Burton Charles V MD

My apologies for the length of the critique however anyone who is forced to look for an orthopedic surgeon is having some serious problems that can result in expensive and potentially life long negative impacts. Therefore the whole story seems worth telling.
When my wife began to receive treatment for a herniated disc, we started with Chiropractic. The pain persisted and the concern that we were dealing with something more then a garden variety bulged disc began to worry us. A chiropractor friend recommended this guy.
Dr. Burton’s motto is «It Is Needless To Do More When Less Will Suffice» We liked a philosophy that looked at alternatives to knives if it wasn’t necessary. Before the appointment, we spent a bunch of time on his website
It is interesting reading and includes (among other things related to reasons why people DON’T get well after back surgery) approaches that are contemporary and support patient involvement and advocacy… although our experience at this point has not supported what he claims in the area of «patient involvement».
This guy seems to know his stuff. Nor does he shy away from taking on his colleagues who are «in bed» with the device companies like Medtronics.
At the appointment, we found him to be rather harsh. He looked at the MRIs and xrays and quickly reviewed what he saw.
What we didn’t like was his resistance to answering questions.
From there we went into an exam room and he quickly performed exam tests, he felt that there was a need for more MRIs of the hip area.
He would not answer any questions (such as the advisability of swimming as an exercise) saying rather impatiently“we are still trying to determine a diagnosis!“
We went for the additional MRIs and then went back hoping he would give us the results after interpreting them. No luck. He did call the following morning to say he was ordering steroid injections one for the back and the other for the hip. He didn’t stay on the phone long enough for my wife to get all her questions answered. It has been two weeks since the injections and my wife is getting better but still has numbness and weakness in the leg and foot. She followed his advice of setting appointments with the physical therapist.
Our biggest complaint is that he hasn’t done any follow up and we still have questions about prognosis and recommended exercises. He doesn’t seem like he would be approachable and so we are left to wonder if the recovery is long term and if he really can’t tell us anything until after more time has passed or what??? Who knows?
Bottom line, in spite of our feelings about his questionable bedside manner, we have a great deal of respect for his experience and education combined with his philosophy of «It Is Needless To Do More When Less Will Suffice».