Dr. Hugo Ermel Benalcazar, MD

Is this guy still in practice? I read they suspended his liences when charged for sexual harassment of nursing staff. He did my neck and I still have problems. Would not recommend him to anyone.

Best surgery and surgeon. Procedure could not have been better

Dr. Benalcazar was arrogant at times and kind at times. Very quick to criticize the patient because recovery not as quick as he would have liked. I had an out patient fusion that resulted into a three day hospital stay with very poor pain management. My six month return to normal lasted two years with a voice volume reduction, and swallowing issues. While my neck pain has been resolved, I wish I would have used another doctor.

Dr. Benalcazar is a fantastic doctor. His staff is fantastic and myself and my fiance were treated with complete kindness, professionalism, respect, and patience. Dr. B and PA Jackie did surgery on my neck, removing 2 protruding discs. I cannot express enough how fantastic this team really is and I am loving my new lease on life thanks to them!

You will not see this surgeon post op until your 6 week follow-up. You will be discharged prematurely. You will have no home health services or pre surgery eval of needs. If you need to be re-admitted, you will need to come through the ER. ER staff will tell you they have no experience with your condition. There is no direct admit procedure or observation unit. 24 hour post op pain management abysmal. PA incompetent.

Hugo Benalcazar is arrogant and incompetent and actually contributed directly to my father's death (and intense pain) due to his arrogance and inability to accurately diagnose the issue. Avoid this person at all costs.

Really Rude Treatment by Office Staff No Way Will I Let This Surgeon Touch Me, Never Happen, & Pain DR. Flirts With The Help, So Unprofessional.....

I ask who would want you to do physical therapy before your MRI is completed. In My case I needed two. Before you can build muscle & yourself up Basic 101 you can't build what is broke. Will cause more damage. In all the office has no supervision.

I saw Dr. Benalcazar after suffering neck and back pain and severe headaches. I had x rays and an MRI done at the hospital after going to the emergency room. It took 5 phone calls to make an appointment for 4 weeks later (first available appointment). I was assured by the receptionist that they had received my x ray and MRI results from the hospital and showed up on time for my appointment. I waited and hour and 35 minutes to be taken back to see the doctor. At this point, he informed me that he read the reports from the MRI but had not seen the actual films. He told me that he HAD to see the films and that I needed to go to the hospital, pick up the films and come back. The hospital is about 50 minutes away from his office; however I was in so much pain and desperate for a diagnosis that I made the 3 hour round trip. Upon my return, the doctor looked at the cd the hospital gave me for all of about 20 seconds and said "Ok, we must operate immediately". I had the surgery 3 days later. I… woke up with a splitting headache and severe pain from my neck all the way down my spine. The doctor was no longer at the hospital, so my nurse called him immediately. She told him that my blood pressure and pulse were dangerously high and that the pain was so bad I was crying. He told the nurse to have me rest and check on me in a couple hours to see if I was better. No instructions for any tests or medications. Nothing. The nurse was so concerned about my blood pressure being in the "stroke" range, she had the internist on duty paged to my room right away. The internist immediately administered blood pressure medication through my iv and ordered pain medicine to ease my discomfort and help bring down my blood pressure (no pain meds were ordered by Dr. Benalcazar even for post op pain). After about 4 hours, my blood pressure was coming down, though it was still high, and I was no longer crying in pain. One of Dr. Benalcazar's PAs came to discharge me the following morning. I had not seen nor spoken to the doctor himself since the surgery. As the PA was reading my discharge instructions to me, the internist from the night before came into my room and asked me why I was asking to leave as he wanted to keep me for a day or two longer, at least until my blood pressure was normal and controllable by oral medication. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about because I had not asked to be discharged and could not even understand the instructions the PA was giving me. He looked at the PA, shook his head and said "GET OUT!!" I was in the hospital a further 4 days, on the internists service, and never saw Dr. Benalcazar or anyone from his office while I was there. I have had continued pain and headaches since the surgery. I made a follow up appointment with Dr. Benalcazar. Again, I waited over an hour to be seen. I mainly made this appointment to get a copy of my records and to find out why he hadn't come see me in the hospital. As soon as he walked in, he started talking about how I should not have any pain in my neck and the headaches should have improved greatly. I started to tell him about how I was doing, not well at all, and he talked over me and ignored everything I said. He pretty much called me a liar and said I was overly sensitive to this pain. I asked if I could have a copy of my records so that I could just leave and find another doctor. He refused, flat out refused to give me any paperwork regarding MY health and MY surgery and told me to have whatever doctor I went to call the office and they would fax the appropriate information. I left. My new doctor called his office 3 times asking for my records. He said all he got was a demographic report, I don't even know what that is, but apparently, it was not helpful. The receptionist told him on the first call that I was never a patient there, then told him she would have Dr. Benalcazar return his call right away. That never happened. On my third visit to my new doctor, he sat in the room with me and called the hospital to speak with Dr. Benalcazar. The hospital paged him and he finally picked up the call. My doctor tried asking for information regarding my surgery and follow up, but Dr Benalcazar just kept saying the surgery was successful and if I was having problems, he knew nothing about that. When my doctor hung up from the call, he said he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He called the hospital and got all the records from them that he could possibly get. He was extremely apologetic about what I had been through and promised to do everything he could to help me. He has kept that promise. I would not recommend anyone see Dr. Benalcazar or his associates. I have never been treated with such disrespect by anyone. Run, do not walk, away from this man. **** I purposely did not name the other doctors who helped me after my experience with Dr. Benalcazar as I do not want them to be associated with him in any way. People read things and associate names, not on purpose, and I do not want them to be attached to him. The nurse, internist, and new neuro surgeon were wonderful, compassionate, and concerned with my progress.

Dr. Benalcazar is a wonderful and very busy neurosurgeon. He clearly cares about his patients but his front office staff seem to be more concerned about themselves than the patients. The back office staff, such as surgery and insurance coordinators are top notch however so I try to deal with them for anything important. Susan is very caring and managed to fix a problem caused by a receptionist.