Dr. Justin Tyler Sybesma, MD

My experience with Dr. Sybesma and his clinic was nothing short of a complete and utter nightmare, and I strongly urge anyone needing medical care to seek alternatives. From the very beginning, the front desk staff displayed unprofessionalism and incompetence that set the tone for the entire experience. I initially called on a Monday to schedule an appointment and was told by the front desk that they would call me back on Tuesday. Shockingly, no callback ever came. I diligently followed up with calls on Wednesday and Thursday, even leaving messages, but received no response. On Friday, when I finally managed to get through, the lady on the other end had the audacity to tell me, "This is not a good time," in an exceptionally rude manner. I calmly explained that I had been waiting for a call back for four days, and her response was to get annoyed and put me on hold. After three weeks of waiting, my terrible experience continued. The same rude lady at the front desk greeted me, setting… the stage for the unfortunate events that followed. I must commend the lady who initially took notes; she was wonderful and a breath of fresh air. However, my interaction with the physician assistant, James, left much to be desired. He constantly pushed for a cortisone shot and repeatedly insinuated that I was not genuinely hurt, which was both unprofessional and dismissive of my concerns. The situation reached its low point when, after three visits from the PA over the course of an hour, I inquired about when the doctor would be coming in. To my disbelief, the PA informed me that Dr. Sybesma would not be seeing me because he had other patients to attend to. I had waited patiently and expressed my eagerness to see the doctor, but my concerns were disregarded. When Dr. Sybesma finally entered the room over an hour and a half after the PA's statement, his "bedside manner" was disgraceful from the outset. To make matters worse, he left the door wide open during our entire visit, a blatant violation of HIPAA regulations, as confirmed by the Corewell ethics staff. Dr. Sybesma continued to aggressively push for cortisone shots and even mentioned the possibility of surgery, despite the absence of a proper diagnosis. When I expressed my reluctance and shared that other healthcare experts had recommended against the cortisone shot, his response was utterly callous: "I don't care about their opinion." When I emphasized that it was my body, he dismissively replied, "You can go somewhere else." In disbelief, I clarified, "So you're dismissing me because I sought other opinions and don't want a cortisone shot?" He callously labeled me a "dick" and walked out. I followed him to express my shock and disappointment, and that's when the situation took a threatening turn. Dr. Sybesma raised his voice, became aggressive, and invaded my personal space, yelling for me to get out and threatening to call security. I felt extremely unsafe and threatened in this environment. In conclusion, I implore you to steer clear of Dr. Sybesma and his clinic. The level of unprofessionalism, disrespect, and hostility I encountered is unacceptable, and no patient should ever have to endure such an ordeal. Find another healthcare provider who respects your concerns, follows ethical guidelines, and treats patients with dignity and respect.

Walked out of the room while I was trying to ask questions about an upcoming surgery. He was short and he was rude. I was completely uncomfortable with this doctor and went to a different one

The guy walked out of the room while I was trying to ask questions about my surgery and seemed more concerned with the cigarette smell coming off my ride. Didn't answer any questions about the surgery and spent the time lecturing about smoking and marijuana use? What the heck? I don't smoke pot. This guy's Behavior was strange

Sybesma took care of my surgery and after care appointments. During every appointment he seemed extremely rushed to the point where he didn’t even spend five minutes at a time in the room with me, didn’t answer questions, etc. This last visit I had with him he spent about one minute in the room with me as I’m speaking to him he walks out of the room. I tried talking to him about how he was aggressive with my wrist & hand after surgery and it hadn’t been the same since when he decided to comment “it wasn’t aggressive you are the one who broke it” as walking out of the room. I’m very disappointed in how he cares for his patients after surgery.

Mixed up with another patient with similar name and injury, sent to therapy based on wrong x-ray, condition worsened, order for ctscan sent for wrong shoulder. Chose not to have the surgery done.

Dr Sybesma is a very caring ,conscientious doctor. I've had a knee replacement and shoulder replacement and I have done very well!

Excellent doctor!

I was excited to see Dr Sybesma in St Joseph at Southwest Michigan Center for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. I was having trouble with my knees (mainly the right one) and it was becoming difficult to make it through a 12 hour shift or to even exercise more than 15-20 minutes!! I knew I didn't need a knee replacement but I was hoping to find a diagnosis and some advise to help manage my active lifestyle. I had X-Rays upon my arrival, prior to going into my room, that was nice so that the doctor could review those during my exam. When Dr Sybesma came into my room, he pulled up the X-Ray and told me that I still had some space between the bones. I started telling him in general what was going on, he took my leg and placed gentle pressure laterally to my lower leg. He then asked if my knees ever "catch". I don't believe they "catch" but I do have episodes of "sharp" pain. He looked at the X-Ray again and said, "I believe you have arthritis, so you'll have to alter your activity. … Sorry for the bad news, Have a Great Day!!" He then stood up to leave. I stopped him and said, "Alter my activity??? Like, don't work 12 hour shifts or don't exercise??" He looked at me for a second or two and said, "OH!!!! Here." He then gave me a Rx for an anti inflammatory. He then repeated for me to have a Nice Day and then he was gone. The whole visit was well under 5 minutes!!! I decided to get a second opinion. (not within the same office... or state!!) This other MD requested an MRI which Dr Sybesma said was "Unnecessary" since my knees didn't "catch". (if you do see Dr Sybesma, I encourage you to say your knees "catch" even if they don't. You might get a couple more minutes with him) Upon review of the MRI, the Cartilage in my knee is shredded and I have an old Impact Injury to the bone that is most likely the cause of those sharp pains. There were a number of things this other MD found on the MRI. He spent well over 20 minutes doing a full exam on both of my knees and then took me out to his computer to go over my MRI. He pointed out all the damaged areas and showed me what they were suppose to look like so I could actually visualize it for myself. I've managed for 6 years with rest, ice, medication and physical therapy but since that seems to not be working anymore, he suggested surgery to clean out the damaged cartilage and then maintain with yearly lubricating injections. He told me this is a pretty simple surgery and that I could just have the docs back in Michigan do it if I didn't want to travel so far to have him do it. Ummmm, I don't think so. I refuse to go back and pay someone $$$$$ for surgery when they refused to take the time to do an appropriate evaluation to begin with!!! I was so excited about this new MD but was CRUSHED within a few minutes!!! (mainly, because my appointment didn't last longer than a few minutes.... and his diagnosis was WRONG!!!) In the meantime, the other MD has ordered an MRI on my left knee even though it's not quite as painful as my right. When he gets those images he will Call Me so we can chat about those findings!!! There ARE Great Doctors out there, if you have any concerns or uneasy feelings, I'd suggesting looking outside the St Joseph Box!!!

I met Dr Sybesma after another Dr had operated and had issues which required me to then have a bone graft in my Tibia he gave me such confidence in His ability which was very comforting as I had little faith in Drs at this point he is a very talented surgeon