Sean Kyong-Ho Keem, MD

Please notice that most of Keem’s positive reviews sound identical. They often don’t use contractions, which is a very rare trait in written English, on top of rhythmic similarities. They also tout surgeon’s jargon like “minimally invasive” over and over, because they’re ads for himself and by himself. This is because he wrote many of them himself. I see another reviewer below me got to this issue first. But I wanted to elaborate with more detail so you can scrutinize for yourself. He’s a fraud. Please don’t get swindled and up in pain clinics like the rest of us.

I’m in pain every day from this man and regularly cry myself to sleep. I can’t even lay in my belly to read anymore. My neck simply hurts too much. He only saw me once after the surgery, and I’ll never get answers to my questions or an explanation as to why he placed my artificial disc in the wrong spot. My new neurosurgeon met with a team of his cohorts, and all of them decided the disc had been placed in the wrong spot, and that Keem gaslit me into believing the disc had migrated instead so I wouldn’t sue him for botching the surgery. I’m certainly going to sue. But it won’t stop my pain, or allow me to dance ever again. Beware. He’s a liar. He’s a life-ruiner. He’s done it multiple times. It’s proven

Dr. Keem insisted he "inquired with a team of other physicians" regarding my condition and "all concurred there was no nerve damage" following my surgery. Upon requesting a list of those names, not even one name could be produced by his office. My post-op report is a proven record of his short-cuts that paralyzed me. Dr. Keem became irate at the request of a nerve conduction test stating he "did not want anyone scrutinizing his work." If a physician is confident and competent, s/he should have no problems with another physician examining his work. The nerve conduction test proved there was extensive nerve damage caused by Dr. Keem's short-cuts. I spent a month in a physical therapy rehab center and have permanent nerve damage. I had to have a 2nd surgery classified as a 'salvage surgery' to repair the damage. Dr. Keem cut my psoas muscle, damaged my L3, L4 & L5 nerves. I have 5/8" difference in my legs with the muscle atrophy. I am walking, but with permanent damage and life-long pain.

I been in pain 12 years becuase of this man and his lumbar fusion that didnt take . Had to travel down to Atlanta to get spine revision surgery and I still live in pain and discomfort . Dr. Keem didnt do nothing for me no pain control , he didn’t answer none of my questions , I only learned the extent of the damage from my new doctors running nerve conduction test . Dr. Keem was rude and Difficult to reach once he saw my surgery werent done right . I wasn’t a person to him no more, I was a problem . Looks like others are having the same kinds of problem with .Save your back and avoid Dr. Keem

Minimally invasive spine surgery, performed expertly by Dr. Keen gave me my mobility and my life back.

This doctor has been caught leaving himself positive reviews after controversies in the past. He even forgot to delete one “I” when referring to “Dr. Keem” performing surgery on one of these on his secondary Google reviews page, and openly left himself 5-stars on his main page. You’ll notice any bad reviews are followed by short, glowing reviews directly concluding with something like “I did [major achievement] this past [month]!” - it goes all of the way back to his reviews from Georgia. Please feel free to look up his Lawrenceville practice on ratemds.com to verify. Please give these reviews some pause and breadth before considering them in your assessment of this doctor. Sean Keem has a long, established history of being shady and butchering patients.

I was told by other spine surgeons and neurosurgeons that I needed 2 level neck fusion. I am only 41 and I did not want fusion surgery. A friend of mine who had surgery by Dr. Keem recommended him and I asked my internist to send a referral to Dr. Keem. He was soft spoken but instilled confidence in me. I had cervical disc replacement surgery by Dr. Keem 3 months ago. It has been a life changing experience. My head and neck pain, weakness of my right arm and terrible tingling of my left arm are gone. I played golf last week and had the best score in my life. Dr. Keem gave me my life back! Marty S.

I had an absolute nightmare of an experience with Sean Keem. I’m 32, vibrant, alive. I used to be a dancer, a weightlifter, a runner. I loved my life as an athlete. When I found out I had spinal cord compression and would likely need surgery to find any relief, I was devastated – but I found solace in the procedure suggested to me, artificial disc replacement, and the accolades of my surgeon, Sean Keem. I want to preface this review with the outcome of my surgery: failed. My artificial disc is migrating, I’m in horrible pain his office is incapable of controlling, and I doubt I’ll see the inside of a non-rehabilitative gym ever again. I cry daily over the loss of my sport. I have heavy restrictions several weeks after when I should’ve been able to start returning to normal life. I’ve had to cancel all of my post-op PT reservations, my gym membership, everything. I’m planning to fly soon to New York for a revision surgery by a surgeon at the best orthopedics hospital in the world, the… Hospital for Special Surgery. Everything was fine until the day of my surgery. Dr. Keem came into my hospital room to talk to my husband and me, and was all optimism and smiles; on the way back to surgery, however, when I had been separated from my husband and was openly terrified and in tears, he said something weird. My original surgery date had been rescheduled because I forgot to stop taking an anti-inflammatory medication I had been taking for a knee injury and a hip injury. Dr. Keem made a remark about me taking the medication to intentionally have the surgery delayed (there were complications on my end with my original surgery time), and I felt sick to my stomach. I felt scared that a man who believed me to be a liar was about to operate on my spine. I also wondered why he had waited until I was “alone” to say that to me. His last words to me weren’t of comfort or encouragement. They were an accusation he wasn’t brave enough to levy in front of my husband. The day of the surgery was the most painful day of my life. I was sent home with oxycodone and no muscle relaxants. I was screaming and moaning involuntarily when I was awake, and my husband said I was moaning in my sleep. My neck was a rigid triangle on both sides from intense spasms. On day two of absolute and utter agony, I wrote them to ask if my level of pain was normal, and they prescribed me a muscle relaxant that gave me a few days of relief. For my first post-op appointment, I didn’t even see Dr. Keem. I saw a PA-C who was completely unfamiliar with my case, because Dr. Keem left town right after operating on me. He took a quick look at my x-rays, told me everything looked good, dismissed my incredibly frightening and severe symptoms, and sent me on home. He later called to tell me the implant actually wasn’t in the right place, it had migrated; he also told me we would likely have to escalate to a fusion if it continued to move. Dr. Keem had told me artificial disc replacement was the surgery for me, because I’m young and active and need my full range of mobility as a dancer, and now this PA-C who didn’t know anything about me or my case was telling me I’d likely need a fusion, something I had told Dr. Keem before the surgery was not an option for me. (A genetic disease I have, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – most importantly, a disease Dr. Keem knew I have – made me more likely to experience migration of the device.) I explained in the online messaging system that I was absolutely devastated by this news, and terrified to boot. His office was well aware of my emotional state and my statedly limited understanding of what was happening to me. I bought an expensive rigid neck brace during this time to try to prove to Dr. Keem that I’d be a good candidate to replace the disc in the right spot, if they’d please just not fuse me, and I kept his office updated as to my desperation and what I was hoping with my purchases. Nobody even said as much as one word to put my mind at ease, and at my actual appointment with Dr. Keem several weeks later, he said a fusion wasn’t even on the table in the first place. I was terrified over inaccurate information, and nobody bothered to ask him any questions to provide answers to me. My second x-ray results were terrible, and released to me automatically by the system. I again reached out to his office for help, and they read my messages and then left me to cry myself to sleep with fear that night. Dr. Keem didn’t bother to explain what this new set of x-rays had said: new scoliosis where there had been none before, and kyphosis, a large reason I was getting the surgery in the first place. He acknowledged the device moved, and offered me a “free revision surgery.” He told me he was taking me on as a patient longer than his usual 6 weeks, and that he was “always there for me.” He told me to please start assuming the best of him. (Please keep in mind this is only after I asked his office if I wasn’t receiving attentive care because of my sex, age, or disabilities.) His office informed me that he was disputing the x-ray results, and they would contact the radiologist to have the reports changed. I saved a copy of the results, and waited to see if they’d be updated. They weren’t. I kept informing his office. They said they didn’t have time to contact the radiologist yet, but that they would. To this day, the results are the same. I trust the radiologist far more than I trust Sean Keem. My horrible pain started prompting seizure-like events, and I lost consciousness at a restaurant. My husband had to call 911, and EMTs came to revive me. I’d never had episodes anything like these before surgery, and both types of event were prefaced by an episode of horrible, agonizing muscle spasms in my neck. I went to the emergency room when I started to faint again the next day. Dr. Keem’s office told me to speak to other doc

He was very friendly and caring prior to my discectomy. But during surgery he damaged the L4/L5 nerve which resulted in drop-foot and intense nerve pain in my foot and I was unable to walk without a cane due to his mistake. In the follow-up care to discuss how to move forward, he was insensitive and uncaring. He asked if my back felt better, which it did so he claimed that his work was complete and it was a success. His only response to my drop-foot and nerve pain and being unable to walk was that I needed to "stop using a can, it makes you look like an old man". Afterwards I had to see a neurologist for 2 years and re-learn how to walk through 1 1/2 years of physical therapy. 7 years later I am still dealing with nerve pain, drop-foot, and issues with walking. In my opinion, this man should not have a license.

Dr Keem is an amazing surgeon. Unfortunately I had an occurrence that put me literally in a wheel chair, or limited to walking with use of a cane due to severe sciatica in my left leg. I had my new MRI sent to Dr Keem. He compiled it showing me on the video screen my entire back. He started at the top and went all the way to the end like driving down a highway. It was quite clear the two areas of stenosis (developed over time) and the bulged disc that occurred two months before. I had tried a cortisone shot, and it provided just short term relief. The symptoms were not healing with time, and I was concerned about the sudden disability that took me out of my job. He explained to me what he could do for me, fixing the three areas. He also had an opening at Swedish Hospital in the following week. The surgery was a success. I have returned to my job as a flight attendant 5 weeks after the surgery. I do not feel any residual pain or discomfort. I am very grateful for his talent as a… surgeon.