I gave up on Dr. Pettine's offices in September last year after trying to work with them. This story is particularly sad because he came highly recommended and was considered one of the premier ADR surgeons in the United States.
The information I got from the stem cell side and the orthopedic side of his business was inconsistent and not clear. I sent them my package but, there seemed to be a lot of bad communication over there so, after I overnighted it to them, it sat for over a month even though I did call weekly to follow up on it. They had my package, then they said they sent the package back to me, then somehow they had the package again; one stem cell treatment verbal quote was at $8,000 and then later a verbal quote over $10,000; never once did I get any diagnosis on my cervical spine except to get stem cell injections. I wanted to know how that would help with my cord compression and degeneration but, never got a clear answer because they didn't know. They just said that "70% of their patients get 70% relief from the injections." I was pretty unhappy with the information I received from the offices so, I did not hire Dr. Pettine and never spoke with him. The final straw for me was when the orthopedic side assistant wanted me to send them a psych evaluation because of my prior surgeries and test results for Fibromyalgia which my primary care did not think was necessary. There were more problems with the information I received but, that will give you a general idea of what I experienced. It felt like they were really trying to push me into the stem cell side of their business and I told the orthopedic side we had reached an impasse.
When things don't go smoothly for me with a doctor and/or his office, I consider that a red flag. It should never be that hard to work with any office on any type of project IMO. I think this is a very sad outcome for a highly regarded surgeon. There are some good people, both patients, doctors and employees, connected to him and his work. I feel badly for them.
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/06/1...ed-incoherent/
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2006: epidural shots did nothing; 2 surgeons recommended 2 level fusion, I declined.
2007 - 2010 4 foraminotomy and cord decompression cervical surgeries and 2 endoscopic discectomy T7-T8 surgeries; total 6 with Dr. Jho (Pittsburgh,PA) My C6/C7 autofused around 2009.
2013 - 2015: epidurals 3 times (again did nothing) and 4 Radiofrequency ablation (or RFA) procedures.
2016 more RFAs, hit the 10 year mark of this insanity and pain, 3 level M6-C ADR with Dr. Clavel May 19, 2016
