Dr. John Joseph Schaffer, MD

This guy destroyed my left shoulder. I had a 1cm rotator cuff tear from a fall. He was recommended as “their shoulder guy”. He did open rotator cuff surgery instead of laparoscopic. Have no idea what he did but I lost external rotation in my left shoulder, he sewed my shoulder down where the mechanics of the shoulder were destroyed and out of alignment. Now, after 24 years of suffering along with this shoulder greatly impaired from his handiwork, the mess he made finally broke lose in 2017. Terrible pain. Went to Jordan Young. Has xrays and MRI. Said I needed a total shoulder replacement and the rotator cuffs were in the back of my shoulder and could not be repaired. Heard he has retired. I would say the public is safer.

As an Active Duty and now Retired UDT/Seal you got to figure I've been hurt!.. a lot! ha! Years ago when I began my search for a good Bone Doctor my Saint and Friend Chiropractor Dean Newman highly recommended Doc JJ Schaffer as he understood exactly what it was I was looking for. When I Doc John J. Schaffer I new he was the Doctor I was looking for... not only was he an orthopedic Surgeon but he also specialized in Sports Medicine injuries like the kind I was always involved in. The end result was nothing but..."impressive" and I will be forever grateful to Doc JJ Schaffer! I have had some Severe Life threatening injuries sustained from working overseas... so bad I've actually been littered all the way back home!... just broke to pieces! Doc John J. Schaffer was one of "two" great Doctors who put me back together again!... "even" when I seriously thought it was over! Presently,.. I am 63 and still at 100 percent! and still working in my Profession due primarily to Doctor John… J. Schaffers, and another highly skilled Nero-Surgeons, Skill and Professionalism!. I choose my physicians "very" carefully folks!.... I will tell you from experience!...You are in good hands with doctor John J. Schaffer! Happy trails JJ!

A fantastic Physican in every way!

The absolute BEST surgeon in Hampton Roads, probably the state.

I had an ACL repair in 2001 by another surgeon in the DC area (a Washingtonian Top Doctor) that successfully restored stability, but left me with significant pain whenever I was active. I had a secondary scope done in 2003 by the same surgeon that did not help. My knee continued to get worse over the next 10 years until I had to give up not only running (what little I could do post surgery) but also skiing. Even golf was painful. I went to another surgeon in the DC area (another Washingtonian Top Doctor) who told me it was arthritis and there is nothing that could be done. I was referred to Dr. Schaffer by a relative in Norfolk and went to see him. After an exam and xrays he gave me an honest update. He couldn't be sure what was behind the pain, but given my age and athletic interests he would recommend surgery to find and hopefully fix the issue. Ultimately he found an issue from my prior surgery that caused bone growth into the joint and he was able to clean this up. … Three months later I was back running pain free for the first time in 10 years and went on a few years later to finish my first marathon and an Ironman. My running went from 2 miles of pain to 30+ miles in a week pain free and my skiing is better than ever. Beyond the skill to address the issue, what set Dr. Schaffer apart from the other surgeons I saw was his willingness to listen to my history and issues and give an honest recommendation on how to proceed.

Dr. Schaffer is a great doctor. He is very personable and excels at his profession. Both my husband and I see Dr. Schaffer. We have had surgeries for knee and shoulder.

This doctor performed a ACL replacement surgery on my daughter. She later had problems with her meniscus. After the surgeries she experienced pain that would not go away. He never was able to help her. He has a standard fall back position if he can't explain or determine what is wrong. That fall back position is that he tells the patients there is abrasion on the back side of the knee cap and can't do anything about that. In case you might ask i know that because he told my friends wife that, my daughter, and me. I went to him with a hyperextended knee on a workman compensation issue. It must coincidence that all of his ex patients have knee cap issues. After seeing Dr. Schaffer in action with his rotten manners and inability to fix injured knees I believe he should be operating on gerbils or snakes. I believe that since snakes don't have joints he could master that. The guy belongs in the MD hall of shame.

Dr Schaffer is not only an excellent surgeon but he also has a great bed-side manner. He has operated on my son twice and my husband once and did an excellent job all three times. He is honest about the expected outcome of his surgeries and humble about his skills. He connects well with people, especially youth. My son, who is a college hockey player, trusts him implicitly, and so do I,

Before I begin this reveiw just look at him in the picture, he looks like a nut. This man is a very poor example of the medical field and what a doctor should be I had to have two surgical consultations due to the first consultation I had all he did was ask me to use my private health insurance instead of going through workers comp for a work related injury. After having surgery and well beyond the time frame I was given about healing I still had so many problems with my knee 3 years later I am still having the same problems and when you express your concerns he will become defensive and rude and will continue to tell you that your fine even with obvious symtoms unknown swelling bruising and other painful symptoms and pretty much say your a liar in his notes. If I had it to do all over I would have never had surgery with him after the incision is sewn up he will treat you like garbage and his assistant Kat is just as horrible as him I have been on crutches over 5 times since surgery.… you can probably do better with a paint mixing stick and a ace bandage.

Totally misdiagnosed after a torn hamstringand a resulting knee problem he sent me to PT to treat contracture. Four visits later I was still walking with a cane. Turns out it was a torn Lateral and Medial meniscus. He never took X-ray's Ultrasound or any other tests needed. Another surgeon found and corrected the problem in 3 weeks. I was under Dr Schaffer's care for almost one year. Bad all the way around follow up was none existent.