Carlos Quintana, MD

Dr. Quintana is very good and for him it’s always 5 starts.
However his staff, or at least this strange woman I spoke to is dreadful. Zero stars for her. I see other people have had the same experience, sadly. Apart from being beyond rude, the woman I spoke to has serious issues — enjoys giving you false information, saying no and repeating ‘Oh’, pretending she doesn’t understand you etc. I guess Dr. Quintana keeps her/​them because he understands their issues, which is nice. However, what he fails to understand it seems is that these people are scaring away his patients.

Dr Quintana is the best. I had a terrible head and neck injury three years ago. Suffered greatly from some severe debilitating symptoms and continue to deal with milder to moderate symptoms. However, this doctor has such a wonderful bedside manner! He was encouraging, caring and sincere in his care for my medical care. He is open to hearing the bizarre symptoms I was having and taking them seriously. I feel that I could not be in better hands! Hands down the best neurologist! I think I have thrived in his care and I absolutely credit him for the recovery and progress I have had and have much respect for him. I feel that he has been open to listening and exploring what is going on with my brain and neck after this injury. He acknowledges the individual and how ever Body is different and never pretends to know more than you about your own body. I can’t say enough good things about him…

I really like Dr Quintana and am baffled by the middlin’ reviews here. I find him to be warm, knowledgeable and thoughtful. Migraines are very person-​specific; what works for one person may not work for another, so I *really* like that Dr Quintana keeps up on migraine «technology» (DosePro is amazing, btw) and helps me to make better choices.

It’s with a heavy heart that I write this review.
I’ve been with Dr. Quintana for years — I followed him from his old location. The years I’ve seen him have been tough ones for me. I suffer from migraines, but I can’t tolerate most prescription medications for them. Lately, more has been going wrong with me (dizziness, really bad fatigue, etc.), but he seems unable to respond to any of that new information — and when he does respond, his suggestions can be bizarre. A few months ago, he suggested I try «running».
With my balance problems? Really?
By some miracle, a sample medication he gave me three weeks ago actually worked, in a way that nothing has before. I called immediately, and asked for the prescription he’d offered.
I’m still waiting.
When I called back again yesterday (seriously — I’ve really been bugging them about this), the girl who answered told me that their authorization person has been out of the office. Family emergency; ten days. And she’s the only person who can do authorizations. They have no extra samples on hand.
So she *downloaded a coupon from the Internet*: some discount offer. This from an office that has years of history with me. It’s the kind of offer you can redeem whether you have a doctor or not. The out-​of-​pocket price: almost $ 450. Saving me about 50 bucks.
I don’t doubt that Dr. Quintana is good, or wants to be good, or used to be good. I just doubt that he can help me. (Can he even help *himself*?) I don’t know what’s wrong with his practice, and I don’t feel like trying to diagnose it. That’s HIS job.
Dude needs to step up and start doing it.

Avoid seeing this doctor if at all possible. I went to see him about mild migraines I’d been experiencing and despite the fact that I told him that I was working long hours without breaks behind a computer he suggested that I get an MRI because it was odd for me to be getting migraines at 30 (after doing my own research it seems this is a common age for them to start). Despite telling him that I take vitamins B & D every day he requested that I get blood work done to test these levels. After getting needled a bunch of times, having to run around town and take time off of work for tests, and receiving bills totaling $ 1500 (which I had to pay for out of pocket) everything came back normal. Perhaps just take breaks more often, he concluded. Thanks dude. Hope you made a pretty penny off of me.

I was not happy at all with his level of service. First of all, Dr. Quintana said that his office would schedule me for an MRI and I would be contacted as to when my appointment was. I waited two weeks and got no call back. When I contacted his office, I was given the run around and was told that they are not the office that would be contacting me, but that I would need to call St. Mary’s, where the MRI would take place. I called St. Mary’s only to be told that the order from Dr. Quitana’s office was never received. I then called the office again and related this information. It took another week before anyone from St. Mary’s contacted me. Also, my insurance carrier was not notified promptly, but only after my second call. Fast forward weeks later and Dr. Quintana put on a medication and was told me to come back for a follow-​up 6 weeks later. Ten days into the medication, I ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital due to a seriously bad reaction to the meds. Dr. Quintana was notified of my hospitalization, but never came to see me nor did he follow-​up on my condition once I was released. I called his office 1.5 weeks later and terminated my relationship with him. Even then, he didn’t call to see what happened or apologize for any wrong doing. I would never recommend this neurologist to anyone who is looking for a good, caring physician.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Quintana for a couple of years now. I’m not an easy case. I know that. Honestly, this is the best it’s been for me neurologically since my brain surgery 8 years and several neurologists ago. Dr. Quintana is innovative, and ingenious. When something isn’t working out for me, he’ll come up with another treatment plan or an option. He listens too, and then explains the medical side of how my brain is reacting. I’m so thankful my GP referred me to Dr. Quintana.
And his staff is great — very smart, sweet, funny ladies. They always work me right in when I’m desperate, and figure out my crazy insurance.

I want to be very careful here because Dr. Quintana is young and less experienced than most neurologists around. I believe he sincerely wants to help, but his lack of thoroughness was disastrous for me. He failed to read carefully a radiology report and advised a surgery the surgeon said was not called for. He did not order a blood test ever until after I got home after my 4^th and final appt. (And then did not order the correct tests.) He prescribed, for no apparent reason, a drug that can cause the very symptoms that brought me to his office to begin with. (Subsequent neurologist was dumbfounded.)
I appreciate that there is a lot of trial and error, instinct and guess work involved in a lot of neuro diagnoses. But the blunders were many and he would not own these errors. Instead I got a lot of comments in the passive voice.
I did leave that practice and I am pleased that my new neurologist treats me as if we are in a true partnership. There has been a logical progression of tests and procedures. I hope that this is what Dr. Quintana will aspire to do as he moves along in his career.