David M Lutton, MD

I don’t pick doctors based on Unilocal reviews, and neither should you. But Dr Lutton has been so great, both professionally and personally, that I had to write a review. He did a reverse total shoulder replacement on my husband. Excellent results. His medical credentials are impeccable, but what really impressed me was his willingness to communicate with us, at all hours and with incredibly quick response time, when we had medical questions. After the operation my husband had an unrelated, but serious, medical issue which I thought might have some tangential relationship to the anesthesia. I called his office, and received a call back from Dr Lutton, within hours, and he spent at least 10 minutes on the phone discussing the issue. He apologized for the delayed response (4 hours! I thought that was really quick), and said next time I should email him for a quicker response time. Fast forward 4 months, my husband fell and needed an emergency appointment. We had an email response, and appointment for the next day, within an hour. That’s a great doc!

I was referred to Dr. Lutton by a well known surgeon in NYC for post operation care. He was professional, good sense of humor, answered all my questions. I felt confident about his opinions and advice. But communicating with his office is a nightmare. They seem to switch phones to the answering service even during office hours. They do not seem to take messages or reply to emails. I am still (sept 28) waiting for reply to an email sent on Sept 16. The email was sent at the request of the office. As a patient this bothers me a lot. Others have to make their own choice.

My shoulder was a mess. I considered going to NYC to the Hospital
for Special Surgery until one of Lutton’s senior colleagues said «Lutton is head and shoulders above his peers.» My shoulder is now perfect. The full replacement was the best favor I ever did for myself. The rehab was tough but today I am as good as new. Four weeks off of work was a gift I gave myself, also.

Dr. Lutton is a average. We think there are much better ortho physicians in town — Dr. Klemkowitz at Gtown being one of them for knees. But the main reason I would avoid this office is the front desk employees. We don’t want to go into too much detail, but we are pretty easy going people and we’ve never never been treated so poorly. And when we complained to the office manager, there didn’t seem to be much interest. There is an employee there who should be let go immediately. Avoid this office. Instead try Dr. K at gtown univ. med ctr ortho or the ortho group with Ben Shaeffer on K Street.

Useless waste of my time. I went in because I was experiencing pain in my inside left ankle from running. I knew it was an overuse injury and more than likely tendonitis. I went in because I wanted advice on how to make it better, possibly exercises to strengthen it, help it heal, anything?
I was told, «it’s probably tendonitis», and to stop running on it if it hurt. This is after I told Dr. Lutton that I had not run on it in more than 2 weeks and I was still feeling pain some of the time when I walked. He then prescribed me anti-​inflammatories. Beyond that, nothing. He didn’t even specify the tendon that I was having issues with, I had to go ahead and Google that myself. Posterior Tibialis tendon as far as I can gather, and I also went ahead and Googled treatment for it which includes things like wearing arch supports.
What a waste of my time and money. Dr. Lutton spent 5 minutes with me to tell me less information than what I was able to find out on the internet for myself.

Dr. Lutton was amazing. I had a messed up shoulder from a hockey injury a few years ago. From the first appointment til the last time I saw him he went through everything. He even gives a personal email address, so you can email him questions directly if needed. He walked me through the MRI, which went as far as making me stand up and pose so he could show me exactly what I was looking at. He took multiple pictures during the surgery to show me where he found issues. While I found it slightly disturbing to be looking at the inside of my shoulder, it was good to know how thorough he was.
Overall, I had a great experience. I’m upset that I’m moving away from DC and will have find a new shoulder doc to finish up with.

Met David Lutton for the first time this morning and cannot say enough wonderful things about him. He was very, very pleasant from the onset, making small talk and jokes. He took plenty of time explaining things to me in terms I could understand, and ensuring I was comfortable.
I am VERY pleased.

Okay, yeah. The office staff is less than friendly. I’ve seen Dr. Lutton several times now for an ongoing problem with my knee. My first visit, I wanted to leave. The front desk staff were having loud arguments with each other, and they were running behind schedule with no apologies. Not cool. Also, they are less than warm on the phone.
However, I think Dr. Lutton is a good guy. I’ve seen both Dr. Graeter and Lutton (both in the same office) and they both took time with me to talk about exactly what was going on. I had seen a previous orthopaedic surgeon who just kept telling me to wait and my knee would heal. Dr. Lutton didn’t do that, he ordered tests and took my problem seriously.
Apparently what’s wrong with my knee is pretty rare (nerve damage after dislocated patella), so took the time to call his mentor while he was sitting in the office with me. He ended up referring me to the mentor guy and personally made the copies of everything in my chart so I would have what I need when I go to see him.
Overall, Dr. Lutton is the guy that doesn’t give up on the problem. When it comes to my knee, that’s the guy I want on my team. He’s also friendly, and professional, which is nice.

I was nervous about my appointment after reading the reviews here, but my Doctor recommended him so i went.
I don’t know where these other people went, but I just got back and I had a very good experience. The receptionist was pleasant and the woman who took my x-​rays was very friendly and made me feel comfortable. Dr. Lutton was running a few minutes late, but isn’t that to be expected witl ALL Doctors? If he had to spend a few extra minutes with some patients bofre me, I understand because I want a doctor to be able to do that for me if needed as well. He explained things to me fully and did NOT seemed to be rushing to get to the next patient. I would trust this office and this doctor with any health concerns that i have.
Possibly, the people who had an unpleasant experience were rushed or angry and were giving out an unpleasant attitude and it was merely a case of «getting back what you’re giving out». I do not know, but I didn’t see any of the behavior that was mentioned.
I would definitely recommend Dr. Lutton to anyone needing this kind of specialist.

If I could give this office zero stars, I would.
I went to Dr. Lutton’s office with my father after he was involved in an accident. The only reason we went to him was because he was the attending while my father was in the ER. The visit to Dr. Lutton’s office remains THE worst doctor’s office experience I ever had. I left right away and found a new doctor on Unilocal (Thank god for Dr. Barrett Goldstein).
First, the secretaries are incredibly rude. I’ve had dozens of interactions with them, in person and on the phone. They hang up on you over the phone and are just generally not pleasant. And FORGET IT if you catch them five minutes before their lunch shift begins — they will send you to the next counter where someone else less helpful will waste your time. Dr. Lutton and the other doctor’s in the office need to be better managers because the customer service plain sucks.
Dr. Lutton’s visit was unhelpful. He came in and just kept looking at the x-​rays instead of listening to my father. In addition to the broken bones, my father had horrible heel pain and kept trying to communicate this to Dr. Lutton. Dr. Lutton kept responding with «well, I don’t see anything on the x ray». It was quite frustrating and my father and I felt that Dr. Lutton was not a good listener for it.
He also talked a lot of smack about the Nurse Practitioner we saw who told us that sometimes, it takes time for a break to appear on an x-​ray. Dr. Lutton told us that that was plain wrong and that «there was a reason that a NP is not a doctor». Well, after calling a few doctor friends, I learned that the Nurse Practitioner was in fact right.
Dr. Lutton was also very hurried and was going to be in and out in less than 5 minutes if I did not ask him questions. He was so focused on tape recording his observations that he forgot to listen to the patient. With such quick diagnosis, I felt like I could not trust him and left angry and upset for wasting my time at his office. I went on Unilocal as soon as I got home and found an orthopaedic surgeon who had incredible reviews and praise from his patients for being a good listener and making time for each patient.

I do not all all agree with the previous review of Dr. Lutton. I do not write these Unilocal reviews often, but I feel like a good experience should be written about. I saw Dr. Lutton today. On very short notice, he was able to see me. I am in training for a marathon and injured my ankle, so it is really important that I get a good diagnosis and treatment plan. He was very thorough and gave me ample opportunity to ask questions. He showed me on a diagram where my injury was, wrote down my condition, and x rays were taken and read all within 30 min. He was efficient, yet took the time to really diagnose my problem, and told me what I could do as far as cross training while my ankle is healing. He is a friendly, educated, excellent doctor and I would recommend him to anyone.

I saw Dr. Lutton in December of 2009. While not a particularly uncommon experience in the medical field, the approximately five minutes he did spend with me were quite disappointing. I had specific concerns which he basically brushed off. Having never been to an orthopaedic surgeon, and never had a sports injury, I did not know the right questions to ask. Still, I had a feeling his diagnosis was not as straightforward as he suggested, but when I voiced this concern, I got little sign that he considered seriously what I was suggesting.
Dr. Lutton only offered me about 10 seconds to come up with any questions, showed little care at all for my concerns and was overall cold mannered. On top of this, he misdiagnosed my problem. However, in his defense, the particular issue I have is rare. On the other hand, who’s to say whether spending a little more time or listening a little better would have ruled out his original (and incorrect) diagnosis…