Sonoran Pain Management

1. on my first visit the doctor was extremely condescending and told me I am «not a candidate for any of the medicines we prescribe». What kind of Pain Management office uses so few medications that NONE of them combine with my current medications? This doctor did prescribe physical therapy for me, which has worked but the problems with the office go on.
2. My recent appointment was scheduled for 1:15 and I was let into the exam room at that time. At 1:45 I opened the exam room door and began looking impatiently for the doctor who would eventually be seeing me. None of the 10 people who passed by my exam room door would even meet my gaze, let alone ask if they could help me or if there was anything wrong. When the NP finally approached and I explained that I was getting impatient because of this needless waste of my time, she apologized insincerely and said she was «going over my MRI results». For a HALF HOUR? If my appointment could not take place until 1:45, why was I in their office EARLY FOR THEIR CONVENIENCE and why did I wait in this exam room for 30 minutes? I am expected to be at my scheduled appointment at the scheduled time, 1:15. But they are not required to be equally prepared for this appointment – instead they arrogantly assume their time is more valuable than mine is and make me wait while they waste my time with their research that they should have done BEFORE I GOT THERE.
3. When I finished my appointment, I was handed a card that told me when my next appointment is supposed to be – without the scheduler consulting with me to see if that time would even work for me. Again, this arrogant office thinks that they can just tell me when they have time for me, rather than the patient (PAYING CUSTOMER) having a say or being considered important.

Communication could be much better. Dr seem to care and recognized the issues but didn’t make any suggestions on what to take for the pain while I waited weeks for my injections. First injections went well but my last visit was terrible process was almost twice as long not the actual procedure because they seemed to rush thru it and now my back has bruising. They had nursing students trying to do my IV. Then just found out they only do the injections on one side and have to wait more weeks for the other side. The office was clean and staff was ok.

Dr. Zaveri has been a very thorough and compassionate practitioner, doing all he can to get me back my quality of life. He has employed multiple modalities, beyond just throwing meds at me with no answers. I would recommend him to friends or family. If you’re a reasonable person who wants to get better, I would absolutely recommend him and his practice.

The staff there is awesome and very concerned about your health and pain relief. I have learned so much from them about dealing with pain, why they do things the way the do, and they are very interested in you. I have low platelets. I have had several injections done in which my life was at great risk of bleeding to death from the injection procedure and no one ever caught it until I went to this office.

If I could give you one thought regarding Sonoran Pain Management; it would be: «AVOID AT ALL COSTS!» Reviewer Sarah V refers to «Nazi office»; I suspect she may be referring to the receptionist; since she is the sum total of my doctor’s visit.
My experience: I was referred to the Phoenix office by my primary care physician (PCP) for chronic pain due to laminectomies and strokes; I’m mobility impaired, 68 years old, and use a power wheelchair. I take relatively high doses of pain medication; and per AZ and insurance company policies, provide urine samples for drug screens on a regular basis.
The office is not particularly wheelchair accessible, as I had trouble getting in; the receptionist was so busy stuffing her face, she couldn’t be troubled to help with the door (note to receptionist — not professional, and you’d be less noticeable if you learned to chew with your mouth closed). When she finished gorging, approximately 20 minutes prior to my scheduled appointment, she advised me that the doctor required a urine sample for a drug screen from all patients prior to seeing the doctor. I advised her that I had not brought a catheter along as I had voided earlier in the morning, a once a day event due to nerve impingements, and required some advance notice of the need for a urine sample. She stated that advance notification was not the doctor’s policy; and if I couldn’t provide the sample the doctor would not see me, and I would need to reschedule. I suggested they could obtain the results of a recent drug screen from my primary care physician with a phone call as an interim measure, I would be happy to provide a sample at any future time, and it didn’t make sense to waste this appointment. She said this was not possible — against doctor’s policy; and she would reschedule. I advised her this would not be necessary.
Please think this through with me: this doctor does not see patients without a «no advance notice» urine sample; therefore my inability to provide such meant I couldn’t see the doctor. However, I could reschedule for a later date, at which time I would be required to provide a «no advance notice» urine sample; that I had advance notice of! Does this make any sense? (Or maybe the receptionist was suffering from a sugar overdose.)
So, after waiting two weeks for an appointment, I wasted half of a day; and, my insurer paid the cost of needless round trip transportation via a wheelchair van; all because of a lack of common sense (see above paragraph); and this physician receives another negative review.
I don’t know anything about Dr. Zaveri; he may be a good physician; I’ll never get an opportunity to find out. What I should have done, after the referral from my PCP, was check the various physician review sites; including Unilocal.I would have learned that this office has earned a rating of zero stars for «courtesy and professionalism», and a «below national average» rating based on patient surveys encompassing 9 subject areas. I would have learned that Dr. Zaveri is an osteopathic medicine graduate of a «one star» school in Glendale (
); an anesthesiologist by training; and has significantly mixed reviews on the physician rating websites. Would I have still scheduled an appointment — probably.
The necessity to discuss my medical situation, with a receptionist, in a waiting room full of people, also constitutes a HIPAA violation.
As I was leaving, a waiting patient held the door for me, and as I was summoning the elevator, commented; «she’s (the receptionist) so rude».
Did I take other steps post this debacle, prior to posting the review? I did; I called the office and asked to speak with an office manager, a nurse practitioner, or Dr. Zaveri; no callback. I also sent an email with my concerns, detailing my experience, via the office’s website «contact us» page; no response.
Thus this review. Be fore-​warned.
Subsequent to this review I decided to invoice Dr. Zaveri $ 25.00 for the cancelled appointment; his office policies state that this would be the charge to me if I cancelled the appointment with less than 24 hours notice; thus the same should be true if his office cancels my appointment with less than 24 hours notice. I did offer him an option to make a $ 25.00 contribution to the AZ Humane Society.
Stay tuned.

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Zaveri’s for a long time now, after being seen by other doctors before him, I can say he is the best pain management doctor in the valley. He actually cares about his patients and actually works to help them get back their quality of life. He doesn’t just give pain meds without actually treating the cause. If you actually want to manage your chronic pain go see him. And if you’re having trouble parking or finding his office… Just call them. They’re always happy to help.

I had been at Dr, Zaveri twice. First time I was late because the staff did not tell me they were inside Saint Luke’s hospital and that there was no parking and they did not send me the paperwork to fill out. So, even when I tried to be one hour early, I was only 10 min early which didn’t give me enough time to fill out the paperwork, that they never sent me.
So, I get there and doctor was upset because I was late… hum… thanks to the staff for not telling me where they were. and when I finally got there, to find his office was another nightmare because it was inside the hospital, 5^th floor.
So, doctor saw me for 5 min or less. He read the diagnosis and scheduled me for injection in my spine in two weeks. Oh, he also gave me a prescription of a medicine only he knows how it was going to work, I mean, he explained absolutely NOTHING to me. and sent me home.
My pain killers were going to be enough only till ⁹⁄₂₈ and I already had told him I had to take two pills at a time because of the pain, so the pills were going to finish before the 28^th, well, he gets upset again, and still schedules me for 10÷01… where did he not understand that my pills were not going to make it till the 1^st of oct?! so I had to go to my PCP for more pain killers to make it thru the first. My PCP higher the doses because I am in so much pain. I told him, I have to take two pills for the pain to be bearable… and he still goes from 5 to 7.5, not 10. ??? where didn’t he understand I need twice the doses!!!
I go back to dr Zaveri on the 1^st… and he is pissed off because I went to my PCP for more pills, and he says I SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH HIM.
So I got upset and told him what I supposed to do if I was in pain and he wasn’t available. He said to take a hot shower… of course im pissed of at this point.
He explained nothing, NOTHING! and he is trying to leave the room when I pulled him back saying that he needed to explain better what the procedure was going to be. «injections in my spine!!! I think I want to know more about it. So he asks the Spanish nurse to translate to me… I get furious and told him that language wasn’t a problem, his poor explanation was.
Well, knowing that my pain killers were good for only two weeks, and I got them on Sep 25^th, it means that they will last till 10÷10… I mean, do the math, 15 days from sep/​25, it is 10÷10… HE SCHEDULES ME FOR ¹⁰⁄₁₅!!!
Needless to say… I AM NOT GETTING MY SPAIN TOUCHED BY HIM, AND I AM NOT GOING BACK TO HIS CLINIC.
He does not explain what he is going to do, what medications are available for you, what side effects they may have, etc… he explains absolutely nothing to his patients. Do not go there!

I was seen at the Phoenix St. Luke’s Nazi office. The staff treated me like a toddler. Dr was an absolute prick. I went in for back pain and he touched my back only one time and was in the room for about 2 minutes with me being a new patient. Didn’t even suggest any meds I could take for the pain when I asked.