Dr. Brian Alfred Ridge, MD

I went to Dr Ridge ~8 years ago for varicose veins (vv). I think he is a great surgeon, as far as I would know. He had cautioned me that vv can/will come back. Sure enough 8 yrs later, they have. I called his office to see if I could talk to him about the recurrence and for me to try and predict what the cost could be, based on the history. My insurance does not cover out-patient surgery. I thought that if I could talk to him for 2 minutes, I might be better able to predict my cost, for instance last time I needed two veins oblated...or whatever at $2000 each, I would plan for a $4000 operation PLUS the diagnostic ultrasound of $300. I called twice hoping that the secretary could just pass my request to him, as he was a nice fella and would appreciate that the surgery cost was all mine and I wanted to get a sense of that cost as best possible before the $300 spent upfront. Understanding there may not be a similar fail pattern in the new varicose vein problem, I thought talking… with him may illuminate that, or not. UNFORTUNATELY, while Dr Ridge is or was a nice fella, his wife who runs the office is NOT. She said my surgery was so long ago (8 yrs) that my records were offsite. I said, so can't someone get them for Dr Ridge to look at and spend 2 minutes on the phone with me, maybe this is a 5-minute total effort. She was adamant that he would not speak with me, even after I explained my insurance not covering the surgery and I needed a better ballpark than the $2000/vein cost before I came and spent $300 on the ultrasound. She did not budge, nor offer to get the records. I said "what is your name?" so I could at some point communicate to Dr Ridge that his office staff were not cooperative at all, and really kind of nasty. She said "my name is Lisa, I am his wife". She had great joy telling me this, and she followed that with "I think you are not a good fit with us" and hung up on me, so I got FIRED as a potential patient! I guess Dr Ridge knows this and I guess he has enough work to be able to withstand my negative conclusion and my communication of this event to the inet world. What a shame as I can guess how hard he has worked to become a great surgeon and run a profitable business. I still wonder that was the real cost of him not having the opportunity to review my record to tell me possibly what I might expect for a ballpark cost (# veins x $2000 per vein + $300 ultrasound....). I hope this review helps Dr Ridge and other potential patients, although I fear he will never see it.