Dr. James William Hoback Jr, MD

He was attentive, kind and solved the problem my husband was having. More Dr.' s In this group should follow his example.

I met Dr. Hoback during my unexpected stay at Memorial. Dr. Hoback's bedside manner is severely lacking. He is arrogant and becomes defensive when questions are asked about his diagnosis and treatment options. He does not assist patients in understanding what is going on with their hearts or the possible causes and various treatments available to them. When describing my symptoms to him, he scoffed at me and expressed disbelief that I was having the symptoms I described. I had to have the nurse on duty explain to the doctor what they had witnessed. Dr. Hoback still argued and made it clear that he did not believe me or the nurse. After the hospital stay, I decided to give him another chance. I showed up for my followup appointment at his office. I waited almost 2 hours before he came into the room. When telling him my current symptoms and concerns, he dismissed me with a laugh, and told me I just needed to "stop worrying about what had happened." I am a highly educated and… reasonable individual. My recent health concerns are new and frightening, which led me to ask a lot of questions. Questions which Dr. Hoback would not answer directly. (It was something akin to the media asking a politician a question. I would get the run around.) I finally found out the diagnosis he gave me by getting the records from Memorial. Not once did this man tell me my diagnosis - even after I asked repeatedly. I found Dr. Hoback's unprofessionalism and arrogance to be extremely frustrating and unbecoming of a doctor in his field or a practicing doctor at Memorial. (I was under the impression they were the best hospital in Chattanooga for heart issues.) I will not be returning to this man, and I would not recommend him as a cardiologist for anyone I know.

I have been a patient of Dr. Hobacks for over 30 years now and DO recommend him to anybody that has any sign or family history of any kind of heart problems. He will shoot square with you and if you want to help yourself he will for sure do more than his part, but if you don't want to hear the facts about your situation, don't bother asking him!