Paolo Bolognese's Online Review Report Card

I have been a patient of Dr. Bolognese since 2007. After 25 years of searching for an answer for my horrible symptoms and being told by many many doctors, surgeons, hospitals that I only had migraine headaches and I was just looking for a fix, I found Dr. Bolognese. He is the most wonderful and caring doctor. He is also the best neurosurgeon you will ever find. His knowledge in the Chiari malformation is second to none. He has done every surgery I needed and I no longer suffer from horrible headaches and other symptoms. I also had a broken back and he fused my spine at L4 L5 . I was amazed at how I can walk from the first day of my surgery. If you are looking for the most amazing doctor he is the one to go to. Don’t believe the couple of bad reviews. Some people just want to make him look bad but it is further from the truth. I owe him my life and I will always be grateful to this amazing doctor. His staff is also very helpful and attentive. They are always happy to be of help .

Dr. Bolognese dedicates his entire life to helping patients with Chiari and related disorders. “If you have been everywhere searching for answers and haven’t found any, then this is definitely the place to go.” Dr. Bolognese and his amazing staff at the NSPC will find the answers, and do all they can to improve and give you a better quality of life. He is thorough and caring and will answer all your emails and questions. I highly recommend him, thank you Dr. B.

I had a consult with Dr. Bolognase after being diagnosed by a local neurosurgeon with Chiari. After a 15+ year journey, the prospect of surgery is daunting but something that has the possibility to meaningfully improve my quality of life (esp as a working mom). My husband and I felt strongly that Dr. Bolognase clearly does not take this decision lightly and he did NOT push me to move ahead with surgery... in fact it was the opposite. He told us not to make a decision and to review the extensive education provided so we could make the most informed decision for ourselves. He presented us with facts and data, none of which I felt were sugarcoated - which is exactly what we wanted. He also ensured we had exhausted Conservative therapies and options. It’s clear to us based upon our own extensive research that he is one of the leading surgeons of this disease. Sharing for anyone unsure about setting up an initial consult. Strongly recommend.

Dr. Bolognese has more knowledge than any Neurologist or Neurosurgeon than I have come across since developing my Syrinx in 2008. And I have been to California and Colorado for help. While I have not been able to go to Dr. Bolognese, he has provided such great information about a Syrinx and Syringomyelia. While my communication has been via email and listening to his videos. Over 90% of Neurologist do not have knowledge of the condition and will say, "I heard about that in Med School." But over the past ten years, some Med Schools have started educating their students about a Syrinx. Only those who have been in practice a long time and have kept up with current medical conditions know anything about this horrible disorder. At one point, Dr. Bolognese had a video which explained what a Syrinx does to the spinal cord, in laymen's terms. He also gave very pertinent information on what a patient should do to protect themselves from rupturing the Syrinx. He is rare to his profession.

How this guy is in practice is beyond me. He is nasty, arrogant and incompetent. If you walk into his office, he is ready to operate no matter what. He’s been sued over 20 times. Settles every one.

He wants to perform surgery on anyone who walks in his office. Once he does one surgery on you, he finds another body part that needs surgery, and so on and so forth.

After having surgery with another neurosurgeon and getting worse I found DrBolognese. He redid the first surgery and fixed all the issues I had. Today I’m doing much better. I can’t say enough about how he has helped me regain my life!!

He is not the surgeon you want to put your life in his hands. He never reattached the muscles to the back of my head. He diagnosed me with EDS and proceeded to do such an aggressive laminechtomy on C1 &c2 that I have no cervical stability at that juncture . Had to have a revision by another surgeon, who told me there wasn't enough bone to attach the rods to my neck at those levels. Permanently disabled. Oh and the plate and screw he put in place of my removed skull was kinking my dura. Refused to see me. Had to go to another surgeon. He also told me at the time he could "cure" me. Only to find out that surgery is not a cure. That I could have lived with but know I live with more problems because of him. I think with him it's a gamble. Either you will give him a 5 star rating or a forced 1 because you can't give a 0. Your life, your choice. I did my job, you have been warned.

Dr. Bolognese has been my neurosurgeon for over 12 years. I am a complex patient with Chiari, Cranial Cervical Instability, EDS, Syringomyelia, Tethered Cord, Scoliosis, etc. My first Chiari decompression from another neurosurgeon didn’t help me because I had other problems associated with Chiari. Dr. Bolognese saved my life by redoing the decompression and doing a fusion for the cranial cervical instability. He redid my cervical fusion hardware in 2016 because my rod broke after 10 years and the new hardware is 1/3 less metal, with so much more flexibility. In 2018, he performed tethered cord release and my symptoms that he said he could fix have disappeared. He has never pushed surgery on me, but left the decision with me based on my symptoms. Once, he did tell me that my symptoms may get to a point of no return and he can’t fix the problems associated with them due to nerve damage. I’ve never been disappointed with Dr. Bolognese. I agree with Dr. Bolognese when he says it’s 50 percent doctor and 50 percent patient. We all have to do our part, as well, for these treatments to be effective.

Dr. Bolognese has been my neurosurgeon for over 12 years. I am a complex patient with Chiari, Cranial Cervical Instability, EDS, Syringomyelia, Tethered Cord, Scoliosis, etc. Dr. B has saved my life. In 2016, I had 2 surgeries that lasted 12 hours. That’s scary, but I trust him to always take good care of me. His follow up care is impeccable too. I’m so blessed to have a doctor that knows what’s wrong by listening to me and reviewing my MRIs, and then fixes the problems. God Bless him!

I would not even know where to start. This “doctor” severely injured me and is very keen to give cause to operate. Avoid at all costs as he could set you on a trajectory you never need to be on. Less is oftentimes more and please be very very cautious about calling him. I say this to protect others.

All I can tell you is please beware. Honestly this “doctor” is very dangerous and injured me very badly. There exists almost like a cult like fan club of him but the overall stories you will hear are ones of sheer horror. Please I say this to protect people from being set on a trajectory they do not need to be on! Stay well away.

The man is like Oprah, only what he is handing out you don't want to take home, and it will cost you a ton of cash. Total scam artist. Not Board Certified and his work is subpar. You will need to have several shunt revisions and you will have serious complications. One tethered cord surgery will turn to 3 or 4. Probably the most incompetent doctor I have ever witnessed. I would like one person on here to say they have not had a complication or several of the same surgeries year after year. People actually get worse after they go under the this man's knife, never better. If they say they get better, they are not being truthful, or trying to tell themselves a lie to justify draining money from friends and family. You don't settle out of court with dozens of lawsuits if you are a world renowned surgeon. If you pick this man to perform surgery on your child you're a bad parent, on yourself, your a fool.

He destroyed me. He makes false email addresses and gives himself five star ratings. Northwell tried for years to dump him and finally succeeded. Now he’s with the inferior Group associated with South NAssau. I live in pain that I never had after letting him take a knife to me. Huge mistake. Biggest mistake of my life. Stay away from this man. He’s a lousy surgeon but a smooth talker. You’ve been warned.

Dr Bolognese does the most high risk surgeries that other doctors won’t touch because he’s absolutely devoted to helping the many patients who come to him with zero quality of life often after some other surgeon has botched the job. I couldn’t even get local people to look at the possibility of something wrong in my neck and spinal cord. Dr Bolognese did 2 difficult surgeries on me with wonderful outcomes both times and was a typical neurosurgeon. His bedside manner was atrocious as was the hospital staff he no longer uses but he no longer is affiliated with them and his outcomes are overwhelmingly positive if considered alongside his care for high risk patients. His support staff of neurologists were excellent caring for me after both my surgeries as well. Please, don’t let poor reviews direct you into disregarding this wonderful surgeon. Read the reviews carefully and make an informed decision. If you need his expertise you are already a high risk and you need his experience.

he's awful. he destroyed me. surgical patients beware. he created more pain than I could ever imagine. he had a physicians assistant close me. couldn't be bothered to do it himself and now a plastic surgeon has told me I wasn't closed properly, my nerves were damaged and this is the reason for my pain. as a result, i have no padding, no shock absorbency, at my skull base (very uncomfortable). he couldn't be bothered, or didn't know how, to close me properly, and didn't bring the layers of tissue below my scar together, only bringing the top layer together my Chiari wasn't as bad as what he did to me. Northwell was finally able to dump him. so he's now floating around among a few hospitals. multiple lawsuits against him. stay away from this man, who's also not board certified, which is highly unusual, especially for a surgeon. ask him, if you do entertain the idea of actually seeing him, "why aren't you board certified?"

Dr. B is my favorite doctor of all my long life and one of the nicest people I've met. in 2015 he performed a very long and complicated brain surgery on me which literally saved my life. After I was released from the hospital and was staying for a few days more in a hotel and had serious pain issues, he came to my hotel room and helped get me taken care of. I owe him my life.

Im a 24 yr female & I have a chairi malformation, a syrinx, degenerative disc& joint disease, lower back pain, neck pain, herniated discs at every level with severe cord compression and pinched nerves. I had the first of 3 surgeries 12 days ago with Dr.Bolognese and he did an amazing job. The first surgery he removed the disc between L4 &L5 and he burned the end of my spinal cord tether to help with the syrinx pain. I feel like a whole new person. Thank Dr.B for giving me my life back

I had surgery by Dr B in 2003 after a botched surgery by another ns in 2000. Dr B & Dr M put me back together again. Dr B was always extremely caring. Chiari is difficult to treat & there is no cure. I have met quite a few of his patients. The majority including myself would not hesitate to recommend him.

Dr B saved my daughter from near death!, she was paralyzed and so close to dying when she was brought into the OR...We are thankful to him every day.. All 3 of my children have chiari, eds 2 with syringomyelia.. They have all been decompressed by dr b :D Love him!