Joseph Brown's Online Review Report Card

I love Blueridge Orthopaedic and Spine, been going there since 2005 and all their drs are always highly recommended!!!

Told everyone what a great doctor on my visit. Friendly,he listened to eveything about my hand and gave his advice

I went to see Dr. Brown after breaking my wrist I had fractured my wrist in 3 places I saw him on Tuesday he had me in surgery the following morning my wrist is about back to normal it’s still healing but he did a great job fixing my wrist I would definitely recommend him to anyone 😊

Dr Brown is the best orthopedic doctor anyone could ask for Dr Brown makes his patients relax before durning and after surgery

Dr Brown was direct and to the point. Talked to me and with me, not "at" me. Liked him.

We went here and they did not do anything about my hand and now I have to get surgery

I do not write negative reviews but this was just an absolutely abhorrent experience with Dr. Brown. When he walked into the room he did not introduce himself, asked how my shoulder felt (I said it was hurting) and then asked routine questions without ever making eye contact or having any sense of care in the world for being there. He then did a few tests without explaining anything as he went, including when some were alarming, and moved straight to looking at the X-Rays. Within one minute he established it was a neck issue that required an MRI (not surprised and expected an MRI just not for the neck) and gave an EXTREMELY brief assessment of possible causes (car accident which I've never been in and trauma), wrote the order and left. I never got a chance to ask questions or even have him explain anything else and when I asked the nurse to see if she could help he came storming back in and was belittling myself and my wife and then said what, you want something for the pain? I'll write a prescription. At this point I just wanted to leave so I said no to the meds and left. While I will give Blue Ridge another chance with a different specialist this time, it is only because the doctor my MIL went to was much better. I do not at all recommend seeing Dr. Brown unless you do not care about bedside manner, being treated with respect, or any sense of an explanation to what is going on.

He was awful! His bedside manner at my original appointment was so bad. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. He didn’t explain what was needed. When I asked what he would be doing during surgery (on my wrist), he gruffly explained, which didn’t follow my symptoms. I found out that he had stepped in, last minute, to operate on my grandson six years ago and my daughter said he was the same way with them and ended up screwing up his hip! I had Dr. Seal do my lumbar and cervical surgery in 2018 and he was great! The staff is great, as well! Just not this particular Dr.

I rarely feel compelled to write about negative experiences, but decided to in hopes of sparing someone else what I've went through with this provider. I unfortunately sustained a workplace injury a few months ago that my workman's comp insurance took weeks, even with my work organization as well as myself on top of them, to get me an appointment with an orthopedic. Dr. Brown wasn't my first choice as I had read reviews online that seemed like they were all over the place, but noticed Blue Ridge Ortho as a whole had seemingly great reviews. After I was told my first choice for care wasn't available, I threw caution to the wind and was scheduled two weeks after my first choice ortho's soonest availability (workman's comp, not my doing). My first appointment with Dr. Brown was to say the least, shocking. I work in healthcare myself in medical imaging in a hospital, and was horrified at the lack of compassion, bedside manner, eye contact, and tone of voice of this provider. If you asked questions you were made to feel stupid. His tone is very condescending. I had to advocate for myself for further imaging and physical therapy (I'm thrilled I did, my MRI came back with positive results related to my injury). He made me feel terrible for seeking treatment past our initial appointment. Our second appointment, completely different human being. He even asked me how my shoulder was, was on board with letting me continue physical therapy, showed me on my imaging where my tear was, and even engaged in small talk. Thought maybe he felt bad for how our first appointment went, but who knows. Third appointment, very similar to my first, to now include insulting my physical therapist who has done nothing but answer my questions, keep me in a positive frame of mind and be 100% supportive to get me where I need to be. She wanted to finish our rehabilitation as getting past the point of pain to strengthen my shoulder to get back into a patient care setting (an almost 300 pound patient got me here to begin with). I was told she was a bad physical therapist (she's not at all), that shouldn't my case manager be on my case about going back to work, that it was 'just a tear' and he wasn't doing surgery on it (thankfully, as at that point I'd be withdrawing from workman's comp to find a orthopedic surgeon who actually cared and helped me better understand everything concerning my injury, especially since MSK is not my specialty). Here's my point for your consideration...trust coincides with how you are treated as a patient. Whether we as healthcare professionals want to believe it or not, costumer service is part of our job. It is okay as a patient, to expect to be treated with a certain level of decency, ask questions no matter how stupid they may seem to the 'expert', and feel confident in your level of care without regrets. Before this injury I was a fit, five day a week gym going individual who prided herself on the level of expectation I had to always be in the best shape of my life. An injury, even if temporary, still takes a toll on your mental, physical and emotional well being, and should have nothing less than positive support to get you back to your best, if not new best quality of life, especially if your job requires it. Do yourself a favor, find another provider. You shouldn't ever be made to feel like you need to apologize for the pain your in or the progress you aren't making on someone else's time frame on something that happened that was out of your control that caused injury. The only positive I have witnessed in this experience is the very easy front desk staff to deal with.

I had an initial consult apt with Dr. Brown regarding a cyst that I wanted to learn about removal options for. The team up front got me checked in efficiently and were friendly. Dr. Brown’s nursing assistant, Rachelle, was very friendly and engaging. She also gave me some helpful personal experience information about when she had gotten the same procedure done by Dr. Brown which was greatly appreciated. Dr. Brown was on time, very thorough in his analysis of my situation and his explanation of my options, and I felt his “bedside manner” was reassuring. Based on his description, I decided to go forward with scheduling the procedure. I had the procedure at the end of May on a Wednesday morning. It went down very much as it had been described. I was met in the surgical center (2nd floor) lobby, where I was masked up, by one of the surgical nurses who got me checked in. I had visits from 2 nurses total, plus the anesthesiologist, and then ultimately Dr. Brown. They all made me feel safe and comfortable with the process and were welcoming / reassuring with their bedside manners. The anesthesiologist was a bit brief, but I suspect that was because she was trying to make sure we adhered to the day's surgical schedule. However, she answered my questions and had me prepared for what would occur. The final visit was from Dr. Brown, who confirmed with me once again exactly what would be happening, and then left to prepare in the surgical suite. The anesthesiologist administered the meds/anesthesia as described and the next thing I knew I was "waking up" in a wheelchair and beginning to regain my wits about me. I was wheeled down to the parking lot to meet my ride and I felt totally as I imagined I would as I left. I followed the surgical team and Dr.'s discharge instructions closely and it all went as described in my initial consult with regards to my healing process. I was even able to leave that weekend to fly to CA to visit some relatives and heal out there for a long weekend. It has been exactly 12 weeks since I got the procedure, and I have a scar (as I expected and was informed I would), but no restrictions to my wrist movements or for any sort of activities. I was very thorough about applying vitamin E to my scar (when I was approved to do so) and it has helped it look as good as possible. I would recommend Dr. Brown and the team at Blue Ridge Orthopaedic and Spine Center for this specific procedure with no reservations. DA