Dr. Matthew J Watson, MD

We had the severe displeasure of meeting mr. Watson 2.5 years ago. (I refuse to call this man a doctor). He treated me terribly, but lots of doctors seem to be that way when women cry. I let it go and requested to never see him again. Fast forward to last night. I’d honestly forgotten the jerk. But, my husband was struck by a hidradentitis attack of the upper ear. It had swollen so badly his ear no longer had folds or definition in the cartilage. We attempted several urgent cares who sent us to the ER because they were not equipped to deal with the wound. The initial PA was amazing. Like us she identified the obvious pocket of fluid, but the upper ear can become disfigured if cut away from the cartilage. So, she rightly sought the doctor on call for his opinion. Mr Watson essentially came in laughing. Then told us there was no fluid in the lobster colored ear that the skin was stretched so tightly over it was breaking. It was 4 times the size of his other ear. With me, my husband, and… the PA insisting there was an obvious picket he finally sarcastically said, “Fine if you want me to slice your ear open I will, but you’ll risk deformity.” My husband has had this disorder for 31 years. He knows his body. Mr Watson then started calling loudly outside the room for larger and larger gauge needles, in an attempt to scare my husband out of the procedure. Next he popped his head in to explain they would not be numbing him at all. He sent the PA in to shove the needle in the severely swollen painful ear, never looked at my husband’s charts. Had the PA squeeze the ear until it was bruised and wounded even further, then handed him gauze to”hold on it until it stopped bleeding”. He sent her in with a script of bactrim and discharged him. Throughout the visit he treated my husband like he somehow managed to do this to his own ear on purpose. He continued insisting hidradentitis doesn’t attack that area. We had to show him previous scars and he then became offended he was proven wrong. The only way I got anything done for my husband was to LOUDLY talknover eveyone in the room and demand it be done. But if the doctor had been accurate and it didn’t need the procedure why was I able to bully him into doing it without my husband having to sign an “against medical advice” form? He didn’t have to sign anything, this means right wrong or indifferent someone getting paid to practice medicine, did what I DEMANDED. No doctor worth his salt would let a patient dictate treatment unless they were incompetent. Thank goodness I was correct and they did get 3cc’s of fluid out and he is healing, however he hasn’t slept in 48 hours as the ear is still radiating pain across his entire head. We’re milton residents. Not drug addicts. We only go to Northside, we don’t doctor hop. I do not understand how a doctor so consistently refuses to do his job and still heads this ER.

I agree with the previous reviews: Dr. Watson is extremely arrogant and uncaring. And, he is extremely incompetent too - he never has the proper treatment plan, so he conceals his lack of expertise under extreme arrogance, laughing at patients and their families for disturbing him. He spends more time chatting with nurses in the hallways than collecting the history of patient's illness. Besides, he has a history of patient deaths in his care due to negligence. But, because he happens to be the President of the Georgia College of Emergency Physicians, it's no problem for him to have been sued for malpractice... he continues neglecting patients in the ER.

We were at Northside Forsyth for my pitifully sick 2 year old. We first saw the PA who said he had an ear infection after only looking in his ears though he had other symptoms and she said he needed no antibiotics for this because they were not prescribing them for ear infections any longer. Therefore we requested to see a MD to confirm diagnosis, that what she said was correct and to recheck our son. Doctor Watson (if you choose to call him that), came in very sarcastic. He asked why we requested a recheck and laughing as if it was a joke that our son had been crying and had been for several hours with ear pain making rude sarcastic comments and asking if our 2 year old smoked!!! We do not even smoke, nor does anyone else around him! At this point I was upset and my husband was mad. We were not going to stand for his actions ( which I didn't even name HALF of what he did or said) and quickly discredited any diagnosis from him. We will ALWAYS request a different ER doctor if we even go… back to Northside Forsyth again!

I visited the emergency room this year for an outer ear skin infection that had been present for 6 months as was not healing despite numerous courses of antibiotics. In frustration, I went to the emergency room to have a full blood and urine tests and to seek guidance from the attending Physician. Dr, Watson look at my ear while being interrupted by his phone where he was discussing another patient who was mentally unstable and needed to be put in restraints. This is not a call he should have openly talked about while with another patient. He did the blood work and I asked about urine. He asked me why the urine. I proceed to educate Mr. Watson on potential causes and what labs needed to be ordered. With attitude, he ordered the test. He was with me for maybe 10 minutes. I felt that he minimized my issue and quickly dismissed me as well as taking offense that a patient had to educate him. He later came in and said all tests were clear and there was nothing he could do.I received a phone… call from Northside Hospital a few days after my visit asking me to do a verbal survey of my experience. I was candid and honest and assumed there would be some confidentiality involved. This was not the case as I believe the feedback was given to him including the details of my visit.A few months later, I received a collection agency bill for $162.50 for Physicians fees. I never received any prior bill. I believe that due to my survey comments, I was retaliated against with a fee of $162.50. As I sought additional help, I was diagnosed with a pretty significant disorder call CVID...common variable immune deficiency. A an infection that had been present for 6 months with no response to treatment should have been recognized as a possible immune disorder. So, Dr. Watson missed the mark. I now have to do weekly infusions for my life to fuel my immune system. These infusions are very costly and last for about 4 hours per infusion.So, I would request an alternate Physician if he is assigned to you in the Northside Forsyth Emergency room. I have filed a formal ethics complaint with Northside which is being investigated.