Dr. Mark Ira Golod, MD

Dr. Golod saved my right hand and im right handed. I had broken my right wrist. And the E. R. on call ortho dr. Did surgery and in the process broke my index metacarpal, and my wrist!! I then got to see DR GOLOD AND HE DID CORRECTIVE SURGERIES AND SAVED MY RIGHT HAND FROM NON FUNCTIONAL TO FUNCTIONAL. HES THE BEST OF THE BEST WHEN IT COMES TO CORRECTING ISSUES WITH BONES. I NEVER HAD TO WAIT TO SEE THE DR. WITH A APPOINTMENT. I WOULD RECOMMEND ??IF YOU NEED HELP WITH BONE ISSUES HES YOUR GUY. ALOT OF DR.s CAN COME ACROSS AS NOT HAVING GOOD BED SIDE MANNERS BUT HE IS THE BEST SURGEON IVE EVER HAD IN MY 65 YRS. AND 37 SURGERIES LIFE. IF YOU WANT THE BEST OUT THERE THEN SEE MARK GOLOD.

I was referred to Dr Golod by my PP for arthritis in both knees. While relating to him what my PP told me about my arthritis he became very combative and defensive telling me I was wrong and behaved as if I was lying to him, then told me if I wanted him to tell me I have arthritis he would. I felt so uncomfortable communicating with him. I told him I’m not a dr and that I was repeating what my dr told me. He proceeded to tell how awful his wife’s arthritis is that she can’t even make a fist. Also when I told him that the over the counter topical pain gel I am using has brought me so much relief he said it was just a placebo but asked for the spelling and wrote it down. I don’t recommend him to anyone unless you don’t mind being in the boxing arena!

Dr. Golod has operated on me on two occasions. I was treated professionally, seen rapidly and had good results.I have worked with many patients who have gone to this doctor and the feedback I received from them has been excellent. He is considered an excellent orthopedic surgeon, by other doctors in this area. He has treated a number of other physicians and that says a lot. He is a referral source for a number of local doctors.Don't expect to be wowed when you meet him. He is rather quiet, understated and kind. He comes across as somewhat "shy", but very professional. the practice of medicine is "his life". He spends a great deal of time with his patients and cares about their outcome.I'd go back to see him any time I had an orthopedic problem.

If I could give no stars I would. I had a friend who saw Dr. Golod once for hip pain and he gave her a cortisone shot that helped so I decided to make an appointment with him for the pain I was experiencing in my hips. The Office's customer service is very arrogant and careless - should have been a red flag! Anyway, when the dr finally came in, he immediately asked me how old I was, when I answered 44, he told me that I was "just getting old"! This before he took my history or examined me. When I explained the pain I was in, he asked me to "try to make my hip joint pop." Upon hearing that the pop wasn't too loud, he said "that's nothing, some people you can here from down the hall!"...Um, OK? I didn't realise I was in a competition. Then he noticed that I have a herniated disc from 1995 and off he went on a tangent. He proceeded to tell me that even though I lost the ability to walk for two weeks every 6 weeks or so for 2 years, that my pain must not have been THAT bad because he had a… herniated disc and had to have surgery on it. WHAT? I was amazed, a doctor was actually trying to debate with me that his pain was worse than mine! How did this appointment become about HIS pain? This tangent was easily 2/3rd of the time he was in the room with me. His only proof of this assumption was that he had had surgery. He told me that his best friend is an Orthopedic Surgeon and that upon being told he had a herniated disc, he got the surgery. Well, it's a lot different to have a friend who can do the surgery and being at the mercy of a dr, whom I don't know from Adam, tell me how risky spine surgery is and "I can do surgery but I can't give you a new disc"... but I digress. Golod took X-rays at his office and also had me get an MRI, telling me that if the MRI didn't show anything, they could give me the results over the phone and that I could use the MRI to go see a spine specialist, to which I agreed. But when the results of the MRI came in, his office wouldn't give me the results, instead insisting on my having another appointment (Ka-ching!). So I worried for days before the appointment thinking that he only wanted to see me back if the MRI showed something more serious. But when I went in, and after another round of how wimpy I am with pain, he told me that "I don't see anything wrong with the MRI but then again, I'm not a spine specialist so I don't really know what I'm looking at"! SERIOUSLY!!! I drove all the way over from Santa Cruz, paid $25 co-pay (I can only assume the fortune they charged my insurance too!), spent over 45 minutes waiting for the guy to show up in the room just to have him tell me NOTHING! (Other than once again, his boo-boo hurt more than mine.) I asked why I had been told I had to come in and he said he was "wondering the same thing" and proceeded to bring me out to the receptionist to ask her why she had me come in. She, being his wife, of course went along with the whole charade but didn't offer me my co-pay back. Nor did they give me the MRI, I had to make another trip to get that from them. BTW: My friend, after seeing him a few more times, agrees - this man shouldn't be practicing medicine! So if you value your body, your sanity and your money - STAY AWAY!!!

I was referred to Dr. Mark Golod's office by my medical insurance for a pain in my right shoulder. So I set up an appointment the following week. At the appointment I gave Mark Golod my past history and told him the issues I was having with my shoulder. After the consultation mark Golod wanted me to drive to Palo Alto for a special MRI.I made the appointment for my MRI and took time off of work the following week to get the MRI down. This procedure involved a special dye being injected into my shoulder joint (not fun). After a two hour wait and MRI I was finished.A week after the MRI I went back to Mark Golod's office to discuss the MRI and what to do next. Golod said that my MRI really didn't turn up anything in particular and assumed that I had had some rotator cuff issues since that was the issue I had in my right shoulder years earlier.Mark Golod's plan of action was to perform arthroscopic surgery on my right shoulder and look at my glenum labrum and rotator cuff.Two weeks later I… set aside a Thursday and Friday to recover and into surgery I went.At the post-op visit Mark Golod's PAC explained the post op physical therapy process and what I could and could not do. I followed his recommendations to a "T" even though they both said that my shoulder looked in remarkably good condition and they couldn't understand why I was having the issues I was having.After four weeks of physical therapy and "taking it easy". I went for my second follow-up and my pain had not lessened. They told me to continue with physical therapy and do minimal activities that involved my shoulder.After another three weeks I went back with no improvement in my condition. Mark Golod then said that i may want to seek a referral to another doctor. I knew there was a serious problem at this point.I did my own research and found a Dr. Kao who at the time was across the street from Golod. On my initial visit Dr. Kao suspected a broken Acromion Process. During the first surgery to see what Golod had or had not done. Dr. Kao discovered that my Acromion process was in fact fractured completely through and was pinching my Rotator Cuff. A second surgery was scheduled to do and open surgery to affix the bone using two screws and wire.Because of Dr. Golod's incompetence I had to endure more months of pain, two un-needed surgeries, lost time at work and I was out of pocket my own money for medical related costs not covered by my insurance.In my opinion Mark Golod should be scrubbing toilets and not performing medical procedures on humans.