Dr. Eric Randolph Bates, MD

I found Dr. Bates to be affable, courteous, a careful listener, empathetic, caring and willing to take all of the time I needed. He has never once been in a hurry and our appointments last upwards of an hour. He provides me with all of the information I need and want concerning my illness and what to expect in the future. He is readily reachable by potions and patient portal. He and his nurse and very responsive to questions I have time to time submitted through the patient portal. In the end, he gives me confidence to deal with my condition.

I found Dr. Bates to be patient, empathetic, caring and willing to take all the time I needed. Unlike many, there was no hurry to move me along and out the door. My appointments with him last upwards of an hour and I never feel like I am being rushed. He listens carefully and provides me with all of the information I need to cope with my illness. He is reachable, as is his nurse, on short notice and responds quickly to any and all requests made through the patient portal. And I thoroughly enjoy his wry sense of humor.

I had previously been seeing a wonderful cardiologist. I sought her out after experiencing chest pain, that was also in my shoulder and down my left arm. Because I have a horrendous family history with heart trouble, that doctor did a thorough work up and then after that, was seeing me once a year for support with preventative strategies and to see if chest pain returned, monitor meds she put me on, etc. Well, she moved down South. The U of M assigned me Dr. Bates. He started out by saying “why are you here? I can’t do anything for you - there’s nothing to do.” I explained what my prior doctor was doing for me, he dismissed that and just summarized my problem as obesity, “just gotta lose weight”. It came up that my husband is retiring, and Dr. Bates made a crude dig at my husband “catching a sweet young thing”. In the last two days, a bug I have worsened (had fever, cough) and he said “going to have to see your primary for that”. When I looked at the summary of the visit, he had a… list of all my ailments and noted that he “addressed” them all - no he didn’t. He said “you have Hypothyroid” and I said yes. How is that addressing the condition? It was a total waste of my time. I was coughing so much, he said, “well, I could order a refill of your inhalers”. Then he dismissed me, saying he didn’t need to see me unless there was a heart problem he could work on. Don’t worry Bates, you won’t be seeing me again. U of M has many excellent cardiologists that work with patients on preventative care - I’ll see one of them.

Outstanding doctor...absolutely the BEST

Take's the time needed to explain medical issues and works with you on medication..Kind and caring you never feel rushed..he is completely focused on your medical issues..you won't find a more competent and caring physician...Highly recommend