Robert Louis Cristofaro, MD

Dr. Cristofaro is not a doctor I would recommend to anyone. After I received X-rays he told me I had a chipped elbow and I was fine, and not to put pressure on it and it would heal. I brought my own sling he told me to come back 6 weeks later just for a checkup. I receive a bill for $1,200 and that was separate from the X-ray bill. Let me remind you except for reading the x-rays and seeing me move my elbow he did nothing. With both visits I saw the doctor for less then 10 minutes. When I call about the bill Dr. Cristofaro tells me thatâ??s what his time costs for taking up a seat in his office and I should blame Obama. When asked about the charge to the secretary she said it was the same charge to put a cast and remove it. Do not go to this doctor he is rude is overcharging customers and the insurance companies.

I find that dr. Cristofaro is by far, one of the best prediatric orthopedists. He has done 2 reconstructive surgeries on my son. He is also about to do another one in the next month.

Drs. Nelson and Cristofaro were responsible for our son's surgery following a complicated open fracture of his upper arm. After letting him languish in the hospital with a fever for 10 days, we moved him to HSS in Manhattan. He was found to have nerve damage and wood chips in his arm from the original injury. He could have died or lost his arm because the doctors did not re-open his arm following their original surgery to set his break. Their orthopedic intervention to set the bone with a metal plate was poor at best (later changed to an external fixator). Their handling of the life-threatening post-operative infection was professionally incompetent.

I was trying to obtain original x-rays for my niece's surgery. We did not know we needed these until less than 24 hours to surgery. I went to their office to show up to a locked door. I called and they said they were in their other office location that day. NOONE told us this when we rushed around to get the x-rays. I offered to pay over the phone for the x-ray and a courier to get them to where they needed to be. Two assistants put me on hold and then a nasty doctor gets on the phone telling me that "if the mother of the daughter cared about her daughters surgery she'd a taken care of this already". I again offered to pay over phone for courier and the snippy Dr. Cristofaro snaps that "he's not paying for a courier and I can do my own background work to find one and call back". THEN ... as if this was not enough, Dr. Cristofaro had the NERVE to say that when I called back, they would then run my credit card to "make sure it was good" before anything else. Shocked, appalled,… and hysterical, we got the x-rays redone elsewhere. This man, his practice, and the need for $15 prior to an 11-year old having major surgery is absolutely disgusting. I pity anyone who goes to see this man.

Dr Cristafaro was detached from his patient. He did not remember us even after the fourth visit. Our circumstances and disabilities were such that the types of infants similiar to ours is very rare. He continued to ask us if he had ever seen us before. Obvioulsy not looking at the chartHis diagnosis of our son was not that difficult. he had bilateral clubbed feet a typical and simple diagnosis was straight forward. He recommended plastic orthotics to adjust our son's feet . $944.00. He also knew at the time, that Early intervention would have relioeved us of any requirement to pay this amount but Dr Cristofaro had the orthotics produced by his partner. My guess is that he understood that early intervention would not pay his partner for the orthotocs that he produced. Early Intervention proabably has only a few contracts to do such work and so Cristofaro urged us to have them made as soon as possible. (by his partner) Making work for his crony.In fact we we were so disturbed by his… inability to read a chart before entering the room with a patient and the fact that the orthotics did not seem to be appropriate, we went to another facility Columbia University hospital in Manhattan, and their approach was entirely different. They said that the orthotics Cristafaro made were typically for a post surgery maintenance and not primary remedy as Cristafaro enacted. We still paid for the orthotics and made ornaments for christmas tree. That is about the only use for them that I can seeSo he stinks altogether