Bassett Health Care: Huntsman Thomas MD at 1 Atwell Road in Cooperstown, New York

Customer Reviews about Bassett Health Care: Huntsman Thomas MD

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  Dr. Huntsman performed surgery to remove a mass in my scalp. He told me that he would remove it completely and make the raised area in my scalp flat again. He told me immediately after surgery that that is what he did. Before I could confirm his report, I totally believed him. I wanted to. It would turn out that he did not. I discovered that a few hours after surgery. I mentioned this in the first follow-up a week later. He did not feel my scalp at that time, just said, based on his assumption that he fulfilled his promise, that the raised area I felt was my skull. It was obvious from touching the area that that is not true. It is four months later and I just returned to again address the soft mass in my scalp and report that it still bothers me and that I want it removed. Rather than own up to the incomplete surgery, after he felt my scalp and confirmed that indeed the soft tissue mass remains, he made up the story that he removed what he determined at the time was all that was necessary to remove. Sure. I couldn't believe how disingenuous was his position. He compared one side of my scalp with the other, and then tried to argue that naturally one side is raised because I had surgery there. In fact, the raised side is raised because he left the mass there. He would change his story/defense again to actually claim that the mass grew since surgery. There was also a problem with the sutures. He used absorbable sutures at the skin level, as well as under the skin. They still have not absorbed. He made knots at both ends and they pulled. He snipped off part of the knots that were sticking out of my scalp right after surgery, but they still partly stick out and still bother me. The sutures should have been removable and come out completely so the skin could knit together. He never asked me if it was okay to have sutures sticking out of my scalp. He never raised the subject of sutures. That they are so uncomfortable he should have. I was given no choice. I would have wanted him to use the sutures that he removes a week or two after surgery. He went so far in the second appointment as to deny that there were knots at the ends. I was able to snip a bit more of a knot, but still something sticks out. His defensive posture presented itself before and was disconcerting. He also told me before surgery that I would have "conscious sedation," meaning that I would be relaxed but able to hear everything going on in the operating room. In fact, the anesthesiologist gave me four times the dose of the drug (Versed) that I was supposed to have and I was knocked out cold as soon as I started to be wheeled into the operating room, not to recover consciousness until I was wheeled back out to recovery. I heard nothing. He instinctively defended the anesthesiologist's unfamiliarity with drug combinations that made Versed more potent for me as well that person's unfamiliarity with the correct starting dose. I was supposed to be given .5 mg of versed and was given 2 mg. At most, 1 mg could be justified. Dr. Huntsman alleged in defense of the anesthesiologist that he decided prior to surgery that the anesthesiologist should give me a multiple of the dose needed for conscious sedation. Yeah, right. The anesthesiologist admitted that he was surprised at the effect on me of the dose he administered. Again, dishonorable. Dr. Huntsman fails to own up. I was disappointed that he is disingenuous.He is quick to view his patient as his adversary and defend himself at his patients' expense. He actually threatened to cause my insurance carrier to refuse to pay my medical bills in connection with the surgery. A lovely thought, Dr. Huntsman. This, in the context of contemplating the possibility of having add'l expenses himself. That was dumbfounding. His logic is that if he sabotages his patients' insurance coverage that the patient then pays the entire bill; rather, he assumes the costs and forfeits payment. He has no compunction about imposing undue burden on his patient. He is not troubled that I face another surgery. I do not recommend Dr. Huntsman.
  August 21, 2017

  by Janice Breeze

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About Bassett Health Care: Huntsman Thomas MD in Cooperstown