Tyson Burghardt, MD

I have had an epilepsy diagnoses for 20 years, been taking medications (20+ different) and seen countless neurologists. Dr Burghardt was only one of many doctors who I saw at MSU (which is a teaching hospital, so they rotate out frequently). At our point of meeting, I had not only been involved in my own care for years, but was a very active member of the Epilepsy advocacy community directly, knew hundreds of individuals with various epilepsy diagnoses personally, had studied psychology and bioethics at MSU, as well as attended a graduate program at MSU for rehabilitation (disability related) studies. I was not an ill-informed patient, I was familiar with my stats, and this was not my first rodeo with a new doctor. When I met Dr Burghardt, luck would have it-and I did consider it lucky!-I had the FIRST seizure that has ever been caught by any doctor, test, observation, or any qualified medical professional and he, upon seeing this, was unable to give us (myself and my husband) ANY… information. Zero. He did not state that he knew where it had started, what kind it was, how long it had been, or what he had witnessed. He seemed uncomfortable, to some degree. He completely blew off the experience of catching a seizure in-action, in spite of it being something previous neurologists had strived for (including hospital stays trying to catch them). Normally, identifying types of seizures is generally part of trying to help gain control over them. In spite of this, the appointment continued on to other questions and considerations that he deemed important-had i considered surgery or implants. These are things that I have already had conversations with other doctors about, done lots of research on, and can point-blank explain why they are not options for me. The reasons vary, either because I am not a candidate medically or because my daily quality of life would suffer, for my particular lifestyle and preferences of independence, etc etc. Regardless of my previous experience and knowledge on my options, he did not want to hear what I had to say about my quality of life, or what I did not want to take risks doing (particularly, brain surgery, which always pose significant risks and may not even reduce the seizures). When he realized that I was not just going to jump at these "hopeful" offers, as they can be to some patients, he became threatening towards my attitude about living with seizures-telling me, literally, that if I did not have brain surgery I would "Die". With all due respect, I said to him that dying randomly one day is not my biggest concern when I can currently control all aspects of my well being and have great cognitive functioning that I am unwilling to risk via brain surgery-especially when there's no evidence that it would help me. He laughed condescendingly. Repeat: He laughed at a patient discussing quality of life concerns. It is not a doctor's place to tell a patient that their quality of life is less important than quantity, especially when they aren't even willing to answer basic questions, or acknowledge that some patients have already traced those "possible routes" to no avail. Instead it was just fear-mongering, with little information about the things we WERE interested in trying to treat drug resistant epilepsy; He refused, for example, to even discuss CBD or medical marijuana questions-in spite of my direct questions about people who were patients with worse epilepsy having benefited from one or both, completely removing ALL their seizures. It's fine for him, like any physician, to tell their patients what they do or don't prefer for treatments, but what he did was try to shut down my having raised said questions, rather than having informed, medical, opinions about the subject. To talk to someone as if they were a child, and/or a person with no autonomy was disgraceful. My husband took me home crying, and we never went back, and will never go back to MSU neurology at all as a result. Thankfully, I found a specialist who was open to ANY options, based on the individual patient's situation and epilepsy circumstances. In the first appointment, my new specialist showed me, medically backed and easily read on MRI's, reasons why I was NOT a candidate for a brain surgery that Dr Burghardt had tried to schedule me for the day he met me. I caution everyone to speak up for yourself, do not be pressured, become informed, and find a doctor who actually listens to you and is open to all opens.