Dr. Joel David Siegal, MD

I had C5 degenerative disc disease with spur osteophyte complex as well as at C6. Surgery was March 6th. He said everything went well and I would see his associate to discharge me on March 7th. On March 7th I was discharged and never saw a doctor. March 10-13, 2016 Spoke with Tammy at Dr. Siegal's office. Severe pain starting in my left shoulder going down to my elbow. Then fingers are numb and tingling. Dr. Siegal's office called in prendisone and mailed me pain meds. Also, not sleeping more than two (2) hours a night for the past few days. Went to the nearest ER since St. Vincent's Hospital was 80 miles from my house. They gave me pain meds and sent me home. March 16th, 2017 Woke up in severe pain in the middle of the night called Salem ER and I cannot go there I need to go back to my surgeon is what they said. Tried calling service for Dr. Siegal. Had to leave a message cause this was before their office opened. As I was leaving to go to the hospital because of 10+ pain in… tears, Dr. Siegal called and I spoke to him. He told me to come to the hospital and he will admit me and do some tests. I told him I would be there right away and he told me to be safe and take our time. We went to the hospital and I was admitted for 2 days. Tests were taken and meds administered. Then they checked my sugar, it was 397 and I was shocked. My sugar has never been over 280 and that was after eating a plate of pasta. I had to see a Medical doctor that was in charge to monitor my sugar. I had to start insulin because the steroids was making my sugar so high. Then they did an MRI and X-ray and everything seem to be OK. That is what I was told and I was relieved. Meanwhile, I still had the pain radiating down from my shoulder to my elbow, then stopped and my three (3) fingers were numb and tingling, Thumb, index and middle fingers. No one said Why I was experiencing the pain and I was sent home after 2 days. Never saw any doctor except for a diabetes dr. The pain continued and Dr. Siegal more or less gave up on me. Just referred me to a pain doctor. I went to see my medical doctor(she was an er doctor for many years) and she told me I had a pinched nerve at C5. This was towards the end of March and Dr. Siegal denied it. After 3 months, in June 2017 a final visit to see him he admitted I had a pinched nerve. He told me he could "unsquish" (his words) my nerve by doing a procedure through the back of my neck, after a year and I told him he would never touch me again! In the meantime, his office was suppose to get approval from my insurance regarding my lower back for an MRI. They never sent the approval in. I would NOT recommend Dr. Siegal for any type of surgery.

The best of the best as far as my condition is concerned.

So far so good, he will be doing laser back surgery on me next week...

I had one visit with his office, and that visit went pretty good, except for the wait, my appt was at 1:00 and I never got back to the room until 3:00. He told me they were going to submit for an MRI and as soon as that was completed I was to return to the office to determine the next step. Well his office staff never submitted the MRI until about 30 days after they were suppose to. I kept calling them an asking about it and they just kept telling me that they haven't heard anything. So I decided to call my insurance company to see about this and that's how I found out they never submitted it. Then when they did they put urgent on it on. Well it was denied because they didn't send in all the information. Then they had told me they had sent in for an appeal. This still has not happened to this date. Then I have called the office numerous times and left messages, that they never return calls. I have probably called the office 30 times and finally just last week they finally… returned my one call. The office staff is just horrible to work with. Need less to say I went and found another doctor that I am going to now. Never again will I step back in their office.

I forgot my records. He recommended physical therapy. I went to Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and they said that would have been a major mistake. They couldn't believe he recommended therapy after seeing my tests! Zero follow ups after that error!