Bartoli Lisa DO

I had a terrible experience with Dr. Bartoli. I posted it on her personal Unilocal but thought I would also post it here in case people don’t check over there. Not only was she really difficult to deal with in person (disdainful, interrupts you, rushes out, etc), but she kind of seems incompetent. She has such a good reputation that I kept going but it became laughable towards the end. I will give just a few examples of the many crazy and random things she did.
When I first went in, for foot and hip pain, I told her that a previous doctor had said the foot problem was a Morton’s Neuroma. I gave her a copy of the xray that showed it. Five months later, when I had developed back, neck, and shoulder probs on top of everything else bec she was so baffled by what was going on, she said, as if she was having a giant insight, «I think what’s going on with your foot might be a Morton’s Neuroma.» Brilliant.
She kept insisting my pain was diffuse, even though it was not, There were several locations, but the pain itself was not diffuse, it was well defined. We would literally go back and forth on this. I went in with hip and foot pain, and quickly developed compensatory back, shoulder and neck pain because I was adjusting my gait due to the hip and the foot. She would just stare at my chart as if it was in a foreign language. Two other orthopedists and a neurologist that she sent me to all said the problem was mechanical, but she was insistent it was inflammation and maybe fibromyalgia. She put me on NSAIDs that gave me an ulcer but did nothing.
Whenever I went in, she would have to be reminded of the entire situation all over again. Which, I get, doctors are busy and since she spends about 15 minutes with each patient, I am sure she sees a lot of them. But I was getting dramatically worse under her care, and it didn’t seem to faze or bother her at all, especially bec she would interrupt me constantly and go off on random tangents. Once she suggested the problem might be a wheat allergy! which is insulting and hilarious, especially because I had been tested *at her clinic* for a wheat allergy six months previously and that was in my file, I am not sure how a wheat allergy would throw someone’s back out but there you go, She also once, after the aforementioned staring, said, well you take X medicine and Y medicine, if you have changed them recently, that could be causing all of this. I said, those dosages haven’t changed in 3 or 4 years. It was like she didn’t even hear me, she then started explaining about how they could be the issue and I was like, I dont think Wellbutrin is giving me SCIATICA. I mean, how crazy is that???
I seriously sometimes wondered if she had just snuck in and put on a white coat and was totally fooling everyone. She would stare at my chart as though it was a foreign language. A few times I made diagrams for her because I thought, maybe she is kind of Aspbergery and can’t take in verbal information, but they didn’t seem to help.
Luckily I did go to a great orthopedist who correctly diagnosed a labrus tear on my first visit and is treating me accordingly. I am also seeing a great rheumatologist who is helping me undo all of the muscle and tendon strain I developed as a result of limping around thinking Dr. Bartoli was going to help me.
The whole thing was so extreme and I was in so much pain (at times I couldn’t move or leave my house; for four or five weeks I could only walk two blocks without needing to rest) that it dragged on bec I couldnt face trying to find a new doctor. There are so many more stories I could tell but I think what is above is a pretty good indication of what you could be in for. I would hate for anyone else to go through what I did.