Dr. Alfred Brooke Benz, MD

Well they had a cancellation and called to get me in a day earlier! That is a big plus. The office staff was friendly. I hated the heater in the waiting room to cool down the AC. I am a very hot person but who can argue with a pregnant woman. "Smile" The assistant took me to the room and listened to me and put me at ease. Then the doctor came in and said "What have you done to your knees!" The levity relaxed me, he was great. He explained everything and had visuals I could touch. I'm a teacher so I respected that approach. He also gave me a handicap pass when he found out no one else had to this point. That meant that he listened to what I was saying about my difficulty getting around and actually cared. I left planning a double knee replacement which he explained in great detail. I am nervous now and just called for an appointment to double check that I am doing the right thing. I have so many more questions and they said how about Thursday morning. I was like yesss! So thrilled the receptionist remembered me and that they could fit me in so soon. Now I'm calm and can relax and make sure I ask all my questions. Maybe I can bring my husband this time. Anyway I had a great experience or I wouldn't say I did.

Dr Benz has replaced both my knees and my right hip. His staff is wonderful. If you want your hand held, your tears dried or coddled in any way, take yourself and your issues to someone else. But, if you have your adult underwear on, get yourself to see this great surgeon. I am walking,swimming and enjoying my life again. It was not easy, but Dr Benz and his staff were there, every step of the way.

Before you can even see Dr. Benz, you are filtered through his PA Natasha, who decides if you are worthy of seeing Dr. Benz. She was horrible to me. She looked at my x-ray for a second, moved my leg all over the place until I was in tears from the pain of it. Then she said nothing was wrong with my hip and implied I should just go to a pain clinic, and it would be a waste of time to see the doctor. I had been to 4 other doctors who kept referring me onto a "better specialist". I had torn my labrum in my right hip and was walking with a cane because of the pain and instability in the hip. I was managing my pain with Aleve, sports cream and heat/ice therapy. I was very distraught by this decision, because now I would have to through another doctor yet again. I decided I wasn't going to be dismissed again, so while I was out speaking to the receptionist making an appointment with the Doctor ( I demanded he at least look at all of my records and she was very helpful), Natasha came out with my chart and didn't see me on the other side of the desk and announced that there was nothing wrong and I was a pill seeker. I hadn't even asked for pills! I made my presence known and reminded Natasha of this fact and the fact that there was a room full of patients hearing her. She didn't say a word to me, just turned and walked away. Later that evening, Dr. Benz called me at home. The nice receptionist had spoken to him on my behalf. He said after reviewing my records he would like to see me. It ended up that my problem was out of his area of expertise so he referred me to another surgeon. I told him about my visit with Natasha and told him that he should consider firing her because she may have done this to other patients who needed help and she just passed on them. She obviosly missed something in medical school about tact and bedside manner, as well as how to actually do her job, completely ignoring the MRI I brought which showed that my labrum was torn so badly it had to be removed and I had to have my hip socket debrided. People like her should not be in this profession. She was completely incompetent, and If I hadn't demanded that the doctor and had the nice receptionist on my side I don't know if I would even be walking at this point. I would not reccomend this clinic because you have to be filtered through Natasha first. If you can get around her then yes, by all means make an appointment.