Dr. Andrew Frank Cannestra, MD

wish I could give him a zero. His office staff is atrocious. His ego is enormous. I am worse off now than I was before surgery with problems that were created because of surgery and their lack of attention. this surgery basically ruined my quality of life permanently. I wish I never gone to this person or this practice.

Dr. Cannestra is an amazingly talented and brilliant surgeon. But his staff is absolutely horrible and incompetent. His medical assistant, Laura Ward, who thinks she's a nurse or doctor is probably the worst medical (almost said professional) employee I've ever dealt with. I'll get back to her. As for Cannestra, you have to understand his personality. To less confident, more introverted types, he may come off as braggadocious. He's not. He's confident. He's good at what he does, and he knows it. Being very busy, he gets directly to the point and tells patients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. He's there to provide a service and lying to people to make them feel better about themselves is not in his job description. Bottom line, he's darn good and did a darn good job fixing my herniated disc. Now for his staff. Pre and post-surgery, they were horrible. It was nearly impossible to talk to anyone other than the answering service. So much so that one answering service… guy in particular and I got on a first name basis. He said more than once that I was not alone in my frustration. Post-surgery ON MY SPINE, I had some issues. I developed an infection (severe headache, unusually large swelling, pain, incision area hot to the touch, and a lot of leakage). I could not get anyone to call be back. Anyone that knows anything about this, knows that these are very serious issues. In hindsight, I should have gone to the ER. I have a retired surgeon in my family and the second day of this I called him, and he explained how serious it was and told me to go to the hospital. I'm a stubborn person and did not. Three days after contacting Dr. Cannestra's office, I finally got a response from Laura Ward, aka the medical assistant that thinks she's a doctor. Without seeing my incision and hearing my description of symptoms, she diagnosed me over the phone and told me not to be concerned. This is a medical assistant that can take your temperature and blood pressure and not much else, giving a patient that possibly had cerebral spinal fluid leaking from his back and an infection near the spinal column, medical advice over the phone. Absolutely reckless and unethical. After several other interactions with the answering service and not getting help from actual medical professionals, I had a follow up appointment. Not with the guy that did the surgery, but with a PA. He was an absolute prize. It was a phone call and I had to tell him how to run it. It was bad. I had to volunteer every bit of information with him replying with things like, "well, sounds like you're doing well." Ridiculous. After this appointment I contacted the office several more times, hoping to actually speak to Dr. Cannestra. I never did. I finally got a call from an office manager of some sort. She asked me to explain my frustration. I told her if Dr. Cannestra couldn't find five minutes out of his day to hear how horrible his staff is, then he doesn't want to know. I was scheduled for a second follow up appointment that I canceled. I never went back and unless the entire assisting staff pool has been replaced in the last six months, do not use Dr. Cannestra. It's really a darn shame because I really liked him. He's a great surgeon but his talent was definitely not worth the pain and frustration of dealing with his staff.

WHAT visit?? I was scheduled for a Zoom visit and was called and told appointment was moved up two weeks, to the next day. I had had updated MRIs as requested, got everything filled out and sent to him and wrote down my questions, installed Zoom.... logged in, then, at the exact time of the appointment, got a call from someone at the office that he couldn't help me and I should try injections. I have BEEN getting injections and am not supposed to because of other health issues, but if he'd spent five minutes looking at what I sent him he would have KNOWN this. I never had a chance to ask him anything. Didn't have the integrity to even speak with me himself, and WHY did they call me the day before to move the appointment up if he wasn't going to even show up???? DON'T waste your time!

I love this man. Very honest, told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. Thank you so much Dr. Canestra for healing me !

He did a spinal fusion for me on 2015 and I have had no problems since then, his office and staff have all been kind and attentive as well as professional. I will recommend them highly!

Dr. Cannestra was very personable, and very informative, i have been to several doctors, and he was the only one who could explain my pain. His staff was welcoming, and polite and courteous.

Very thorough, ethical, and his method of diagnosis is beyond that of any of the other 5 orthopedic doctors I have seen. Was definitively conclusive that I had L4, L5, S2 positive responses on the discogram,

He is a compassionate Doctor and cares about the patient!

One of the most compassionate Dr's I've ever encountered. So professional & outgoing. Shows a real interest in my condition.