Dr. Mason Ben Kates, MD

0 stars. My child came in needing stitches. This man walked into the room before the nurse had even asked any questions. His interaction: “what happened? We’ll glue it” and then started walking out. Barely examined the laceration. Barely let me answer his question. Before he disappeared I asked why glue over stitches? His response: “stitches are a bigger process, but better for cosmetic reasons, glue is easier.” Had I not advocated and asked the question, he would have just slapped glue on without any conversation. He then said he prefers stitches and I said that’s what I think is best as well. So, the process of numbing ointment began. The nurses (who were great) explained that they would apply the ointment on and let it sit for 15 minutes, reapply and wait another 15 minutes. They said he wouldn’t need the lidocaine after this ointment sits. The nurse reapplied the second dose of ointment and left. Within that same minute, this man (I refuse to call him a doctor) came in with a… suture kit. I informed him that the nurse had JUST applied the second dose and it needed to sit for 15 more minutes. No response. I was laying in the bed with my child and he said, “get off the bed.” I was confused as I didn’t know if he was going to let the ointment sit longer or if he was just going for it without waiting. I tried comforting my child and he said, “you need to step back.” No explanation of anything he was doing or about to do. He couldn’t figure out how to raise the bed…first the head of bed went up, then the feet…that’s when my intuition was really like hmmm what on earth is going on here? He started talking to my child while opening up the kit. Asking about sports. Fumbling the supplies around like it was his first rodeo. I’m a nurse (but didn’t tell him that) so I was watching him prepare and noticing these things. He whipped out an 18 gauge needle (which is giant) and I said, “ohhh um” and he cut me off and told me to stop talking because I’m going to scare my child. I told him the nurses said he wasn’t going to be getting a lidocaine injection because of the ointment so I am wondering what is going on. I then told him that as my child’s mom, I have every right to ask questions about what he is doing. He acknowledged my comment and without further explanation began injecting the lidocaine. He then told my child he was going to lay this clean cloth down with no explanation of where he was laying it down or that it would be covering his entire face. No warning, just boom. My child can no longer see me or anything that is happening. My child is 5, btw. This man stitches my child up and exudes very irritated body language while doing so when I kept encouraging and praising my child for doing such a good job. Once he finished the stitches, I said thank you! And he walked out without a word. I found out that he is a locum at this facility. I searched his name and found nothing but awful reviews. Someone needs to step in and end this man’s career. His bed side manner is an absolute disgrace and no more patients should be hurt by this coward. I am saddened for those that are too scared to advocate for themselves when dealing with the arrogance and rudeness that he has been carrying for years according to the reviews. Wonder why he works at 4+ different locations? Not hard to figure out why when you search his name. Bad reviews all over and here’s one now for Essentia in North Dakota.

Attentive, caring and a great interviewer/listener. Very thorough in his testing and communicating results. Could not have ask for a better doctor in the ER.

Not sure how this man still has a job. I was taken in involuntarily and it took 5 hours before I was communicated with. I shared with Dr. Kates that I was nervous due to my anxiety revolving around doctors and needles. He then proceeded to threaten me- telling me that I needed to “stop” my anxiety within three minutes or he would force an IV in my arm. He came back to check if his threat worked- then never saw him again. Was charged a grand to be threatened and brought in against my will- when I was already in the worst mental state possible. I feel awful about those who have experienced similar. This man will lose his job soon, but not soon enough.

Went to the ER with extreme stomach pain. Mr. Kates was on duty. I explained to him that I had not had any recent surgery, or stomach trauma and that I also still had my appendix and my gallbladder. His response, we will run some blood work to see what is going on. Those tests did not show anything with my appendix or gallbladder. Mr. Kates then goes on to say, so what type of "narcotics are you here after..." I was like "what are you talking about?" He said "well your symptoms tell me somethings not right about you being here!" I responded with "I would not even know what to ask for if that were even the case, my stomach hurts like nothing I have ever experienced, so I am here needing help!" He then proceeded to inform me, "well, we are going to have to order some very expensive tests then to see what's going on." I was in so much pain I did not care, but regardless I have health insurance so do whatever you need to do to figure this out. I then had a CT Scan that… showed an intestinal blockage. Mr. Kates informed me that I needed to prepare for surgery. I then had to advocate for myself and let him know that I did not want surgery as I was in training for my next marathon. He then said "well we can try something else but it will hurt and we can't really give you any drugs." I responded again..."I am not sure what your beef is about drugs but I am here for this excruciating stomach pain! Please stop with the drug seeking accusation, I rarely even take a tylenol let alone something stronger." The nurse who was present then spoke up and said "Dr. he has asked us to not give him any pain meds so he can be coherent to make cognisant decisions." Only then did he back off on his "patient is seeking drugs" line of questions. Based on this experience I would never recommend this person for medical treatment. He may see people seeking drugs, but then by all means order a toxicology screen to make that determination. Automatically assuming that is the reason for being in this ER shows little to no care and compassion. I was so thrilled when I finally saw another Dr. after being admitted. That Dr...actually helped me. Notice I refer to this person as Mr. because Dr. is too much of a compliment!!!

I fell 10ft from a loft ladder and he demanded to know how much alcohol or drugs I was on. (None) and proceeded to pressure me “So I wont find ANY drugs or alcohol when I test you?!” Me: “again, no- I haven’t had any drugs or alcohol.” Then he did xrays on my foot and leg, and said “it’s not broken let’s get you out of here.” It’s been 5 days and I cannot walk on my foot, at all. I’m in severe pain (and was when I left) and they prescribed me ibuprofen.

He basically accused me of being an alcoholic just because I had ONE drink and 7hours later had an anxiety attack. He then lectured me about trying to medicate myself with alcohol. Never have I tried to self medicate myself and If he thought that was the case then why didn’t he offer for me to get help for that instead of lecturing me about it. I was there for help with my anxiety and in actuality his bedside manner made my anxiety worse

Overall wait time in the ER: about 7 hours (came in at 11:00pm) Dr. Kates accused my child of faking ailment. Told my child that we were going to preform “Painful and dangerous” tests so he’d better tell the truth. My son was in tears. We were finally admitted to the hospital (about 6am now) and ended up staying two nights. He got a diagnosis from attending doctors and a treatment plan. Billing was a mess. He used decade old contact info that was no longer ours (instead of using contact and insurance info I provided) and did not submit to our insurance. It has taken a year and a half to reconcile and get out of collections.

Took my daughter to the ER with suspected pneumonia. At first they thought it was just a cold but Dr. Kates listened to my concerns and ordered a chest x-ray. She had pneumonia and was prescribed antibiotics.

Not a good ER experience at St. Francis

When you are truly suffering at the ER, hope to God this man doesn't walk into the room. I would not trust my life in this mans hands.