Barry D Norris, MD

Do not see this doctor, he shouldn’t even be allowed to call him self a doctor. He
doesn’t listen to you at all! I have never been treated so badly in my life. I came in for chronic back pain from a collision with a semi truck on highway 152, he started me on nurontin and a numbing agent injection. When I told him it wasn’t working he got defensive and said how do I know your in pain. he wouldn’t look at my MRI results, or xrays then has the balls to question my pain. Further more what is doing giving me injections in my back if he doesn’t believe I’m in pain. Then I asked him to refer me to Stanford pain clinic and he said I can’t refer you cause your not a resident of Palo alto, which is a lie. Then he says I should find another doctor, I saw him for 5 month nothing got accomplished to ease my pain. is not right treating patients the way he does. all he wants to do is get you out of his office so he can bill your insurance and see the next victim. stupidity I used him as my «doctor «even after reading his terrible reviews. Don’t make the same mistake I did. 0 stars… actually negative 5 stars

This guy should not be a doctor and should lose his license immediately. He was aggressive and rude and apparently yelled at my wife who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. He didn’t want to take the time to help her and told her she should look for a different doctor. I’m contacting the CA medical board.

Horrible experience. He is an old-​fashioned doctor which is fine up until I have an old leg injury. I have a fractured bone and I needed to do a follow up. His first response is to do sickle cell anemia tests. I told them I have regular anemia and old x-​rays from my prior injury. That was his first response, absurd. I get a few cycles of blood tests. I try to schedule a follow up and no calls back. It has been months now. One returned call from a receptionist that made no sense on the voice-​mail. Several messages after and nothing. I have all the calls documented and even one crazy voice mail. The doctor calls me back finally today with attitude. I was blindsided. He was unprofessional, yelling at me without even have discussed anything formally. He has his receptionist in the background yelling as well. I am following the instructions of my insurance company by contacting him and he just snapped my head off for no reason without even talking to me longer than 90 seconds. I was incredibly calm and relived to finally get a call back when I received his non sensible phone call. Obviously this acceptance of a mass amount of patients is taking a toll on the office but it is still no excuse. It is not my fault the decisions they have made. I know there are not many choices with certain insurance companies, but I would avoid this doctor if at all possible.

When I saw the first review posted here, I was like «Wait, did I write that??» hah. hah. I literally had the exact same experience with Dr. Norris– and worse. He opened the visit with some small talk and I was like, «great, a friendly doctor who sees me as a human being!» Then he wanted to talk about how great my insurance plan is and how it works (although I told him I’ve already been on it for a year). So like the other poster, I tried to politely direct the topic onto my reasons for the visit, namely a referral to a pain management clinic that I received from a neurologist who didn’t have the power to actually make the referral. I had already received another referral to pain management from my previous PCP, but the clinic they referred me to wasn’t accepting new patients.
Dr. Norris told me he was not going to give me the referral because I had to try his ideas first. I tried to give him my medical history for the injury (over two years of doctors and treatments), to show I had already done many things, and that I was only interested in the procedure my neurologist and prior PCP had suggested for me. But Dr. Norris literally talked over me and interrupted me every time I tried to talk. Eventually I said, «I’m sorry but do you mind letting me finish my answer to your question?» I made it clear I wouldn’t leave without the referral, saying I had already been approved for pain management, and made an appointment with a clinic that DID accept new patients.
He became hostile towards me as soon as he realized I had come in asking for something that he hadn’t thought of. He raised his voice, and later informed me he wouldn’t work with me if I was going to see or take advice from any other doctor (what?!). I had a specific procedure recommended to me by the neurologist which neither he, nor a general practitioner, could perform in an office, and that was what i needed the referral for. Dr. Norris started ranting about how I was going to get addicted to methadone if I saw a pain management doctor despite my saying the visit would be for a mere lidocaine injection. I tried to tell him that under my plan (the one he claimed to know so much about) pain clinics are not allowed to prescribe ANYTHING to patients, they can ONLY do procedures. Furthermore, in all the pain management clinics i have worked with (a few) not a single one has ever prescribed me pain medication, not to mention something like methadone!!! But he wouldn’t hear me. He is so incredibly uneducated and misinformed, which should be a crime for a doctor. As a result, he wrote my referral to be ONLY for a consultation, and NO TREATMENT. I have never, in five years of dealing with chronic illness, had a doctor refer me to a specialist but inform me they are not permitted to treat me until the referring doctor gives his approval. If I had done what Dr. Norris wanted, it would have taken me at least two extra doctor’s appointments to begin receiving any treatment.
Luckily, the pain doctor (who I will right a glowing review for) saw how much I was suffering at our initial appointment, and went ahead and gave me an incredibly simple injection that stopped my pain like a magic bullet, which also served as a diagnostic tool. He then ordered an EMG for me, which Dr. Norris refused to approve on the grounds that I was only supposed to consult with the pain doctor, not receive treatment. OK– an EMG is a diagnostic test, NOT treatment! What kind of sick doctor refuses his colleague’s request that a patient get diagnostic imaging done??? And apparently all because his ego is bruised that he wasn’t consulted?
Furthermore, I tried for over two weeks to make a follow-​up appointment with Dr. Norris to do as he wished and discuss my consultation with the pain clinic, as well as my bloodwork results and some other issues, but his office didn’t return my phone calls.

If I could give negative stars I would, the one star doesn’t quite do Mr. Norris justice. What an asshole. I had important and pressing things I really wanted to talk to him about, but instead he rambled for 20 minutes, the whole time i’m trying to subtly and then progressively less subtly, trying to interrupt to tell him, «Barry you are rambling about irrelevant nonsense, I have medical issues I want to talk to you about.» And then after about 10 – 15 minutes of rambling and actually directly talking over me when I tried to give him any input he gets up and starts to leave, obviously I was a little bit «annoyed» you could say at this, so I pointed out to him that all he did was waste time and didn’t even address anything I had come there for, he started to get aggressive and even raised his voice at ME! The nerve right. This guys is obviously senile. He needs to be reevaluated to make sure that he is fit to be a medical doctor at this point in his senility. Really though, what a complete asshole. I don’t usually have problems with anyone but If i saw this guy in a bar I would definitely have a few «words» for him, if you catch my drift. FU BARRY, you fat incompetent senile worm. FU