Dr. James Patrick Lawrence, MD

Awful, condescending, unwilling and second guessed my pain following his surgery.

i have been seeing dr lawrence about my spine for a few years now. i had a lot of arthritic changes that cause chronic pain, but there was nothing surgically he could do for me. he referred me on to pain management. 3 months ago i developed severe sciatic pain. i got innquickly to see his NP quickly and the mri showed a bulging disc and she offered dr lawrence to perform a microdiscectomy, a minimally invasive surgery. the surgery immediately relieved my sciatic pain and really was not too painful. i saw him on a follow up and he was pleasant. although i saw his nurse practitioner who covers for him, she was great at listening to me and explaining my options. and if seeing her instead of him enables him to help more people with his minimally invasive techniques, then i’m all for it.

I found Dr. Lawrence to be congenial and upbeat, easy to talk to. However, my posterior cervical surgery to relieve disc pressure on the C7-T1 nerve was not a success. The nerve pressure had caused tingling, pain, numbness and weakness in my left arm. The surgical results eventually mimiced the natural healing that had already occurred, after about the same amount of time. But following the surgery I was back to square one with respect to grip and tricep weakness, which was about zero. That slowly improved as it had done for the three months following the initial injury. It has now been 14 months since the procedure and grip and tricep strength is at 65%. I believe things are still improving. Also, 6 weeks after the surgery a portion of my trap/neck muscles, that had been cut for access to the spine, tore loose. Dr. lawrence looked at the depression and bulge on my left trap/neck area and said that's not what happened. I left the office bewildered by that conversation. It… certainly is what happened. Havent been back. To be fair, this surgery does not have a good reputation anywhere when you read patient outcomes, not surgical center procedural descriptions. I shouldn't have had it done. I should've known better I guess.

I found Dr. Lawrence to be congenial and upbeat, easy to talk to. However, my posterior cervical surgery to relieve disc pressure on the C7-T1 nerve was not a success. The nerve pressure had caused tingling, pain, numbness and weakness in my left arm. The surgical results eventually mimiced the natural healing that had already occurred, after about the same amount of time. But following the surgery I was back to square one with respect to grip and tricep weakness, which was about zero. That slowly improved as it had done for the three months following the initial injury. It has now been 14 months since the procedure and grip and tricep strength is at 65%. I believe things are still improving. Also, 6 weeks after the surgery a portion of my trap/neck muscles, that had been cut for access to the spine, tore loose. Dr. lawrence looked at the depression and bulge on my left trap/neck area and said that's not what happened. I left the office bewildered by that conversation. It… certainly is what happened. Havent been back. To be fair, this surgery does not have a good reputation anywhere when you read patient outcomes, not surgical center procedural descriptions. I shouldn't have had it done. I should've known better I guess.

he is the best in the world I rate him 100 stars x

Great Doctor and so kind also!

waited 4 weeks for the 1st available appt- on the date I was runnjng late for appt due to unforeseen circimstances - I called the office and notified that I would ne there in approx. 15 minutes and was told to still come and that I would be seen. When I arrived .I waited on line standing with crutches for 15 min..when I finally was called to the window they told me I could not be seen because I was late after they had told me to come anyway. I was in pain tremendous pain. MD did not see me.

Rude, dismisses complaints about failed procedure. Walks out of room, never returns.

So many doctors rush through your appointment and don't listen to patients, but not Dr Lawrence. He is thorough and respectful

I have seen this doctor three times. I am impressed with his thoroughness and caring. He asked for and respected my opinions as well as providing his evaluation. His first line of treatment for me has been non-invasive, which is a plus for a surgeon.