Robert G Watkins, III, MD

Dr. Watkins has taken care of both my husband and me, and we find him to be a superior doctor. My husband’s back was horrendous. He could have done surgery, but instead, he sent him to physical therapy, and carefully watched over his progression. Dr. Watkins does not jump to surgery, which is amazing for a surgeon! He has done the same thing for me. Watches over me on a quarterly basis, and does everything to avoid surgery. Not only that, if you have a question, he or one of his staff call you right back. He takes special care of his patients.

I hate to say or post anything negative about anyone but here is my scenario;
* I had lower Back surgery on June 4^th 2015 (Laminectomy) with Dr Watkins Sr
* The Surgery in its entirety took 2.5 hours
* The cost was over $$ 87,244.29 including Labs
* Its January 26^th, 2016 today and I need another Surgery in the same area of my back.
(I have no idea of the cost yet but after my MRI last week, my new Doctor asked me «why didn’t your last Doctor just complete the entire area instead of just doing such a small area in the lower Spine»??
I have to wonder that same question? Only 2.5 hour Surgery ??? hmmmm
I wonder if I were a Pro Athlete or Celebrity, would Dr Watkins taken a little more time and completed the entire area in my lower Spine. (I will never wonder why Health Care costs are so expensive again) I wonder how long the Surgeries Dr Sr takes on the Celebs or Pro Athletes? Or do the Pros ever need to come back for a second Surgery at all?
I wonder how many of them has to come back and do the same thing, less than a year later?
What type of review would the NFL or NHL /​NBA give the Doc if some of their high paid athletes had to take Game Time away for a second procedure of the same nature after they
paid close to $ 90,000 for only two hours of table time?
By the way, he never even came into talk with me before surgery .
The $ 8,000 approx. co pay and the next $ 8300. co pay is the least of my problems, I can barely walk.:(
What a racket.
On a good note, I had no pain during Post Surgery recovery thanks to the bottle of Dilaudid they sent home with me the day after Surgery.
Bob D
(just a normal guy that isn’t famous but has great Blue Cross Insurance)

Doesn’t care that his office staff screams at his patients and are extremely unethical and unprofessional. Charges ridiculous fees. I would definitely go somewhere else.