Dr. Leonard Harvey Albert

One of a Kind! Compassionate, attentive and full of knowledge he shared. I Love Him!

I do believe that this doctor cares about pain issues, however, I find some of his practices troubling. I was sent to him by a physician who felt I did not have chronic sciatica as a primary diagnosis, that this sciatica was a symptom of an underlying problem. I found out about four years later that he was right, but not from Dr. Albert. The doctor who diagnosed me had never seen me. He diagnosed by symptoms only, as described by my spouse. I have had this debilitating disorder for nearly seven years, during which time it has caused irreparable nerve damage to my left leg, hip, buttocks and back. And my sciatic nerve. One treatment by diagnosing doctor has taken away over 50% of my pain. Another issue I had with Dr. Arnold was his requirements for a treatment. I am a tough old broad, a disabled nurse married to an ED nurse, who certainly knows if I am ill or not. Prior to getting the "egg" out of my buttocks with the paraformus treatment, travel was excruciating. Dr. Albert knew this,… yet almost always refused to give me a deep solu-medrol injection without seeing me first 24-48 hours prior to "check for pneumonia." After I found out the cost of conscious sedation, I never again had it. I gritted my teeth and held still. I felt it was a tremendous waste of the medical dollar for me to sleep for 15 minutes for a 5 minute procedure that I could stand. I also felt it was a waste of not only medical dollars, but also my own, to travel 125 miles round trip from my door to the office for a 2 minute (or less, timed) two-breath exam to tell me I was healthy enough to have an injection in two days. Not to mention causing me all that extra pain and the day of agony lying in bed on my stomach uncovered because I could not tolerate anything touching my left buttocks -- allodynia full bore. I weaned myself off all narcotics because he required me to visit every 28 days if I needed a refill, refusing to give me the insurance break of 90 days for the price of 30, so I weaned myself off narcotics. I feel he has a good heart, but really doesn't want to work any longer, so he sees a few patients a lot of times and makes the money he would normally have to see many patients to make. He also has no answering service and no way to reach him outside of office hours. I think he is basically a good man, somewhat misguided, but does help people in general. To me it appears he is making use of the loopholes until they are closed. As a member of the healthcare community, unwillingly a heavy user, and very aware of difficult ethical decisions that will need to be made in the future as technology overcomes common sense.I would not say he is a bad doctor. He is skilled in what he does, as far as the injections. They did give me some comfort as the areas are adjacent, they were not painfully administered and my comfort was definitely considered. He doesn't judge, but he also doesn't trust. Since every doctor I have ever seen states I have NO drug seeking behavior, and the Vicodin he gave me for one month always lasted three, I can only assume the monthly visits were financially motivated. So watch that.