Seton Brain & Spine

I recently saw Dr. Bertelson for the first time and he is my 3^rd neurologist in 8 months. The others disregarded my post-​stroke problems but Dr. Bertelson listened and was very compassionate AFTER several months spent proving him wrong (through therapy) that my anx/​depr was NOT making things worse. Ugh! That’s why only 4 stars.
He definitely wants what is best for me and I am so thankful someone told me about him.

I don’t recommend Dr. Fraim, both because of the doctor himself, and because of the staff. Here’s a good policy for all doctors’ offices: Just don’t leave voicemail. Only talk to live people if you want anything done, because voicemail gets ignored. You’ll probably have to call this office five or more times before you get to speak to a live person.
The staff who run the office here are incompetent. They never called us when we got the initial referral, they never called us with an appointment reminder the day before. When I leave an message for the medical assistant, it is days before they return my call. I could barely even get through to talk to the medical assistant and that was only after I was extremely persistent. Also, keep in mind you will have to wait weeks, even 1 or 2 months before you can see the doctor, depending.
Even though Dr. Fraim is supposed to be one of the top neurologists in the area, we just were not happy with him. Dr. Fraim did not adequately explain his diagnosis to us, after we had been bounced from doctor to doctor with different diagnoses. He also did not adequately answer our questions about how to cope with the condition day to day and basically treated us like a lab specimen. He also prescribed multiple new medicines over the phone by proxy without consulting with us or warning us about any of the horrible side effects. The patient had a really negative reaction to one of the drugs because the doctor had not adequately investigated the patient’s background or talked over the hazards with us before prescribing it.
For one of our appointments, the doctor brought a student into the examination room, which is fine. The problem is that Dr. Fraim seemed like he was trying to show off to the student, and spoke to US in a way that was directed to the STUDENT. He didn’t speak to us in a way we could understand, but instead like a lecturer teaching a class. I think Dr Fraim forgot what should be his first priority: his PATIENTS.
For a long time I said, «All these things don’t matter because he has the best medical expertise». But eventually the frustration and lack of care became too much. We finally left Dr. Fraim’s office because of these issues, and found a different neurologist, who actually talks to us and explains the treatment approach.
Even getting Dr. Fraim’s office to fax the medical records to the new doctor was a nightmare. I left the medical records staff a voicemail, which was… ignored. Each time I ask for a callback for confirmation that they actually did it, which was not honored.
I’ve been to a lot of doctors’ offices, but this one is the worst.