Shriners Philadelphia

[mibre]

I took my 13 year old daughter to Dr. Betz at Phila. Shriners this week. We went hoping she could get stapling instead of rods. Her curve however advanced to 45 and Dr. Betz recommended rod surgery. The problem is Dr. Betz is booked for a year. Does anyone have any advice? We are from Central NJ and are willing to travel to Phila or NY for the best doctors. Would you wait the year for Dr. Betz, use one of his partners or is there another doctor in the area equally as good or better? I know this is not an emergency but we don't want the curve to get much worse and it has been progressing rapidly even though she wears a brace. Also I'd love feedback from anyone who has had surgery at Phila. Shriners. Thanks.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

I've heard great things about a lot of the New York doctors. The names I've hard the most are:

Oheneba Boachie-Adjei
Frank Cammisa
Jean-Pierre Farcy
Stanley Hoppenfeld
Baron Lonner
Michael Neuwirth
Paul Rubery
Frank Schwab

I don't think I'd wait a year if it were my kid.

Regards,
Linda

[KRIS ATKINSON]

It may seem lika a haul, but the Erie Shriners also specializes in spine surgery. I visited the lobby there as my mother-in-law lives in Erie. They wouldn't let me tour it since it was a holiday weekend and I didn't have an appointment, but what I saw looks nice. It took me like 4 months from application to Shriners to the surgery date for my daughter in Greenville, SC, and I agree with you, that I would not want to let her curve keep growing more than I have to. Good luck and God be with you! Kris

[Mary Lou]

The exact same thing happened to us! Dr. Betz is an amazing doctor, but my daughter didn't want to wait for a year for her surgery. Dr. Betz was our fourth opinion and we had an appt. scheduled for a few weeks later with our fifth doctor and if that doctor didn't work out, we were going to wait for Dr. Betz. We took Jamie to Dr.Lee Segal at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, in Hershey, PA and he is the one who did Jamie's surgery. I told him right out that we've been to see Dr. Betz and he asked me why we were in his office, because we were in great hands with Dr. Betz. We told him the truth and he agreed to be Jamie's doctor. He did Jamie's surgery almost seven months ago. If you want more information, let me know. I can't say enough good things about him.

Mary Lou

[carolnj]

Mibre, we are in Central New Jersey as well. My son had anterior surgery with Dr. Laufer on June 22. Dr. Laufer is located in East Brunswick and performed the surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. We are very pleased with both.

[mibre]

Thanks everyone for your advice. We will definitely be calling other doctors after this weekend. I am familiar with Dr. Laufer. We used one of his partners for her scoliosis for years. Does anyone know of any other doctor's in Phila that they would recommend? Has anyone used one of Dr. Betz's partners? I appreciate everyone taking the time to answer me and your good wishes. Thanks

[Mary Lou]

I don't know her background or experience, but I've heard from several people who speak very highly of Dr. D'Andrea who is one of Dr. Betz' associates. From what I've heard, her schedule isn't nearly as busy as Dr. Betz'.


Mary Lou