Dr. William Francis Lavelle, MD

Dr. LaVelle performed a spinal decompression and fusion (3 level) on February 7th after I had many tests, rounds of PT, spinal injections & nerve conduction studies. When I had my consultation with Dr. LaVelle to discuss surgery, he immediately made me comfortable, calmed my fear & doubts and fully explained the procedure he recommended to alleviate decades of back pain due to arthritis, spinal stenosis, spondylitis. I will be 70 in a couple of weeks, and I was more than ready to take the step, and so far the results are great. All discussions with Dr. LaVelle (along with Dr. Mitchell Long!) proved them to be caring, empathetic and attentive physicians, and can’t say enough thank you’s!! Sharon Saukas

I wish I brought my daughter to Dr. Lavelle sooner. She had the option of the tether surgery or brace. She did not want a brace again. He performed excellent work on her back and helped ease our worries. Even now I have his personal email and phone to contact if I have any questions or concerns. His email reply was almost immediate on a Saturday night. And then called me on that Sunday. Very attentive doctor. Sometimes that’s exactly what a worried mother needs.

I saw him 1.5 years ago. Waited 2.5 hours before I saw him. I had had scoliosis xrays but he wanted me to have them again so they would download easier into his system. Went to see him again recently, and like other says, the office herds you like cattle. I told them I had developed a cyst on my toe- I had another Drs appt later in the afternoon. After being told I would be called back "shortly," and he was 45 min behind, I sat waiting in the outer area 1.5 hrs. I had not even been called back yet. I asked for a refund of my copay. They yelled at me for leaving. I repeated again, since I made the appt w/Lavelle, I developed a cyst that had to come off in part due to infection risk. When I went to reschedule, I now have to wait 7 long weeks. But there are not many scoli surgeons. It is too bad the office does not communicate well with the nurse "back" there and the front office, and the patients. It would not cost upstate ortho a nickle to have better communication.

Excellent surgeon, doctor. Personable and thorough. Explains things in a way the patient can understand. After surgery care also excellent. Highly recommend Dr. Lavelle.

He had a surgical consult with me about my daughter and the cell never left his hand nor eyes. Would not let this man nor his RUDE P.A. ... I have never been so upset in my life. Ionly have one child and they can not even take things seriously...

Wait time? Better have all day.... Surgical skills? We'll done in late 14 had to be revised in early 16 could only do half the surgery because he used wrong size disc spacers and shut off spinal communication.... Nuero monitoring forced him to stop had to finish a few weeks later....just a painful nightmare Avoid if you can...SCARY!!!!

Didn't seem interested in helping me. I guess health care can choose who they want to help and who gets dismissed it less than 2 minutes. He may be a great Surgeon to someone he wants to help. Don't let arrogant Surgeons get you down.....just move on to the next one.

First off the wait time is terrible. An hour plus is the norm. Waited as long as 2.5 hours. They shuffle people through like cattle here. Dr. Lavelle is smart and knows his stuff but he can and should be more clear if there were ANY complications during surgery. Finding out from his PA in my follow up visit just doesn't seem right. Had at least 3 follow up visits after and none of them were with him, Last I saw him was in the hospital. Communication with the staff is definitely not the best. Like I said, a very busy office getting shuffled around like cattle and probably too much for the staff to handle. I just expected better.

Great experience

Dr. Lavelle is 100x better than any spine specialist I've seen. I was diagnosed with scoliosis at 6yrs old and my original doctor in Rochester was horrible. At 20 years old on my own I found Dr lavelle. He was honest with me about the risks of surgery but made me feel safe in his hands. He did a remarkable job and has awesome bed side manner. What 20 year old wouldn't be scared about getting surgery without their parents there? I was but he calmed my fears and made me much straighter. I highly suggest him. :) I'll never see another spine specialist