Dr. Kurt Allen Krueger, MD

It is difficult to get a timely appointment when you need an injection. But, I don't need a relaxation med prior to the procedure. With him,it is painless. Wouldn't go to any other. I don't need pain meds.

I thought Dr. Krueger as an excellent Doctor until I realized he would keep giving me pain injections as long as I asked for them. I researched and discovered that too much cortisone could be harmful. I left Pensacola a year ago and needed my records. I about jumped to the ceiling when I read his history of me. I thought it was the wrong person. The history was as if it was a made up fairy tell story of someone else. He was not aware of my pain, but made up other sources of pain. I was terribly disappointed. The history was of no use to my new pain doctor.

My primary care doctor referred me to Dr. Krueger and I was told that Dr. Krueger was the best at what he does. What I wasn't told was that it is extremely difficult to get anyone from his office to call you back in a timely manner. I get a better response time from my dog groomer. This should not be rocket science. We go to a pain management specialist because we are in pain. If we are calling the office it's not to inconvenience the office staff it's because we are in pain!! I called 2 days after my 1st lumbar injection. I thought I was having a reaction to the medicine. Dr. Krueger's staff called me back 8 days later and just left a message on my cell phone. There is no follow-up after your injection either. No call to see how you're doing. The office is also jam packed with people, similar to going to the DMV, and everyone has that same glazed over stare on their faces. It only adds to the pain you already have. So far I am not feeling any better than before my shot, but I do feel like I am just a number. Maybe they should install one of those ticket machines they have in deli's. You know, "Now Serving #6?! At least that way patients could be assured that they would get their turn. As far as Dr. Krueger goes, I like him. He is easy to talk to and he does listen. Too bad his practice is so large his staff can't keep up with all of the patients.

I was sent to this clinic and Dr. Krueger for chronic lower back pain. I have degenerative disc disease, two bulging discs, among other problems that he said "he was not there to treat me for," even though they were the cause of the back pain and the bulging discs. He told me about this "wonderful" treatment call "Lumbar Facet Injections," and how many of his patients are virtually pain-free after the procedure. He explained that I would be given relaxation meds and would not feel any pain during the procedure, just "pressure," other than the small lidocaine injections they give at the site where the 4 inch needles will be inserted to injects lidocaine and cortisone in the facets (these are actually bony protrusions on the sides of the vertabrae.) He explained that I might have a little worse pain after the lidocaine, but in several days, my back pain should be much better. His nursing staff assured me how gentle and caring he would be during the procedure and I talked to a couple of patients who had the procedure done and they told me it was wonderful. Well, the big day came and I explained to the nurse (or tech) who was giving me my "relaxation meds" that my body had a high tolerance to these types of meds and in previous procedures, I needed 2 or 3 times the normal amount given to relax me (during one of my C-sections, when I was supposed to be completely under general anesthesia, I actually felt the first 3 cuts of the scalpel!) Well, she ignored this and gave me 10 mg. valium and a shot of benadryl as I have a history of allergy to the iodine dye they would be using. She then had me sit in the waiting room for a few minutes for the meds to "take effect." The meds did absolutely nothing for me and I told them this while they were taking me to the procedure room. I was wide awake, lucid, and felt everything, including him sticking the long needles into my bone and pulling them out, moving them around, and sticking them in again, several times, in four places on my back. Several times, my leg jerked in reaction to the needles and Dr. Krueger practically yelled at me that I "had to be still" while he was doing the procedure or he might hit a nerve. This reaction occurred several times, and I complained that I felt intense pain from what he was doing - he told me tersely to "breathe through the pain." He then barked at the nurse to "give her some versed," which she injected into the vein in my hand - it did absolutely no good - I was wide awake and in extreme pain. When they finished, they took me to the recovery room (where the other people who'd just had the procedure were sound asleep.) I pointed that out to the techs or nurses who were in the room - mentioned to them I was wide awake and lucid and could have driven myself home instead of wasting someone else's time to drive me there and back (a 189 mile round trip.) As soon as I got home, I began having urinary incontinence, constipation, impacted bowels, and loss of feeling in my legs, causing me to fall 4 times in the next month. These were side effects they never mentioned to me and were not on the "take home paperwork." I didn't really connect these problems to the procedure until I went back for my follow-up, several weeks later, where I was seen by a PA. As soon as I mentioned the incontinence, bowel problems, and loss of feeling in my legs, she got agitated and said I needed to have the VA do an "emergency lumber MRI." I asked her why and she said there was a rare side effect of the lumbar punctures called Cauda Equina Syndrome that causes all three of those symptoms and I might need "emergency surgery or it would be a lifelong problem." What I didn't know at the time was there is a 48 hour window to do this surgery and the longer waiting time, the less chance the surgery would do any good. I had the MRI done and, as the Pain Management Clinic was closed by then, I had no choice to drive back home and call them the next day to find out how to get the results to them. I have the MRI on a disc the VA gave me and also the written report from the tech who read the MRI. When I called the Pain Clinic, they said they just needed the report, not the actual MRI. So, I faxed it to them (three times, because apparently they couldn't figure out how to receive a fax.) They finally got it and I told them how important it was that the PA received the report. I went back to see her in a few days and she read the report and said it didn't say anything that would cause her to believe the problem was caused by the procedure they did. I asked her if they thought it was a coincidence that these symptoms started right after their procedure. The first paragraph of the report reads, "I am not sure what this MRI is for, so I am not looking for anything specific." This tells me the tech wasn't looking for whatever would show the problem. So, they told me to see my primary care physician and I told them he was not treating my back, they were, and that he wouldn't do anything about it. I went to see him about it and he told me to go back to see the Pain Clinic about it. I went back to the Pain Clinic this week and told them my back pain had been much worse since the injections and reiterated the bowel, bladder, and leg problems, which they ignored and told me to come back in a month. This clinic is just putting people through this procedure like we are cattle and if it doesn't help, too bad, and if it causes other problems, they take no responsibility. I will be demanding to be transferred to a different Pain Clinic, hopefully one that will pay attention to what this clinic has done to me!

Ihas surgery and they gave me a drug test that claimed things were in there that were not after fireing me they found out the test was wrong and I had just left the hospital and went straight to their office .Dr,Hammer did not seem to care about my health just how many folks he could run through his office.IT WILL come back to him in time you reap what you sew