Dr. Robert Gary Liss, MD

I am so glad Dr. Liss did my back surgery. I had a T1 T2 laminectomy. It was kind of an emergency as I didn’t even know I had back issues. I wanted to wait and get other opinions and he told me I could not wait long and he helped arrange a second opinion quickly. He even called me at home and told me how concerned he was about me. I had been losing the ability to walk but thought it was becauae of knee osteoarthritis. I had been ignoring pain in my ribs and numbness from my toes to chest for weeks. Then I started falling in the street and couldn’t move my legs to get up. After surgery, the pain is gone and I am walking so much better! I am so grateful for Dr. Liss!!!

As a physician assistant, I think it is important for all health care providers to have a high degree of empathy and concern for their patients. People are entrusting in us as providers to help uncover the source or cause of certain medical symptoms or provide appropriate recommendations for treatment/plan to achieve a better state of health. My brother saw Dr. Robert Liss for upper extremity nerve pain. On his initial encounter Dr. Liss made him feel defeated. He was not kind or positive regarding a plan to truly help him. He passed judgement and placed a label on him the moment he laid eyes on him. At any rate, there was consideration of a potential pinched nerve when my brother was seen in the ED. Dr. Liss recommended physical therapy and continue Motrin/Tylenol as needed for pain. My brother returned for a F/U visit today and was greeted by Dr. Liss’ resident who had better bedside manner and empathy than Dr. Liss. The resident spoke with and LISTENED to my brother,… conducting an appropriate examination and suggested that he would likely need an MRI for further evaluation. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Liss comes into the room, repeats the exam and confirms that an MRI is needed. Stated it would likely be a week or so before he could get an appt for MRI. Ok great, sounds like a plan. In regard to the pain, it is intermittent, however when it is present, it can be debilitating and he hasn’t gotten any sleep. He has a very physical and demanding job. “What do you suggest I do in the interim of waiting for the MRI?” “WE DONT GIVE NARCOTICS!” Was the first thing that came out of Dr. Liss’ mouth. His tone was very offensive and degrading especially because at no point was a narcotic even asked for or suggested. He simply inquired about what Dr. Liss recommends for better relief as the prior suggestions have not been working. There was no investigation into the things he may or may not be doing to exacerbate the pain. There were no suggestions on some additional things he could be doing to make the pain a bit more tolerable. If he would have taken time to read the the PT’s notes he would see that they had even had a difficult time with the exercises secondary to the amount of pain he is in. Suggestion of a steroid was recommended by physical therapy to see if that may help with any inflammation. As a physician, he could have maybe suggested or trialed an anticonvulsant such as gabapentin as these medications have more success in treating nerve pain. There have been processes put in place to have better monitoring on prescribing controlled substances given the tragic outcomes of those who misuse or even misprescribe narcotics. It is a great system to have in place, however I think that with some providers it places a premature label on certain patients. Whether it is right, wrong, or indifferent no patient should ever feel “defeated or like he didn’t give to craps about me” by a physician or any provider. My brother is a smart, hardworking, and successful African American male. I believe the only thing Dr. Liss saw was my brother’s skin color and assumed he was drug seeking. No patient should ever feel the way Dr. Liss made my brother feel. No matter if they are African American, blue, purple, clean, or unkept. ALL patients deserve the same level of care, empathy, and tailored treatment from us as health care providers. Dr. Liss has not been successful in this with our experience and we will never return to this office.

Would not recommend after a broken ankle. Day after i got out of boot. I fell again at work messed up my ankle again ..went to see him. He said sit on table. Looked at my ankle said your fine go back to work. So I did. Worked for 8 months on ankle with pain. Went back. To dr. They said OH its still broken. So after 8 months working. The aftermath 8 surgerys and the 8th one took my leg .. All he needed to do was take a xray .. He was a work comp dr I guess he did his job well for them . but for me. Nope

I think Dr Liss is assuming that the majority of people that are seeking his medical advice and care are fabricating their level of pain in order to get out of work or to get pain meds. He is rude. Diane, who works for that group is wonderful.

I didn't care for his bed side manner. I ask a question and his response is that we will cross that bridge when we get to it. He is very vague when he communicates, also, I noticed that there aren't any patients in the waiting room

bar none the worst dr. and staff i have ever been to see, first vist i got more attention and treatment from visiting resident, 2nd appointment sat in exam room for 1 hour until i went to reception desk i told them i had to return to work so ether refund my copay or have a doctor see me, he then magically apeared were he spent all of three minute's with me still unable to tell me what the cause of my sholder and neck pain was but asked if i was willing to under go surgery, i said not until i know the cause so he orders an MRI witch he knows the insurance won't pay for because he has know idea what he is ordering it for ,and the staff had the gull to act like i was wrong for haveing to sit in an exam room for over an hour with no explnation i understand if an emergancy comes up but not one apology was given for this long wait . i also understand that a accuate diagnose take's time but he does not spend any time talking with you and does not seem to listen when you tell him your symtom's… the whole facility just want's your copay bill your insurance for thing's they know will be covered like x-ray's and such but there is no effort made by anyone at that office for any type of quality care

Please do yourself a favor - find a different doctor for your pain and orthopedic issues. I recently injured my back/sciatica. This appointment was a post ER visit after being on steroid muscle relaxant. Given that I was going to a specialist, after waiting 10 days from ER visit and completing the steroid course, I expected some imaging to confirm dx, since none were done in the ER and I did not know if that was muscle tear, pinched nerve, disk slip, fracture? I did not get a recommendation. The doctor said its a slipped disk after having me tip toe (3 steps) and heel walk (3 steps). Secondly, I expected help with pain management. I had already been on Tylenol 10 days straight, even thought I had prior liver disease. Due to chronic kidney disease stage 3, non-steroidal are off limit to me, so I cannot alternate with Ibuproben, Naproxen. During the visit, I specifically asked for transdermal pain creams as my health problems prevent me from talking much orally but he dismissed my… request as "distractions". He did say he would prescribe something for pain. I did not see the script until check-out in the hallway, although it's customary for a doctor to explain what he's prescribing in person. In any case, I did not care as my pain was all that concerted me. I asked the receptionist if the script was NDAIDS based. She went to ask the doctor for another alternate med, then an assistant came back with "take Tylenol". At that point my husband stepped in asking for something other than Tylenol as was not helping plus I had already exceeded the warning on the bottle by leaps. The assistant came back with "doctor won't give you narcotics". That reply was the most humiliating response someone could publicly give me. First, no one asked for narcotics. There are other pain meds other than Tylenol that are not narcotics . Second, all of this exchange took place in the hallway, in public display of others. Third, if all there is Narcotics why not? What are they designed for? Yes, others can abuse them but one can quickly get a sense of who does that. Both this doctor and his staff should go back to learn compassionate care around pain management and patient's privacy.

Terrible bedside manner. Right away he said we have a physical therapy place right in the building. I went with a back problem. I was bearly able to stand/walk. He said he could see nothing wrong with me. lol I went to a chiropractor the next day. Amazing how he fixed my problem in less than 5 minutes. Take some time and listen to you patients doctor. Was all that time in school just for the money?

This dr has givin me 3 back surgeries over the past 4 yrs ... He wonderful and so is the staff .. they make you feel like family in some sense. to get medical records is easy ect.....

I visited Dr Liss a few months ago after being referred to from my employer. I had fallen at work and hurt my back, knee, arms and neck. Dr Liss is one of my companies workers comp doctors. Dr Liss had me get into a gown, after waiting 20 minutes he came in and had me walk across the floor. Never touching any of my injured areas,his analogy was "did you watch the football game last night", those guys get right up and go right back into the game. You are fine, go back to work. I lost a month of work, seeing various doctors, lost wages, almost losing my house because of this quack.