Quote:
Originally Posted by kwitherby
I would like a recommendation for a doctor that someone has used for knee pain and replacement.
thank you for your help !!!!
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First some observations, then an answer:
Unfortunately, because of my wife's sporadic health problems, I have spent a fair amount of time helping to pick out doctors in The Villages. Here is what I have learned in so doing.
1. Recommendations from friends (or TOV posters) are useful and are a factor to consider, but are no substitute for research. The one or two people you talk to might be the lucky ones.
2. A number of doctors in The Villages have sketchy educational and professional backgrounds. Because of its rapid growth, The Villages seems to be a good place for graduates of obscure foreign medical schools or a checkered professional history to get a job or start a practice. Check out your prospective doctor. A good starting place is floridamalpractice.com, an attorney website with links. Click on "Look Up Doctors". Florida is one of the few states that make a doctor's malpractice history available. From that website, you can access the doctor's license, profile, board certifications, and malpractice-claims history.
3. Also, check healthgrades.com and similar websites for patient reviews and as a double check on the doctor's background and history.
4. Make sure that your doctor is board certified in the specialty that you are seeing him for.
5. Generally, but not necessarily, I prefer a doctor in a group practice, figuring that if he or she is really incompetent, the other doctors will boot him/her.
6. Find a specialist. For knee replacement, go to a knee-replacement specialist-- not a general orthopedic surgeon. Experience counts!
OK, to now answer your question, based on the above criteria, my wife chose to go outside The Villages for her knee replacement--using Dr. Duke of Ocala. Great background, and he has done, as I recall, something like 5,500 knee replacements. The surgery, done 2 years ago, was a complete success. (We know a number of other people who have used him, and everyone has been 100% satsified.)