Pournaras Stephen W Jr MD

Had an appointment to see Dr. Pournaras for a pain in wrist on July 7, 2015. He told me that I need an MRI to be done and his assistant Dana Piper will call me to schedule one. She called me on July 10 and left me a voicemail to call her back. Called her 6 times over next 15 days and left multiple voicemails but never received a call back. On August 3, 2015 called the front desk and asked for her, after 10 minutes of wait she got on call telling me that she left me «2 Voicemails» (obvious lie) that I need to make an appointment myself. Finally she sent me an order for MRI. I scheduled for MRI and got it done on August 31 for which the report was released on Sept 4. I never received a call from doctor’s office about the report findings. I got a call from billing on Oct 20 that I have not paid for my visit. When I inquired about the report results and was transferred to another department after paying the bill. I was told that the assistant «DANA PIPER» left me two voicemails which like before I never received. Then they told me to drop off the disk at their office and wait for call from the assistant again.
Overall Dr. Pournaras was very pleasant and helpful but was of no use as even after doing what I was supposed to do and paying almost $ 600 as doctor bill and MRI bill, I am still suffering from pain after 3.5 months and no resolution was offered as they are too busy lying.
The office staff is rude and very unpleasant. Visit only if you won’t require any follow up from any of the office staff and if you do then I feel sorry for you.

Dr Pournaras may lack the bedside manner that previous reviewers mentioned; he’s a surgeon and 20 years in hospitals has taught me that they’re not touchy-​feely types. He is, however, a gifted surgeon and runs the most seamless coordinated-​care operation I’ve ever seen, which in my case ranged from all arrangements for the Fairfax Surgical Center thru to the lengthy PT needed for recovery. I found him pleasant and professional and he was quite specific about the time healing and discomfort the surgery would entail. I have sufficient friends; what I needed from him was surgery, and I couldn’t be happier with the experience.

I agree with the 1^st review on Dr. Pournaras’ personality. He treated us and our 10 yr. old patient in a very non-​empathetic manner. He was already 1+ hr. late for our surgery but was very upset that he had to wait another hour for her surgery to start because my kid was so hungry from starving the night prior to have the surgery in the late afternoon; she had a bite of a very small snack while she was at school. He lectured her and us for causing the delay. His office didn’t prep. us at all on what to expect but just handed us a paper to read. Knowing that this was a child having surgery and requiring no food past midnight, why did they urge us to take the late/​last surgery of the day!!! Asking a child to starve the whole day is not easy. He was very arrogant about the situation and wants to be treated like a god! He may have had a bad day already but don’t take it out on a kid or your patients. We are ultimately the customer.

I don’ t know what kind of surgeon Dr. Pournaras is but I do know that he is a brusque, rude man who can’t be bothered with you if you need a difficult second opinion. In fact I was told, and I quote «no one wants to fix someone else’s problem»… I have never felt quite so alone or confused about where to go next for help. He could be a brilliant surgeon but not a man who is particularly interested in patients.