Nathan R Bates's Online Review Report Card

I had an Excellent surgery Very helpful to explain all details Thank you

Dr. Bates performed open heart surgery on my father and I am not be happier with the procedure. Thank you Dr. Bates!

He called me honey when I came out of anesthesia, and called me honey again in front of my husband. I sent him an email 3 days in advance so he would know my concerns but, again with husband present, and the doctor said the email was rambling. He talked about how often he does open heart surgery, and how no one else asked all those questions. He thought something in my email was inappropriate. It was in so far as I said I felt between all these doctors just telling me what to do, where to go, etc, that I felt like a wh*** being passed around a batchelor party. If you don't want me to say that is how I feel - then don't make me feel that way. My husband is more calm than me which is why I asked him along. And the doctor was even worse than I thought. Last thought... they called me the day before my 930am appt to see if I could come in at 8am. I was there. The doctor sauntered in as though it's okay he was 1 hr 8mins late after he/they wanted me to adjust to the earlier time.

I highly recommend Dr Bates, he did bypass surgery on me that saved my life. He is very professional and precise. His staff is very professional and caring also. If there was more than a 5 star rating he would get it.

Dr Bates and his surgical team are simply the best. Dr Bates performed a flawless robotic Mitral valve repair on me. I can't thank Dr Bates and his staff enough for giving me a new lease on life!

Dr. Bates and his OR team did a beautiful job replacing my husband's aortic valve. His recovery has been rapid. The entire team approach is superb, and the back up by the Cardiovascular ICU staff was beyond compare. One can never be said to "enjoy" a surgical procedure, but this team makes it as pleasant as possible. You can feel positive of the best possible outcome with Dr Bates in charge.

I was transferred from another hospital where I was septic and wasn't expected to live. I had a very bad blood infection and it went to my heart. This excellent Dr replaced an infected heart valve and did by-pass to my heart also. He SAVED my life!

This is a mixed review, and I guess it depends on your personal expectations. Dr. Bates and his team are excellent at conducting advanced robotic surgery. He came highly recommended as one of the best surgeons in northern Florida for this type of procedure. In my case it was to remove my right lower lobe in my lung for a cancerous tumor and pull out lymph nodes for staging. The surgery and the hospital stay went well. However, Dr. Bates isn’t an overly communicative guy, so if you’re expecting a doctor to spend more than 5 minutes with you, be forewarned. Moreover, his staff was uncooperative and rude when I was trying to hear or receive biopsy results. Dr. Bates said he’d have results within a week after my surgery, but his staff seemed to think it was okay for me to wait almost a month to hear the results when I starting calling 8 days after my surgery. First, they said he was on vacation and they couldn’t give the results out. Nothing more. Then when I called after he returned from vacation they said he’s busy, but you can come up here (50 miles away) and get a copy, but we won’t send them to you. Why didn’t they tell me this a week earlier? As it turns out they’d already sent the results to my GP, 3 miles away 10 days before this, but didn’t bother to tell me that either and I only found out when I looked at the report. I could have had the results much earlier with no skin off their nose. I understand they’re busy, but so am I, and my time should be equally valuable as theirs. Their attitude sucks and I would have expected more compassion and cooperation when dealing with a lung cancer patient. I had my follow up with Dr. Bates PA Craig three weeks after the surgery. I had a decent sized lump/swelling near one of the surgical sites, and when I asked about it he said “Hum, that’s odd. Wait a month and if it doesn’t go down we’ll need to do some tests”. I had the tests done via MD Anderson since I’m seeing them now, and as it turns out they broke two ribs during my surgery. Keep in mind Craig was looking (or supposed to be) at chest Xrays I had handed to them for my appointment. Not sure how this was missed, and granted there’s not much that can be done, but it would have been helpful to know I had two broken ribs and reassurance that was “all” that was going on. A bit more care and a few more minutes for the follow up should have clarified this, but instead I had to wait another month and a different organization for answers.

Dr Bates is a highly rated surgeon. One of the top in his field. He was recommended to me by three other Doctors. He did very fine work on my surgery.

I have had surgery twice with Dr. Bates. Once for a pulmonary wedge for lung cancer and once for implantation of a port for chemotherapy. He is meticulous, thorough, and considerate of his patients. Dr. Bates and his staff are the best.