Skaggs David L MD Orthopedic Surgery Medical Group

I have to agree with Elizabeth H.‘s review. Except I took my daughter to the Children’s Hospital office… AND we waited 2 hours and 15 minutes till we saw Dr. Skaggs! I also was told, it won’t be long now, your the next one, we promise! Three times I was told that so we kept waiting. Once by the office staff, once by the person who brought us into the room and then again by the sweetest nurse ever, Elaine. Then, when Dr. Skaggs finally came in, 45 minutes after we were moved from the waiting room (where we sat for an hour and 35 minutes) into the room where you see the doctor, I felt rushed and hurried along by him got no real answers and asked us if we would wait till 1 to see a colleague of his. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. What a shame. We saw him 8 years earlier at the Spaulding location and our experience at that time was not even close to this one. THEN as we exited the nurses and staff came over trying to make up for the fact that we waited for over two hours, even giving us parking validation. They gave a few excuses, and I’m sure they were valid, but my advice to them is, if too many people are waiting and the wait is longer than an hour, if it’s not serious, reschedule! No big deal! I would’ve come back. It’s up there with one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had in a medical setting. I feel like there is a huge disconnect between the front office and the doctors. The nurses, God bless them, are the only ones holding it all together. So thank you to Elaine for being so kind and apologetic. She made the experience a bit less painful because of her kindness. I will never come back to that office.

Dr. Skaggs is talented, compassionate, and funny. He’s terrific in every way. The reason for the 3 stars versus 5: Dr. Skaggs — your front office staff at the Beverly Hills location is incompetent and rude. Today I waited a total of one hour and 20 minutes in your waiting room before the nurse called our name to come back. I would still be sitting there if I had not had a meltdown and demanded to get some assistance. I watched a parade of patients go in and out of your office, and yet we still sat there. I would periodically (about every 15 minutes) go up to the front desk and inquire what’s going on. Each time — the lady would respond something along the lines of, «it shouldn’t be too much longer now!!!» The appointment was for 3:00 PM. We walked in the front door at 2:55 PM for check in. The nurse let us go back at 4:15 PM. Obviously, mistakes were made. My time is valuable. How about yours? I am very willing to wait for outstanding medical care — but I know that this office didn’t get it right today. In the future, for our appointments with Dr. Skaggs, we will be utilizing the other location — which is at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. To anyone reading this — he’s a great physician. Too bad that poor Office Management and Staff can sometimes ruin a nice experience with a doctor.

Seriously cannot say enough good words about this surgeon. I am a very health-​conscious, surgery-​phobic mom who wanted to find any way to avoid spinal fusion surgery for my 16 year old son, whose scoliosis was rapidly worsening.
Dr. Skaggs was AMAZING. From the very first moment, he made my son (a very serious lad) feel comfortable by treating him like an adult. He discussed the science behind the surgery (great for my kid) and made sure my son understood that the decision to do this surgery was his and his alone (not his parents’). This was a huge gift to him. My son listened carefully to all the risks of the surgery (pretty scary) and ultimately agreed to go through with it.
Dr. Skaggs’ assistant, Alison, was equally professional and terrific. Together, they made such a great team and were very open to any and all questions we threw their way, telling us to email, text or call at any time if there was any questions we forgot.
The surgery went «perfectly» according to Skaggs, and we were so relieved and thrilled. Granted, a year later, we did run into a problem: one of the screws in my son’s lower back had cracked half way through. Dr. Skaggs told us that had only happened in 4 other cases (out of 7,000) and that they could go back in and fix it or just wait and see if it caused our son any significant pain. Again, that would be our son’s decision and no one else’s. A year later, the crack has not worsened and our son is generally pain free.
If you’re looking for more, try Googling the article written by sportswriter Tom Friend about Laker basketball star Pau Gasol and his friendship with Dr. Skaggs. There is also a video piece about it. I think on
. You’ll get some insights.
Bottom line: Skaggs is down to Earth, friendly, caring, smart as hell and obviously knows what he’s doing. I would recommend him without question. Good luck!

Dr. Skaags performed a spinal fusion surgery on our 13 year old daughter. Her scoliosis was severe and needed surgery. After much research we chose Dr. Skaags to do our daughters surgery. We were so lucky to have found him. Our daughter quickly recovered and Dr. Skaags was amazing through the whole process. We would highly recommend him !

My 6 year old daughter fell from her school monkey bars last week and I decided to have her xrayed over the weekend at an urgent care facility. Xrays showed her clavicle to be broken. They gave me a cd of the xrays and a sling for her arm.
The next step was to take her to a pediatric orthopaedic doctor for an evaluation, so after researching the providers contracted with my insurance, I decided on Paul Choi or David Skaggs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (they also have other offices in LA).
I called at 8:20am this morning (Monday), answered their screening questions and was told I’d be called back within 30 minutes to let me know if Dr. Skaggs would take my daughter’s case and when he could see her. By 8:40am, I was called back and told to get to CHLA around 10am because he had to leave at 11am. We arrived at 10:15am and didn’t see the doctor until 11:30am, but the wait was worth it and I knew we were being squeezed in. The CHLA Outpatient waiting room had ample books to keep us busy for the hour.
First the physician’s assistant came in and asked all the pertinent questions; I gave her the xray disc. Minutes later, Dr. Skaggs entered our room with a big smile and engaged my daughter immediately, speaking to her, not me. He was so respectful of her, did a thorough examination (which the urgent care doctor did not do, I’m sure because his specialty is Internal Medicine) and gave me all the information I could ask for. Of course, I had a list of questions, too, and he answered each one with a big smile on his face. I thanked him for seeing us today and asked if we should return for another round of xrays to see if the clavicle repaired correctly. He said the radiation to my daughter’s thyroid isn’t worth more xrays and not to worry, children’s bones have an amazing ability to grow back and just as strong as before.