Brian Harley's Online Review Report Card

First visit I had mixed thoughts. Second visit, I saw his personality and I really liked him

First visit I had mixed thoughts. Second visit I saw his personality and I really liked him

I broke my wrist in 12 places. Dr Harley was amazing. Fixed it all and 2 surgeries later, I function perfectly, like nothing ever happened.

Have seen Dr. Harley several times. Most recent is definitely the last. Went to him initially because of his experience but will not go back. Have been told he is a great surgeon but he always seemed annoyed, dismissive, uninterested. At times he is condescending and just plain rude. He may be a great surgeon but we have found a much better practice in Syracuse with great doctors who care about their patients, are kind and compassionate and obviously love what they do.

Could barely give us the time of day for a congenital hand deformity for my infant. Literally did not even look at his chart - came in saying my son was missing a bone (he's not) so there's nothing he could do. When we corrected him, he didn't even look at the x-ray and still said nothing could be done to help him. Thankfully we got a second opinion from the doctors at Strong Hospital who said they could in fact do many things to help my child.

I transferred to Dr. Harley after I was diagnosed with a non-union fracture of my left ulna. Dr. Harley was extremely direct in his explanation of what was going on with my arm and what the best course of treatment would be. I have required a total of three surgeries (the second and third were with Dr. Harley). He has continually made me feel at ease about something that causes me a decent amount of stress and he's always answered any questions I've had. I highly recommend him.

From the very first visit, following a traumatic wrist fracture, Dr. Harley was nearly totally inaccessible. I waited patienly for several hours, underwent a scan that resulted in further injury to ribs that were also damaged in the fall (was told that Harley's office did not deal with ribs, and they evidently had not taken this secondary injury into account). I saw Harley only twice, and only because I insisted. The healing outcome for the wrist was unsatisfactory, requiring corrective surgery.

Very poor bedside manner doesnt listen to concerns and doesnt take time to explain things and most of the time u see a NP instead of him very poor experience. Felt like a number not a patient.

Dr. Harley is a difficult person for me to review. I liked some things ... others not so much. I saw him for a second opinion about a fairly common problem of the elbow and hand. Even though I believed my first surgeon was correct with the diagnosis, I wanted to be sure surgery was necessary and be sure I was choosing the right surgeon. After careful thought and consideration, I decided not to have him do my surgery. There were things I liked about him--I think he is technically competent and knowledgeable, and he spent adequate time with me discussing my situation. What I didn't like about him was his general attitude. He presented only one way of doing my surgery and refused to entertain any other method that he might have to use--as if he could see inside my arm before opening it up and knew his way was the only way. I've done enough research to know that there are 3 different methods of doing my surgery depending on what they find when they get in there. He was also rather arrogant and behaved as if this was a "nothing" kind of procedure--in fact, I was quite surprised at the end when he asked me when I wanted him to do the surgery. I had fully expected him to basically say he didn't want to be bothered with it. He was also very inflexible about the expected recovery time and time off work. It was an insanely short period of time for this type of surgery--less than half the amount of time most recommend, and frankly I couldn't imagine being forced to go back to work at a job where I have to use my arm and hand constantly with that kind of inflexible surgeon being in charge of signing off on my disability papers, who basically told me during our discussion "It doesn't matter how you are feeling, I say you can return to work at (such and such time)." I've had a number of orthopedic surgeries and I know everyone recovers at different rates and there is no "one size fits all" recovery plan for anything. I want to be able to have input into when I would feel able to return to my job. I'm in a lot of pain now while waiting for surgery and am working through that; last thing I want to do is return to work at a time when I'm still in a lot of pain. I decided to go with a surgeon who is both technically competent/experienced AND has a more flexible/individualized plan for the surgical procedure and recovery expectations.

Excellent doctor! Very compassionate, caring, and meticulous. My wife has had severe rheumatoid arthritis for many years, and her feet were extremely deformed. She had both of them completely reconstructed with artificial joints installed (for permanency) and plates. Recovery time, as you can imagine, was pretty significant - several months before being able to walk on them again, and several more months before everything returned to 'normal'. Her feet look like regular feet now, and she can wear shoes she wasn't able to wear for many years. What a blessing! Dr. Harley is a neat guy. His small office gives no hint as to the fantastic kind of person and doctor he is. He won't lead you on to believe things that aren't true; he tells you exactly what to expect along each step of the way. Also, while my wife was in the hospital, he was constantly onto some of the staff there about what he expected them to do for her as far as pain management and other things were concerned. You really can't go wrong with Dr. Harley. Give him a try!