at least until the Dr. see's you at your next appt."" My next appt. was for the Wed. after he said I could plan on going back to work. This means the nurse already new that I would definately be out at least a week due to how Dr. Good operates. Why wouldn't he tell me that? The stress and cruelty that I recieved from my experience with the facility, doctor and staff has been said by my PCP to have caused my depression, and a phsychologist stated depression ""caused by the treatment I recieved.""\r \r I called yesterday to speak to Liz about a recall and she was rude, uncooperative and tried to hang up on me as fast as possible. She new what I was calling for because Ieft the message with the details before she called me back. It's this intimidating behavior that makes this facility chaos. \r \r After seeing others with the same complaints for two different years, I realize that this behavior will not change unless something is done. I have complained to who I thought was the supervisor to Liz and Cassie, only to find out from an annonymous employee that I complained to, that the person who answered the phone had passed me to somebody who was their friend and the complaint stops there with no action. She (an employee on the first floor where my surgery took place) told me that I must go further up if I want my voice heard. \r \r I was out of work for two months dealing with insomnia, anxiety and depression from the experience I had with Dr. Good and all of his untrustworthy information (i.e. surgery date, surgery recovery, what to expect.) When trying to get help the only people you can speak with is Liz is his assistant who handles everything including legal paperwork that the doctor does not review and just signs off on. She doesn't know if she's coming or going putting patients in rooms that are already assigned to patients that have stepped out for x-rays, she forgets to let people know that your in a room waiting for an xray, and so on. Each visit it was something.\r \r I WOULD NEVER EVER TRUST MY HEALTH TO THESE INDIVIDUALS AGAIN!! PLEASE BE FORWARNED WITH THE SAME TYPE OF COMPLAINTS OVER A SPAN OF YEARS. more

Beware! This clinic harbors bad and uncaring doctors. I saw Mr. Slagis (it would be demeaning to the good doctors in the world to call him that). He misdiagnosed my knee problem as a torn medial meniscus. I had no tear. An exploratory surgery was performed on me for an internal bruise. I would have healed on my own if left along. I am now relearning how to walk after 10 weeks. When I saw Mr. Slagis after the surgery, his comment about the misdiagnosis was ""I only scoped you. Get over it!"" If I were a potential patient, would seek medical attention elsewhere. You have been warned... more

Dr. Wegner is not very good at spending time with patients, treating them respectfully or having attention to detail. Dr. Douglas Wegner operated on my broken arm without ever having examined me (at least when I was in a conscious waking state). He never listened to my heart and lungs or even touched the arm he was scheduled to cut open prior to surgery, while I was awake. He did look at an x-ray with me. His total interaction time with me, pre-surgical office appointment and bedside prior to surgery, was about 12 minutes. I was provided with incorrect information regarding the level of anaesthesia that would be needed. I was told by his scheduling nurse that I would remain conscious with light sedation and a nerve block, and then found out 15 minutes prior to surgery that I would get full, unconscious anaesthesia with an LMA. When I expressed how this was different from what I had been told, Dr. Wegner rather menacingly and rudely contradicted me and stated firmly that I had never been told otherwise (he was not present when his scheduling nurse spoke with me and had no idea what was conveyed in that conversation). His demeanor was irritated and short when he made that statement, minutes prior to my surgery. I was called by Tucson Orthopaedic Institute three times in the 24 hours prior to my surgery with time changes. The last phone-call the morning of the surgery the nurse was completely confused regarding the scheduled surgery time, which was very un-nerving to me. I was not asked if I could arrive at the changed times...each time I was simply told when to be there. During my pre-surgery office visit, I informed Dr. Wegner that I was four years into successful recovery from opiate pill abuse. He agreed to prescribe the needed narcotic painkillers in the smallest amounts that were reasonable for pain control, and to responsibly monitor my narcotic use. I was discharged from surgery with a prescription for 50 (FIFTY) Percocet tablets. I asked to see the Dr. for 5 minutes before discharge to hear his surgical findings and ask about the large quantity of narcotics. I was informed that Dr. Wegner had ""left"". I feel I was treated like a piece of meat being moved around as rapidly as possible during the day of surgery to insure high profits. I am saddened by Dr. Wegner's disrespectful treatment of patients. I have discovered other online reviews that reflect my experience was not at all unique. Pros: got appointment same day-seems very available Cons: poor skills relating to and communicating with patients more

As Tucson Natives, my family and I have obtained medical care at Tucson Orthopedic Inst. many times. Recently however, the Institute seems very chaotic with medical professionals running everywhere and no-one really caring about the client or patient. The bed side manner of many of the technicians leaves much to be desired and the scheduling and billing professionals are extremely immature, unprofessional and just plain rude. One scheduling pofessional raised her voice at me and caused a scene! I no longer trust the Institute to provide care for my family and I will not be returing. Pros: All of our doctors have been great! and one technician even gave my scared daughter a toy to ease the fear! Cons: The support staff in scheduling, billing, operators and some technicians have been very unprofessional more