Louisville, KY Doctors

Like some of the others have alluded to, Dr. Figert also performed my inguinal hernia repair a few months ago. I too found out, after the fact, that she had ordered a bladder catheter placed after I was anesthesized. So I go online to research the entire procedure and also Figerts backround, what I found was enlightening and surprising. Laprascopic hernia repair is relatively new, only gaining popularity since the mid 1990's. Early on Dr. Figert realized the many benefits of the new procedure over the old 'open' style where mesh was simply placed on 'top' of defect. So Dr. Figert honed her skills with special training and undertook the exceptionally long learning curve (100 plus surgeries) to become an expert using the superior Laprascopic TEP approach. (Totally Extraperitoneal) considered more difficult but better than the more invasive TAPP method (Transabdominal). Dr. Figert also wisely chose the best polypropylene mesh and the highly regarded titanium helical devices for securing the mesh. So where am I going with all of this? With all of the very wise decisions made by Dr. Figert (my surgeon) why would she cling to the outdated bladder catheterization protocol developed in the 1990's when this laprascopic surgery was in it's infancy? The assumption then was that surgeons were slow and clumsy with these new fangled, long instruments operated while viewing a monitor. And during these early, rather protracted laprascopic hernia repairs, the bladder would become distended (full) with urine and become more vunerable to injury by the surgeon. But that was 20 years ago and many thousands of hernia repairs ago. Now most experienced general surgeons perform the laprascopic procedure in 45 minutes to one hour. And simply having the patient to empty their bladders completely during the hour or two in the pre-op area will suffice. Thus a patient with a nearly empty bladder undergoing a laprascopic hernia repair by an experienced surgeon has no medical reason to receive a bladder catheter. This is where the paradox comes into play. Why would a surgeon like Dr. Figert who was very progressive on techique (TEP) and materials (correct mesh and fixation) still INSIST on ordering a relic from the past ( Foley indwelling baldder catheters) ? A Foley catheter is a foot long and about 6mm in diameter (1/4" or about the size of a pencil) and is forced into the urethra by the nurses hand using some lubricant. They always carry urethra bacteria back into the bladder (even while using sterile method) and usually cause trauma to the urethra, especially in males. On some occasions the urethra tears or is punctured or the inflatable balloon causes permanent damage to the urinary tract. Those events could affect a persons ability to self-urinate forever. So while Dr. Figert is unquestionably a qualified surgeon for the reasons mentioned, her absolute insistence on ordering painful and risky bladder catheters before ANY surgery may be enough of a reason to seek out a surgeon who does not expose patients to such archaic methods. Most general surgeons do NOT order bladder catheters for surgery's lasting under three hours. So just check with other surgeons and you'll find others who are confident and skilled and don't intentionally expose patients to unnecessary cath's. Good Luck to you.

One would like to believe that an experienced (20 plus years) general surgeon would know the medical indications (reasons) to order bladder catheterization. And they are; Acute urinary retention, need for uncontaminated urine for tests, patient immobility and urine blockage, and finally bladder catheters are medically indicated before urinary tract & prostate surgery. Also any long duration surgery (more than 3 hours) to prevent bladder filling. So it is very surprising that this surgeon, Dr. Patricia Figert MD, would order bladder cath's for her surgery patients NOT in any of those catagories. And even for 45min. to 1 hour routine surgeries. For those who don't know, a bladder catheter, also known as an indwelling Foley catheter, is a large ( 6mm or 1/4" diameter, pencil-sized ) 15" long plastic tube that a nurse forces into the patients urethra with her hand. Its implied that it's a 'sterile' procedure, but actually the bacteria within the urethra naturally is carried back into the bladder contaminating it and sometimes causing urinary tract infections. After the plastic tip of the tube is pushed in all of the way to the bladder, the nurse uses a syringe of water to fill a balloon to secure the catheter tubing from slipping out on its own. Even after removal, these catheters have nearly always caused trauma to the urethra from extreme 'stretching' of the lining. Due to this urethra damage the ammonia in the urine causes days of urinary burning. But first you may experience many hours of induced urinary retention, another very common side effect of bladder catheterization. Occasionally severe urethra damage results from the catheterization and then surgery must then be performed for that repair (hopefully by a more caring surgeon).Dr. Figert attempts to justify 'cath' orders by claiming that she might inadvertantly puncture a slightly distended bladder during surgery (statistically an extremely low occurance). And only intern (novice) and inexperienced general surgeons can claim that excuse. For any routine surgery of less than 3 hours, simply having the patient to empty their own bladder pre-op will suffice. The surgeon could also use a bladder scanner (ultra-sound) to confirm the bladders empty status before surgery. But Dr. Figert (and some other old-school surgeons) just have old, bad habits and willingly expose their patients to the many serious risks of bladder catheters. It may be easier to find another surgeon who does not 'cath 'em all' . Good Luck, Chris T. May, 2015

I am furious with this office! My 3 children have been going here for 4 years now and over the course of the last year or so I have went in only to find myself arguing about my scheduled appt. time. They would tell me I was 10-15 mins late but really I was on-time according to my appt. card with the time & date written on there by their staff, so I literally had to start taking my appt. card with me just to prove them wrong. Then there was a couple times that we were on our way there and our car broke down 2 different times and then another time I had missed an appt due to myself having my dates mixed up so I called and that's when their office manager, Dawn (that's her name) rudely got on the phone with me to tell me that we were no longer their concern and were being kicked out because of missed appointments! She was hateful and disrespectful! I tried to explain why I had missed, but she did not care. all she kep't saying was that we cost them money for missing our appointments and that since my kids have Passport insurance, that they cannot legally bill us the fee for missing the appointments. So all they really care about is their money, and not the well being of your children. The only good thing about this palce is that the doctors seem to know what their talking about, but sometimes I even wondered about that. They also do not do immunizations there for Passport insurance patients. you have to go to the health department for that. I also had some issues with waiting. There were times that we got taken back to a room, and then had to literally wait for over an hour for the doctor or nurse practitioner to come in, and then they would try to rush through their exam at times. Last, but not least, I have to agree with the other lady on here about their office staff goofing off because they are all mostly younger girls, and they will all congregate to the front and sit up there giggling and playing around. Maybe that's why they would never get the scheduling right! Overall, I would not recommend this place to anyone who wants their child looked over thoroughly and wants to be respected in a professional environment like myself, because if you do, then this is not the right place for you to take your children! And 1 last thing, if you need your child to be seen, then you can count on having to wait at least a couple weeks or longer to get in, unless they are very ill.

I've read with interest these patient reviews of the general surgeon Dr. Patricia Figert. It seems that Dr. Figert has a personal preference to order bladder catheters on virtually all of her patients. Years ago bladder catheters were considered a normal and routine pre-operative practice. Much has changed but Dr. Figert has not. Research and disturbing statistics now reveal that Foley indwelling cathetization (Dr. Figerts choice) is responsible for urethra damage, bladder and kidney infections and worse. They are supposedly inserted a 'sterile' fashion. BUT, bacteria already residing in the urethra gets pushed back into the bladder initiating infections in many patients. The catheter is a large tube (nearly 1/4" diameter) and is so long (14 to 16") that it curls up inside the bladder because the nurses are told to keep pushing it till it will go no farther.But here's the thing. Patients who simply empty on their own need no catheter. The only reason bladder catheters are ever needed before surgery is if the patient can not self-void beforehand or it the surgery will be extended (several hours or more). This should not be just the patients opinion against the surgeons opinion or personal prefernce. This should be about the best and safest course of action for the patient! Here are the federal (National Institute of Helath) guidelines for laparoscopic hernia repair (TEP/TAPP). But the cautions given about limiting bladder catheterization apply to most surgerys.See Chapters 2 & 11 - see 'Statements and Recommendation' boxes, copy and paste into your browser-www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160575/#Sec6titleand also more of the same from the very respected site, emedicinehttp://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1534321-periprocedure#aw2aab6b3b2Congrats to you on researching your surgeon before just blindly choosing one. You deserve a general surgeon who will provide you with the best care. And NOT subject you the many risks of bladder catheteriztion simply because she (or he) has developed bad habits which exposes patients to those complications unnecessarily.S.M. June, 2015

Middletown Pediatrics has policies and procedures so that all our patients can receive quality care. Dr. Distler has had this practice for over 20 years. She has hundreds of patients that have been seen from birth to 25-26. It is not fair for someone who is on time for their appointment to have to wait because you either do not show up or you show up a 1/2 hour or more late. To not call and then not show up over 8 times in the course of a years time is unacceptable. There is not a doctors office in this country that would allow this. We value all our patients and do not discriminate based on the type of insurance you have. Passport has strict guidelines that we have to follow. We cannot at this time vaccinate any Passport patients. We are working hard on changing this and vaccinations for Passport patients will be available in 2015 here at MidPeds. We have recently restructured our office and we have 2 new nurses. All of our staff is fairly young, this is a great thing for a pediatrics office. The kids love our staff and enjoy coming here. Unprofessionalism in any way is not tolerated. As far as any mistakes on appointment cards this is the first I have heard of this error. If for any reason we make a mistake such as this we would make it right. I am sorry that the previous post feels like they were treated poorly but I can assure you this was not the case. If you have any doubts about our practice speak to the parents that have been coming here for 20 years.

Dr Mark Distler is a good doctor but if you have an issue with their procedures or the bad attitudes of the staff you’re told to talk to the office manager and the office manager is just as rude if not more rude than the staff. You are unable to talk to the Dr’s with any issues. There were only a few employees that seem somewhat happy working there. The rest where short or seemed distracted. I’m happy I’m changing pediatricians. The staff especially the dark haired young lady who looks like she tans way too much has a very nasty disposition and so does the other young lady...the spanish or mixed race young lady at the front desk... Danielle I believe is her name. They are not very pleasant and they seem to have a permanent attitude that would make any parent uncomfortable. They sit in the front office within ear shot of the parents in the lobby constantly snickering and are more focused on talking about their own lives instead of being an attentive office staff. They are rude, unfocused and immature. I feel uncomfortable taking my child somewhere that the employees are so unhappy and more concerned with their convenience than the child’s. I’ve tried to talk to Dr. Distler but I would have to make a false appointment and I’m sure pay for a visit. I’m happier going somewhere else. Parents, you can have it all...a Great doctor AND a GREAT STAFF. You don't have to settle for dealing with a rude staff. Go at your own risk

My doctor advised me to go to Baptist Health, Louisville, Ky Emergency. i was of the impressionthat my doctor would be attending me but he stopped seeing patients in hospital about a month earlier. After seeing numerous doctors and lack of communication there was an error in my treatment plan that cost me dearly. I was assigned a the hospital Dr Alan Jackson. This is the worst MD I have ever encountered. He tried to dismiss me when I was having Pulmonary Embolisms. When I asked him if he was concerned about the PE ,he answered NO.Some one from Cardio had to order an MRI todetermine the PE and and extend my stay in hospital. This doctor ha little experience and does not listen to the patient. If you go to Baptist Health and is assigned this doctor RUN.I asked to be assigned another doctor and was told NO. I am not by any means an indigent patient.I asked to file a complaint with the hospital and was put off until I asked again the day of my dismissal. A nurse was sent to take the complaint and didn't even bring paper and pen or accept the notes I written down.She seemed very unconcerned and disinterested.

I am writing in response to all the critical reviews of Dr. Figert and her preference to order bladder catheters for most all of her surgical patients. You should know that she is of the generation of surgeons coming out of med school when laparoscopic procedures were very new (1990's) and at a time when catheters were thought to be harmless and were routine (we now know better). And as a female she couldn't possibly appreciate a male patients perspective and his aversion to the procedure. Much like male gynocologists falling out of favor by women who now nearly universally prefer a woman ob-gyn. Although she may not really have an excuse for her stubborness to skip the cath (for patients able to fully void before surgery) at least her history provides us with an explanation. This can serve as a notice to male patients (who are able to fully self void) to seek out a male surgeon who is able to appreciate that aversion and act accordingly (by NOT catheterizing before surgeries). Jim

"Brilliant Care Delivered With Compassion" Our family has depended on Dr Thind for twenty years. She gives premium care including: comprehensive well visits that are not rushed, same day sick visits if necessary, and Dr. Thind manages her own On-call cases. These old-fashioned practices combined with modern services, labs, and medications make Dr. Thind unique and an integral part of the parenting team. Furthermore as a well respected peer, Dr. Thind has a phenomenal network of specialists. Relating to patients as a kind and wise maternal figure, Dr. Thind uses her personal experiences for best practices and bountiful compassion meeting families with understanding. A Child Life Specialist myself, Dr. Thind meets all the professional criteria including child friendly explanations. As a Mom, she fills all the holes that being too close creates! True healing and well-being come from her strong open universal spirit. Dr. Thind, a priceless advocate for our kids, is part of our family!

I have been a patient and a parent of a patient at Brownsboro Pediatrics for nearly 26 years now. This was my pediatrician as a child and now is my daughters pediatrician. We are primarily seeing Dr. Price, whom is wonderful, very knowledgeable, comforting and kind hearted. Never have we ever had an issue with any of diagnosis or medicine given, she always has been very willing to work with a budget as best she can. We have also seen Dr. Wheeler whom has also been wonderful, very knowledgeable as well. I trust my kids in the hands of either of these doctors completely. The nurses are very attentive and make the kids feel at ease as best they can, and are as well very knowledgeable. The medical billing staff are kind, professional, welcoming, and a breeze to work with. They do their best to offer as many options or methods as they can for you to be able to get the medical care you need and not break the bank. I am a lifer at Brownsboro Pediatrics and will never change!