Can anyone recommend a fabulous neurosurgeon in Massachusetts, especially metro Boston area? I’ve heard of Chris Ogilvy at BI, does anyone have experience with him? Thank you in advance. I have an unusual verterbrobasilar fusiform aneurism.
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You have many top notch surgeons to chose from Lee! I hope those members who’ve gone to Boston or live there can give you some suggestions.
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If you plug in “brain aneurysm” and “Mass” into this website’s search engine, ozonial, you will get a list of “Elite” doctors in your neck of the woods. Dr. Christopher S. Ogilvy’s name is second from the top on that list. Just a little more grist for your mill. https://www.medifind.com/find-a-doctor?isStarted=true&step=7
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Thanks. I just plugged in what you suggested and got a long list of general posts, no list of elite docs.
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Thanks Peter, found it.
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I was trying to remember the company that another member recommended for doing a search for doctors in a specific area with a specific specialty. I found this article, scary but funny and it had the name I was looking for!
This was the company the other member recommended https://www.castleconnolly.com/
Go with a doctor you feel listens and just not hears you, one you are comfortable with. Ask how many fusiform aneurysms they’ve dealt with. Remember you are paying them, so do a good job interview. If they get defensive, well maybe that’s not the right doc.
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I had wondered about those companies. How do I know the Medifind reference you gave me that lists “Elite” docs is not also a scam? Where can I get some good statistics on number of operations and outcomes for various physicians? I started with all the top doc listings from 3 companies and I have to say they did list most of the best-known surgeons in the Boston area by specialty, which was useful. But how to get more info on who is really the best? Nobody from this group in MA has yet responded. The doc I saw yesterday was happy to talk about how many operations he’d done but didn’t want to answer my outcomes question yet. He may be the best in the field but I have no way of knowing that. Fortunately, it turns out my case is not urgent and there is plenty of time to look. There was a good video yesterday on the BAF site of Dr. Aaron Cohen-Gadol in IN talking about how to find the very best surgeon. He says that interviewing other top doctors in the field as second, third, fourth and even fifth opinions is probably the best strategy.
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Lee, I think you’re asking @Peter about Medfind. If you want to ask a specific member you just need to either reply to the specific post or put the “@“ sign and then their name will pop up on the list of responders.
Trying to find a doctor via internet is really difficult and having them tell you the outcomes is probably impossible. Larger cities like Boston will always have more surgeons than rural areas such as where I reside. The large cities also have more patients because for those of us in rural or semi-rural areas we are sent to the big cities for repairs. They also have more funding it seems for the surgeons to do research. I found some surgeons get kudos for just writing a paper with no research involved, so opinion based.
My neurosurgeon was telling us soon after my release from hospital that another patient came in the week after I had my first procedure with the same type of rare aneurysm. She had already told us most patients with a multi lobed aneurysm that ruptures don’t make it. I would always ask about him and one visit she didn’t respond, I don’t think he made it unfortunately. I quit asking.
I do know the hospital she works at allows patients to write comments on the doctors. In the early days, I would see a negative comment or two that my surgeon was speaking over the person’s head. I did notice she started “dumbing it down” so to speak. But we had asked her to for BH who had never taken a class where sheep brains were dissected like I had. Maybe you could look at the responses from other patients. I don’t think my Neurosurgeon is on any list I do know the stars were in alignment when I got her for my Neurosurgeon.
I also found this here Dr. Recommendation - #13 by Ann70nmissouri. There are many more recommendations I’m sure but that’s the one I’ve linked to. I just typed surgeons in Boston with the magnifying glass search feature. You can also scroll down to “Symptoms and Treatments” then click on “Recommended Doctor or Clinic”. You will have to read through a bunch of posts as we don’t have a specific city listing that I know of. I will also try to get more members to respond if that doesn’t help.
I have found many things he’s written or made a video very helpful and extremely informative. Does he mention how to determine if a doctor is a “top doctor”?
I also just found this Data & reports on Serious Reportable Event (SREs) in health care | Mass.gov. You might be able to send an email asking if you can have specific hospital,or doctor information, the other thing I’d ask if they won’t provide it is where you can find it.
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Oh dear I guess I got confused. So sorry. I think the website says pls only make positive comments about docs. I did look under symptoms already. Not much in Boston.
Dr. Cohen-Gadol says to go by reputation from other surgeons thru 2nd opinion interviews, be willing to travel, and don’t give up til you have found the very best person for your particular case.
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Dr. Bob S. Carter at Mass General is, in my estimation, superb. He was my neurosurgeon 23 years ago and is now head of the department. Good luck!
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Yes, we do have the rule of only positive comments about doctors. I’ve always taken it as being a legality issue but I’ve never asked. Sure wouldn’t be good to have the BAF and Ben’s Friends involved in a lawsuit, especially with both being non profit agencies. (Ben’s Friends monitor this site in case you didn’t know.) We also have the “be kind” rule and several others. I figure if I can follow the “be kind” rule, I’ve covered all the others. When I’ve made a member angry, I always let the folks @ModSupport know, they always help me.
Thanks for that! We have had several members travel for a surgeon. Some have found it very easy, others have issues when trying to get treated in the area they reside after having an aneurysm repaired in another State. So please be careful with traveling out of State. Personally, I learned to question a physician referring me to another. I had that done one time and fell into the “Good ol’ boy” network that didn’t fair well for me. So when my current PCP wants me to see a specialist I question her experiences with that specialist. Some she has found by word of mouth by other physicians and some she knows. She’s batting 99% with the ones she suggests I see. She’d be batting 100% but one Neurologist put me on a highly addictive medication. He was recommended to her by another doctor. She wasn’t happy when I told her, but that Neurologist left and the one that replaced him was fantastic! One out of the more than a handful isn’t bad at all in my opinion.
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I am alive because of Dr. James Rabinov and Dr. Aman Patel at Mass General. Olgilvy was at Mass General and took his practice to Beth Isreal maybe 10-15 years ago. He and his Nurse Are responsible for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (I’m pretty sure of that). So he is good. But MGH is the best hospital in the country. BI is not.
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I agree with Brian S …. I too am alive bc of Dr Robinov at MGH - not to mention his nurses have become therapists to me lol … Dr Patel was / is his partner
Keep us posted
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My ruptured aneurysm occurred in the Boston area when I was visiting from Nevada and UMass Worcester was great. Boston area has some great medical.
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This is the Dr who put two pipe line diverters in my aneurisms and he did two of my sisters. We had a younger sister who had her rupture and almost died so we all had to get checked she used a surgeon in Albany NY but that was because they could not even air lift her so that was the closest trauma center to us. Ajit Puri, MD, DM, Chief, Division of Neurointerventional Radiology, Director of the Integrated Cerebrovascular Program at UMass Memorial Medical Center, and Professor, UMass Chan Medical School .You can can look him up on the Umass Web Site when you google him there should be other articles that come up on him.
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Moltroub raises an excellent point, IMO. When I informed my neurologist that I will be seeking a second opinion about something, he was quick to recommend someone for me to access. I tend to prefer to seek a second opinion from a doc who is not in the same clubhouse, so to speak. So I ended up getting one from a doc at the other end of the state.
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