Dr. Samuel Andrew Johnson, MD

Horrible

Today was my first visit with Dr Johnson. He was very friendly and courteous and spent the necessary time with me. He answered my questions and advised me of the next steps. His staff was also friendly and accommodating.

Any review that says Dr Johnson spends time with patients, explains conditions or gives accurate diagnosis is lying - I am betting he had his nurse enter those - note they have no comment - who else puts 5 stars without comment? Dr. Johnson spends 2-5 minutes maximum with you ( based on 4 visits), no matter how serious or how complicated the reason for visit is. He will answer ONE question and not necessarily accurately, nor will it be thorough. He does not contact you with test results (no matter how bad the news) nor to order further testing. He relies on a nurse who has no training (she seems more like a clerical employee) and can't answer questions - nor get an answer. She called, and told me the doctor had ordered a biopsy, but could not tell me why, nor what it entailed. When I asked, she sounded exasperated and then said "Just ask him at your next appointment." Which was a month away. "Oh, that's okay = just ask him" she said. When I finally saw Dr Johnson,, he told me the… biopsy was VERY urgent ( but he had no problem having me wait a month to learn this, rather than pick up the phone and call me???). He said I had vasculitis and my kidneys were quickly failing. He said I had to immediately start on chemotherapy. He started me on steroids first and had me do the biopsy "to confirm" this diagnosis.One of the things a biopsy shows is inflammation - which will not show if the patient is on steroids, as I was. At least I wasn't on chemo, because when I went in to learn the results of the biopsy ( again, he didn't phone and sent me no message), he told me he was mistaken and I now had something different (he never said what) and needed a kidney transplant. No dialysis? "No." he brushed me off with "that's a long ways off" when asked why. But a transplant isn't? His patients are expected to learn everything they need to know, to stay alive, from the incredibly badly designed tiny print patient portal - good luck with that - IF the doctor bothers to enter the information there, make sure you know how to read labs, because that is all you will find there. . There is no way to speak to a living soul, except for his "nurse" AKA guard. I once phoned to ask if it would be safe for my kidneys to get the Shingles vaccine and she said "Uh... I guess so..." and refused to ask him. The visit where I was told I need a kidney transplant lasted 4 minutes, and he told me while standing with his back to me. As he started to walk out, I asked what my GFR was and he told me double the actual number I would later learn that my labs showed. While he told me this, my daughter, who was sitting to the side, could see that he was texting while he said this. I switched to a different practice and nephrologist - one who knew him. She was shocked when she saw, by my records, that he could not read a biopsy report - or read labs correctly and she asked me twice why he told me the wrong GFR - as if I'd know. She aslo told me his diagnosis was way off. Hey, Dr. Johnson - I see you were a "star" student. Who did your homework? More importantly, how many patients have died because you can't be bothered to care?