Dr. Peter John Gruber

We tried for a patch for an ASD when a PAPVR was detected. We wanted to try to correct that as well, so we chose open heart. I don't look for bedside manner in a surgeon, and his staff has enough charm to go around, but Dr. Gruber made a point of coming by on a Saturday evening to say goodbye to Eoghan, since he was not on call that weekend. That was above and beyond. Plus, he did a fantastic job and was kindness itself to Eoghan.

Our baby was operated on by Dr. Gruber at Primary Children's Medical Center shortly after he was born. He had many bad arrhythmias (uncoordinated heart beats) after his surgery. Apparently this is common so cardiac surgeon's always put temporary heart pacing wires in while they are doing surgery so the child can use a temporary pacemaker after surgery until they arrhythmias stop. Dr Gruber only put one set of heart pacing wires (in the ventricle) in our son so the temporary pacemaker didn't help with his arrhythmias. It affected his blood pressure badly and the ICU doctors couldn't control it with medication either. I started talking with some other parents who also had children in the cardiac ICU at Primary's and found out they had 2 sets of pacing wires in their children (in the atria and ventricles). Their surgeons were either Dr Kaza or Dr Burch. These other children had arrhythmias as well but sailed through their ICU stay because their arrhythmias could be controlled with the… pacemaker and 2 sets of pacing wires. I asked Dr Gruber why he didn't put 2 sets of pacing wires in our son and he said "there isn't enough heart tissue to attach another set of wires". I also got 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions on this from other pediatric cardiac surgery hospitals since my son will need more surgeries in the future and it seems every other heart surgeon I asked about will always put 2 sets of heart pacing wires in while doing open heart surgery. It seems like more and more people are experiencing problems with this surgeon... perhaps no one has called him out on his inadequacies yet? I think he is someone who looks good on paper but in real life practice is inept. People need to speak up if have experienced problems with Dr Gruber so parents and children in the future can make informed decisions about who to have for their surgeon.

My daughter was in the cardiac intensive care unit at Primary Childrens Med center in salt lake city. She got a wound infection after being operated on by Dr Gruber. She was so sick that we almost lost her several times and she spent an extra month in the hospital. Dr Gruber never came around to answer our questions (or apologize for giving our child an infection, offer to waive the hospital bill since he caused so much damage and we were responsible for the bill...) I saw the other cardiac surgeons visit their patients on an almost daily basis to touch base with parents and see how their patient was doing. I must admit that I was jealous (and angry) that our daughter didn't receive this type of caring treatment from her surgeon. When we arrived in the ICU, we met another family who had the misfortune of having Dr Gruber for a surgeon and their child had a wound infection as well. I'm wondering why the hospital doesn't track this problem. I agree with the previous review. Do yourself… and your child a favor by choosing Dr Burch or Dr Kaza if your child needs heart surgery at Primary Children's Hospital. Please do your research on this doctor and make an informed decision. Don't let them tell you who is going to do surgery on your child.

operated on my son's heart,got great results.