Dr. Nicholas Theodore, MD

I am a physician, a patient, and a patient advocate. My surgery involved three Johns Hopkins department heads, Dr. Nicholas Theodore, Dr. Christopher Lippincott, and Dr. Chad Gordon. They won't let me leave the link to my story here, but the link is available on my google reviews for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview, Dr. Nicholas Theodore, Dr. Christopher Lippincott, and Dr. Chad Gordon. My profile name is DSR_MD on google reviews.

I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Theodore for performing my back surgery. I am so grateful that he took me on as a patient. For the first time in the past fifteen months, I finally felt better immediate after surgery. After seeing several doctors in the Los Angeles and San Diego area, I did not have confidence that my back problem would ever be resolved. His expertise and impressive background gave me the confidence that I would be fine. After the surgery, I began recovering quickly and getting back to life as normal. I also thank the wonderful team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff at Johns Hopkins. Clearly, this is a first rate hospital with the best and brightest in the medical field. With gratitude, Ron Freides

My husband had a cavernous malformation in his spinal cord that caused a subsequent bleed. Dr. Theodore with his highly trained medical expertise performed resection of the angioma with no residual. His advanced medical knowledge and skill has earned him our highest level of trust in performing this complicating surgery.

I went in for a hyperhidrosis surgery and woke up with a heart surgery. Nerve damage for the rest of my life. Every night i have nightmares from this guy.

Dr. Theodore and his team at Johns Hopkins treated me like a king. I underwent a laminectomy and experienced immediate improvement. I’m not a doctor and don’t pretend to know the details of the procedure, but I do know that Dr. Theodore and his team thoroughly prepared me. I had total confidence in his skills and talents from the first time we met. And I was not disappointed. I was home in just 24 hours and only took a muscle relaxer to ease the pain which was really minor compared to how I felt before the operation. I am able to walk pain free again. But equally important to me was how I was treated. The hospital and its staff are second to none. And Dr. Theodore made himself available to me via email when I had follow up questions after I got home. He even called me personally about a question I had. I highly recommend Dr. Theodore to anyone who is experiencing severe back pain.

Dr. Nicholas wow what can I say. My son was in a car accident and he broke his L1 and it was sitting on his spine. Any wrong turn or move he could be Paralyze, he was in so much pain. Dr. Nicholas did his surgery he had to get two rods and 6 pins in his back my son was 21 at the time he had to learn how to walk all over again and today my son is doing great. I want to thank Dr. Nicholas for his miracle Hand

I had surgery on Jan 23, 2018 for a pinched nerve between my 4th and 5th lumbar. Without the surgery I would have never walked again nor stood again. Dr. Theodore was very informative of what he was going to do in the operation and what I needed to do after the operation to return to normal. I had no pain during and after the operation (and I took no pain medication); therefore, I was discharged the day after my surgery. I returned for a post operative appointment three week later and was doing fine. Dr. Theodore and his staff have been excellent to work with from before the operation through the several months of rehab. He is very thorough and competent and caring. I would recommend him to anyone, and have done so to several people so far.

Dr. Theodore was AWESOME! I had develop severe pain, numbness and decrease strength in my right arm one morning getting out of bed. I ended up going to Patient First where they treated my pain and told me to follow up with an MRI if my symptoms did not improve. My pain became so severe 2 days later I ended up in the ER where Dr. Theodore’s team saw me. They found on MRI that I had severe stenosis of my cervical spine which needed to be treated immediately with surgery. After explaining to the team I couldn’t have surgery at this time because of a family issue the team came up with a plan to treat my pain until I was able to follow up with Dr. Theodore in 2 weeks. When I saw Dr. Theodore in his office we discussed the results of the MRI in detailed and we decided my best option was to have surgery. His office staff was awesome within 3 days I had my all my pre-op appointments and OR time scheduled. The day of surgery Dr. Theodore and his team saw me in the pre-op area multiple times… to answer any questions and listen to any concerns I had. I knew the surgery would help with my pain but never did I expect to wake and have no pain in my arm at all. I was discharged the next day with an appointment made to see Dr. Theodore in 2 weeks. When I went to my appointment he showed me my post op x-ray and we discussed my restrictions. I returned to work 8 weeks after my surgery with no pain My overall experience with Dr. Theodore was way beyond my expectations. He and his staff were absolutely wonderful throughout my experience. I have never meet a more compassionate, honest and caring surgeon. I would highly recommend Dr. Theodore to anyone who is looking for a neurosurgeon.

I was referred to Dr. Theodore for a second opinion, and he disagreed with another neurosurgeon's review of my imaging, stating "the buck stops with me." Yes, he actually said that. He was very condescending, and clearly annoyed with my questions. This man undeniably thinks he is God. All of the accolades appear to have gotten to his head because he is insufferable, even for the five minutes of time I saw him. Not only will I not see him, but I recommend that everyone else steer clear unless you prefer to be treated like an uneducated, meaningless peasant.

I flew from out of state to see Dr. Theodore after consulting with his team , under the assumption that all of my records and imaging (that were provided well in advance), has been reviewed. Thus, I assumed that my scheduling an appointment with me I would leave JH's with more insight into my problems than I have been able to get locally. Odd bedside manner, does not like to be challenged or questioned, overlooks that "quality of life" aspect of the afflictions I suffer from. Information in my chart is incorrect. Several lesions had been found my other Doctor's in my thoracic spine. Dr. Theodore reviewed my imaging and I was told the cause of my pain was not neurological. I left the appointment with a recommendation for Epidural Steroid Injections and possible spinal cord stimulator. All treatments for NERVE pain. I continued communication with the neurosurgery team at Johns Hopkins after my appointment, updating them and asking questions about how I should proceed with my care, and I… just received a letter of "discharge" in the mail. The letter stated I was "too argumentative" and "threatening" that JH's could no longer have a relationship with me. I don't care how much acumen or how accredited Dr. T is, he's condescending, one-sided, and the staff are equally as dense. If you do decide to make a trip from another state or from some distance don't count your chickens. They have not taken on your case because they thought they could help. They took your case on for the money, the straightforward and obvious cases, and to recommend treatments that failed in the past and DO NOT take your quality of life into account. At least other Doctors I have seen sincerely seemed to care. Dr. T and staff only seem to care about cases that will advance their recognition. And will leave you hanging out to dry. So much false hope.