Howell Stephen M MD

This Doctor is a miracle worker! My husband was walking the first day, not much pain. His PA Tom is awesome. Very professional, confident, caring. Truly the best. Don’t know why anyone would go anywhere else. Of the four knees done that day, all were out of hospital and walking with walker the next day.

I had my left knee done last May and was riding my Harley two weeks after the operation. The hospital is fantastic. I have full range of motion and never notice the new knee at all.
Look, the good doctor isn’t much for words. He is a military-​trained physician from what I understand. They don’t study bedside manners there. My brother is a Navy-​trained doc and he isn’t much for chatter either but he is consistently rated as one of the top-​ten docs in Orlando Florida.
Both my primary care physician and my cardiologist strongly recommended Dr. Howell. I’m glad they did because he gave me my life back — I could not walk more than 100 feet before the operation because of the pain.
Good luck with whoever you choose. But I see too many folks at work (state service) who limp years after their own knee replacement surgery. Lotta hacks out there.

First off, I’m giving this a single star because I can’t rank this man lower. A single star is far more than he deserves. Second, I will write the facts of my experience with this man and only at the end will I note my personal impressions and feelings about my experience. I feel it best for each consumer to decide for him/​herself with as little subjective comments as possible.
I saw Dr. Howell on Friday 27 February 2015 at 2:00pm. I drove 3 hours for an appointment with someone who I thought was excellent in his field and could assist me with a knee injury that is a bit complicated. My right need has had two previous surgeries, an ACL replacement in 2001, and a meniscus repair in December 2013. The knee now has a number of problems; the ACL anchor on the tibia is much too large and the ACL has come out of place, I have a bucket-​handle tear to the lateral meniscus, and multiple tears to the medial meniscus. My knee is a bit of a mess.
Dr. Howell’s daughter was the first to enter the exam room. She is lovely, and kind, and noted that she would speak with me, then her father and they would return together with a course of action. She made a cursory glance at my knee and did not review the MRI slides I had brought with me and were showing on the computer in the exam room.
When she returned with Dr. Howell, he reviewed the MRI slides and performed a test on my ACL using a large contraption. He demonstrated how to use this machine for his daughter who then took a couple of turns using. I am not opposed to training students and having students in the exam room. However, in past experience the students have introduced themselves and asked my permission. This was not done. I was also not keen on someone using me as a learning tool as I am in a lot of pain and can’t even move the knee myself.
Dr. Howell noted he would remove all remaining meniscus and use cadaver bone marrow to fill in the hole in my tibia which is too large for the ACL anchor. He made the analogy of having a large hole punched in a wall and wanting to hang something on the wall – you’d need to spackle in the hole before you can make a small hole for a nail to hang the picture on.
The doctor told me my knee is ruined. I will never return to my former lifestyle and I will have to make major life changes. I asked how much weight I could carry after the surgery and healing and what will happen in my knee if there is no meniscus – will the bones grind together? Dr. Howell became very agitated with my questions. I asked what would cushion the knee after the meniscus was taken out. He said, «I’m not taking out your meniscus, you did that all by yourself». He then said, «You know what, this isn’t worth my time». I said, «I’m sorry. As a patient I’m just a bit confused about the procedure and would like to know more». He told me «Then you should find another doctor», and stormed out of the exam room. His daughter was leaning against a counter for the duration of this encounter, her eyes downcast. I was crying from the fear and desperation I feel that no one will help me, and I can’t walk. My mother was also there and had tears in her eyes. Later, when I asked her why she said she was mad and humiliated that someone, a doctor would treat anyone like that.
This is my experience with Dr. Howell. I don’t know what you have heard, or about the other comments on Unilocal.I am a white female in her 30’s, a college professor. I’m articulate, understand that I have a serious injury, and do not expect a miracle, but I do expect a physician to treat me like a human and Stephen Howell did not give me that courtesy. I am grieved and appalled by this man. I can’t believe that the State of California allows him to come near people and I wouldn’t let him touch my worst enemy save a friend or family member. I will be complaining to the BBB and the State Medical Board about this man. He should not be in practice and I’m happy to do my part to make sure he can’t make anyone feel as small, as unimportant, and as insignificant as he made me feel.
Don’t see this physician. He is arrogant, rude, and mean – three things no one deserves to deal with when in pain and facing tough decisions.

Sorry naysayers, Dr. Howell is simply the best. He changed my life. Now I can fully participate, take walks, enjoy my dogs, and travel with my husband. There’s a reason he is consistently voted as one of the top doctors in Sacramento Magazine every year.
Prior to Dr. Howell I went to UC Davis for well over a decade with pain in my knees/​difficulty walking, received shots, physical therapy, etc. and the bottom-​line was I was told to live with it until I turned 70 (I was in my 50’s then) which the UC Davis doctors told me was the «right» age for me for a knee replacement. What bologna. Yes, knee replacement is an elective surgery, but the pain, deterioration, and depression that overtakes your life as your world shrinks as you lose mobility do not make it elective.
Dr. Howell is the expert on knees — the gold-​standard, attracting patients from many states. I’ve had both knees replaced by him and it’s life-​changing. There is no pain. It is gone.
Methodist Hospital was a pleasant surprise. For the first time, I had private rooms for both surgeries — what a wonderful difference that makes. The hospital stay was peaceful and quiet.

Dr. Howell performed a total knee replacement for me and I will be going in for the second one soon. He is a great surgeon and has an extremely professional office staff. Dr. Howell and his staff have been wonderful to deal with. I am so thankful for Dr. Howell’s expertise as a surgeon and am looking forward to the new lease on life that having 2 knee replacements will be giving me. I highly recommend Dr. Howell and his staff. I am so grateful that I chose to drive 5 hours out of town to have Dr. Howell perform my surgery!

In aug 2013 I had a knee replacement while I am sure Dr. Howell is a «fine» surgeon he certainly doesn’t relate to his patients. I developed a problem with swelling and went on 5 – 14 and was dismissed in less than 5 minutes (after waiting an hour) with «if it doesn’t hurt than there is nothing wrong and I could get a second opinion he didn’t care» I was so blown away by his attitude I just got up and left. I will probably need a left knee replacement but will not go back to a doctor who is so lacking in compassion or people skills. He should stick with research…

He is a Jekyll & Hyde. Saw him for a complete ACL tear. At first appointment, He looked at my MRI and said the ACL is the least of your problem, you need knee replacement surgery. He said that I had the knees of an old person. He mentioned while I was young (45) it was not unheard of. That he wanted me to take 6 weeks to think about what I wanted to do. That we could try the ACL repair or go through with a complete knee replacement or I could choose to do nothing, that it was up to me. So I took 6 weeks and decided to have the complete knee replacement. At 2^nd appt. he acted like he never had seen me, asked what I was there for. I told him I had taken the 6 weeks he recommended and that I had made up my mind to do the knee replacement. He said «you need to see a bariatric surgeon and lose weight, I am not doing surgery on you». When I reminded him what he had said 6 weeks prior he got hostile and defensive. Said that was 6 weeks ago and today is today. Handed me my X-​rays and MRI and said go see a Bariatric surgeon and walked out.

I waited in his office for 1 hour and 20 minutes. He spoke to me in 3 minutes and told me their is nothing wrong with my knee. I am having pain but he doesn’t know why. He didn’t examine my knee nor try to help me understand why I have knee pain. He didn’t even ask me if I have knee pain! All he said was «Go to the gym and work it out.» My ankle and foot have suffered due to my knee and he says that it isn’t related. If you never had any issues with your foot/​ankle but a tear in your knee with swelling explain how that isn’t connected?!
Find someone who will thoroughly examine you and who cares. Find someone who will try to help you figure out whats wrong.

Dr Howell is the most loud mouth, rude, who is un caring mean and cruel and a hack that I in my 30 years of working in a hospital and knowing hundreds of doctors, that I have ever known he did his ridiculous «Otis» knee on me (knee replacement), which I do not recommend it was so bad I had to go to a different doctor and have it yanked out and a new knee replacement because the pain was worse after surgery then before surgery I could not get off crutches even after months of physical therapy and all he did was laugh at me out in his patient waiting area and in a loud old bar type voice laughing that reason I’m complaining is that my knee clunks and makes noises and clicks and pops and hangs do not use this hack, definitely don’t go for the Otis or «Howell» knee, you will regret it.

Due to the horrible advice of this man, i have needed 2 more surgeries to fix my knee after my torn ACL. Let me explain.
First off, his office is HORRIBLE. Expect to be in a crowded waiting room for a long time. Then you wait in the other, personal room for a while. Then he comes in a briefly talks to you, then goes to the other rooms (you can clearly hear him talking), then comes back. He never seemed like he cared, he never seemed to really be invested in my problem or interested in helping me at all. I was just another dollar sign.
So he replaced my ACL when i was 19. Good job i guess. However, he told me i did not need physical therapy! He said to just exercise my leg unless it hurt. Well i was 19 years old, i din’t know what the hell i was doing. Sure enough i went back complaining about pain and instability. He said i was probably fine, and i could get MRi’s done if i wanted, but i should just continue to exercise it. He spent a total of like 5 minutes in this appointment after i complained of pain. Ridiculous!
Of course, a couple of years later when i was still having pain, i got exploratory surgery from another doctor and my meniscus was shredded up, like really bad. So bad in fact that even after physical therapy, my knee was so tender that it tore again, and i needed another procedure. I am now 25 w/​3 knee surgeries under my belt.
Bottom line, if you go to this guy, tell him you need physical therapy. That was the worst advice of my life and my current doctor in SF could not believe that he would be so careless. I cannot stress this enough IF HE SAYS YOU DO NOT NEED PHYSICAL THERAPY, DO IT ANYWAYS. Don’t go down the same road i did w/​this jerk.

I tore my ACL playing tennis in late 2010. I was told that ACL surgery is painfull and long arduous recovery. After reading several articles, I was very apprehensive. However, I decided to take a leap of faith and get the surgery done. After talking to several people and research, I decided to go through it with Dr. Howell. Did I make a great decision or what.
After an initial consultation in Dr. H in June 2011, I want under the knife on September 26^th. I was walking/​dragging by 27^th. On a scale of 1 – 10, pain was modest 3 at best. For the first week I took vicodine but majority of the time it was just Aleve, couple of times a day. By the second week, I was able to bend my 80 — 90%. I just came back from his office after 3 week check up. Got my staples removed and he was very happy with my progress.
When I asked him about physical therapy, he said «why do you want to slow down your progress?». He suggested that I start biking and come back after 8 weeks. He is curteous, caring and more importantly very funny. I could not have chosen a better surgeon. I realize that I am not 100% and will not be able to play tennis for couple of more months but I am close to 100%, thanks to Dr. Howell. Thank you for your expertise, skill and great bedside manners.