Gateway Orthopedics

Very Frustrated! I’m writing this update at 3:30am because I’m still nauseated and can’t sleep. The doctor’s office still won’t do anything to help me.
Diana finally called yesterday ¹⁄₁₉. She did apologize for the delay. However… She said she would call my pharmacy for a prescription for the nausea. She never called. I spoke to my pharmacist and they checked everywhere. There was no prescription and nobody from the doctor’s office called.
It’s now at a point where I need to file a complaint with my insurance. This office treated me badly before I was a patient. Now that I’m a patient (and just had surgery), they are treating me worse.

Major waste of time! I have been having back problems for a long time and I have gotten the run around just about everywhere I have gone. This place worst of all. They made me bring my own X-​rays of my back which was a pain in the ass to get another referral for… once I did that and brought them to my appointment they could not open the file and they took me to their x-​ray machine (probably to get more money). Then they said it was inconclusive so they need an MRI and another appointment. Reviewed MRI and saw lumbar disc and muscle issues. Gave me one treatment option– injections into my back. I asked for any other advice, back support, stretches, diet… ANYTHING. Gave me nothing. When I called back to ask about which directions my discs were bulging he never called me back. Called and left messages where they promise to get back to me in 24 hours and never ever got a call back. Also, the person I saw was not a Dr. at all but rather a PA to the real Dr. I had a referral to SEE THE DOCTOR NOT AN ASSISTANT!!! HORRIBLE STAY AWAY!
My referral was to Dr. Richard H Blanks, MD
I met with: Michael J. Duffy, PA — PA STANDS FOR PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT

Wow had a appointment today with Dr Richard Blanks’s WOW he let it be known that he’s RACES don’t care for BLACKS at all. He walk in said I’m Dr Blanks how may I help you I tried to answer his question before I can finish he interrupt me and said there’s NOTHING I CAN DO FOR YOU, YOU JUST NEED TO DEAL WITH IT. I paid 40.00 Co-​payment for 5 minutes. I drop my x-​rays off two weeks before my appointment if he knew there was nothing he could do for me why did he allow me to make a appointment with him. It was strange how he came straight out and said i will not give you a knee replacement. I wasn’t there because I wanted a knee replacement. I was there because I have had 3 knee surgeries on my left knee and a history of Dvt. I referred to him by my primary doctor to see what maybe cause the pain, swelling and burning that is going on with my knee. THAT WAS A REAL RACES MOMENT FOR ME! I kept my cool and walked.

I can’t say anything about that actual medical care since I’ve spent two days trying to get my wife’s dad an appointment after being referred by his family doctor. His doctor faxed over the referral in the morning before called. When I called to make an appointment they bounced me three times, each time saying that if he had a fracture then he had to go to his doctor and get a referral. I explained that he’d already been to the doctor and that a referral had already been faxed.
I finally was told that if he’s had x-​rays that they would need the disc to be picked up from his doctor and delivered to Gateway before he could have an appointment. They would look at the disc and determine how urgent it was. The disc was picked up and delivered around 1:30 pm where they again said they did not have a referral (it had been faxed a second time hours earlier. We were not contacted for the rest of the day.
The following morning the whole process started over. (If he has a fracture, he needs to see his doctor first…) Eventually we found that his assisted living home had managed to get an appointment.
The doctors may be good but the office staff does not come off as very bright at all.
–== UPDATE==–
My father-​in-​law and I had our first visit today. At first it seemed to be pretty much as expected. We had a ton of paperwork to fill out as is now customary. And of course the customary 1 hour 15 minute wait before being called in to see the doctor. In fact, we were called up at about the 50 minute mark as if to see the doctor ably to be handed back his ID, this after taking a lot of time to get a near 90 year old man with a bad back and broken hand up and out of his chair. Not real aware of the patients problems, I guess.
That said, everything changed once we were called in to see the doctor. We were met by the physician’s assistant himself as he introduced himself by his first name. (Walter Harris). A very personable man who made both of us feel very comfortable and at ease immediately. He looked at the x-​rays we had brought and quickly ordered a better set to be shot. Those were done promptly and he advised us that a cast was in order. He and the nurse (who was also very friendly and attentive) got right to it and soon my father-​in-​law was sporting a cast. I especially liked that they addressed him directly as well as myself. He has dementia and too often doctors ignore him and only speak to me (or just mumble to themselves). The paperwork that his assisted living home requires was quickly filled out without the complaining we’ve experienced when we’ve asked for it to be competed. It was a very good first visit.
I’m revising my score from 2 stars to 4 stars. They would have had 5 stars if it wasn’t for how confused and disorganized the front office staff was on the phone setting up this appointment.

I have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Marger. I broke my wrist in April while snowboarding and it was a pretty bad fracture. From the beginning, Dr. Marger was always looking out for my best interests and explained everything extremely well. Although surgery was an option, he did everything he could to help my wrist heal without it. Because of the severity of the fracture and the long amount of healing time in my cast, I wasn’t expected to gain my full range of motion back in my right wrist. I can honestly say that I have healed to 99% of how I was before the fall. Even my physical therapist commented about how well my wrist was reset by Dr. Marger. I am more than happy with my results. Thank you Dr. Marger! You are the best!
Also, all of the nurses at the facility are nice and helpful. Minus one star because wait time is abnormally long and they charged me the wrong copayment throughout my care and I ended up having to pay a huge lump sum to make up for the error after the fact. It was somewhat inconvenient.