Pediatric Specialists Of Virginia's Online Review Report Card

My daughter was referred to Dr. Blakemore after having a MRI for lower back pain. The doctor who read her MRI said it showed signs of a stress fracture. Dr. Blakemore told my 16 year old daughter that she needed to lose weight and move more. That she didn't see anything wrong with her back. Yes my daughter has gained some weight but that's because her back hurts. We took her to the ER because she couldn't even move to get out of bed for two weeks. We explained everything to her and she was very dismissive of everything we said. I took my daughter to get a second opinion and she has a stress fracture. This doctor said that she's lucky that it's not bad enough to need surgery. She has to wear a brace for 8 weeks and then go back for more x-rays to make sure that it's healing correctly. Yet according to Dr. Blakemore there was nothing wrong with her.

I have no complaints about the physician herself—she has been wonderful. However, the office staff and phone system are seriously flawed. I called several times to ask about my daughter’s pending MRI, and the office “nurse” blamed me, saying I was using the wrong number. I called the exact number listed on their website and left a total of five voicemails. I was told I should have left a message on the non-urgent medical question line, but this wasn’t a medical question—it was a scheduling issue. There is no clear or appropriate option in their phone tree for this type of inquiry, so blaming a patient or family member for choosing the “wrong” option is completely inappropriate. Out of frustration, I eventually left a message on the non-urgent test results line just to see if anyone would call me back. In total, I left four messages on the appointment line, and not one of them was returned. It is completely unacceptable to have this many messages go unanswered, and going one to two months without any contact from the office is beyond unreasonable.

Waiting times are horrible, after 45 minutes waiting we decided to leave. Then, a nurse approached us and said that they ask patients to show up a hour before the actual procedure. (Patients don’t know this)

En lo personal les digo que son muy amables

Pretty bummed. I took my son to see a doctor, a specialist, for his back. We'd seen a chiropractor who was helping a bit but didn't seem to be "curing" the problem. I thought about just asking our primary doctor for an Rx for PT, I'm sure he would have provided it, but with a young athlete I thought perhaps it was better to see a specialist. We couldn't get an appt with a doctor, only a nurse practioner, but she was one of the few practioners at the only place I could find that would offer someone under 18 *non-surgical* options for the spine (surgery was not something I wanted to consider). So we jumped through all the hoops to get an appointment, including driving an hour each way. Megan Hale (NP) told my son it was muscular and because he was growing so fast and his hamstrings were tight. She said to go to PT and focus on stretching. We finally got in to see a PT and the PT says it's nerve damage likely from a couple of compressed discs. Guess what the chiropractor had said? Yup. Same thing. And the chiropractor had Xrays and the Nurse Practioner did too. But not the PT. His diagnosis was purely clinical. And guess what the specialists office did not see? The nerve damage. So the hamstring stretches that my son was doing based upon the recommendations of the NP (until we could get into the PT) were aggravating the problem! That is correct: The guidance given from Pediatric Specialists of Virginia - from their spine experts - made the problem worse. When I called them and asked for more information and expressed my concern, poor Jana (nurse) had to make a series of calls to me to relay information from Ms. Hale (and supposedly the doctor who oversees her actions, but who I've never met and who won't get on the phone with me). In the end it was "Listen to the PT". So why did I even go to the specialist?? A waste of time and money. I could have and should have just gone to my PCP to get an Rx for a physical therapist eval. I'm disappointed. It's too bad medical offices get paid for being wrong and bringing harm upon their patients. If they only got paid when they were helpful maybe we would have a different and better medical system.

I can concur to the other reviews. They are the worse....the person my son saw was rude and has no bed side manners. The building is filthy.... I hate it here!! I called to reschedule my sons appointment I was hung up on, transferred to a number that wasnt even a doctors office. The worst place ever!!

The worrest expreaince I ever had from there doctors they are never cear about patients they just wants there mony no doctor is good at all

it is a nightmare to schedule an appointment

Extremely disappointed. I set up a follow up neurologist appointment for my kid 30-40 days ago with a specific doctor.. only to be told 2 days before the appointment that it was with a different provide ( Nurse practioner ). They outright lied and said that this was disclosed to me at the time of setting the appointment. Now I have to wait another 60 days for the appointment with my chosen provider or go elsewhere with my sick kid. They hold you hostage since this is a matter of your child's health - very unethical. Avoid them like the plague...

Very disappointed in the response time from the drs. They tell you to call or email each week and then they make you wait for a needed answer 2 days or in my case a week. Then they don’t even bother to call so you can ask questions they email you back and then don’t respond back to your questions. They told me to take my kid 2 hrs out of my way for a MRI and that it would be in their system immediately. When I try to get results after going to the dr they told me to I am told it will be at least a week for results. That is not immediate and I probably could’ve gotten results quicker going somewhere closer. I get it’s a holiday weekend and they don’t want to take the time but that’s not acceptable!