Bone and Joint Clinic

My appointment was today, 12-7-12 @ 8 am. Went in \with my sister and was called back rather quickly. The nurses were great. We were put in an exam room to wait, and a nurse came in to take me for x-rays. After x-rays I returned to the exam room. My sister and I waited for what seemed like forever. Dr. Mays came in and asked me how I got injured & where I got injured. I told him. Pain in the right shoulder & a sharp stabbing pain in the center of spine. He asked me to get up and perform some simple tasks like raising my arms. I told him about my right arm tingling and my fingers tingled. He told me it was most likely it was a pinched nerve in my neck. I asked him how he knew that. They had not xrayed my neck. He said it would explain the right arm feeling tingly. I asked him if that also explained the sharp pain in the center of my spine. He told me that when you injure yourself you usually only get injured in one spot, not multiple places at once. I was confused by his answer, like I was being accused of lying. So I repeated myself and asked if a pinched nerve in my neck would explain the sharp pain in the center of my spine. Again, he did not answer my question. He said, “You didn't break your back,” in a condescending way. I told him yes, I understood that, because if I had broken my back I would be unable to walk. I requested an MRI to know definitively what was wrong with me, because he and my previous doctor, Dr. Bell, had conflicting theories on my actual injury. Dr. Bell said it's a pulled muscle. I have been in intense physical pain for nearly a month, so I am eager for concrete diagnosis. Dr. Mays said there was “no point in ordering a $1000 procedure to find it's something simple like a bulged disk.” He then asked me, with an attitude, “If we were to find a bulged disk what do you want us to do about it?” I said, I don't know anything about bulged disks. I am not a doctor. At this point his mood had turned completely sour, and he was extremely rude with me. He said, “You don't have a clue what you're talking about. You don't know what an MRI even is.” (I went to a 4 year university and maintained a 3.98 GPA - I am not an idiot.) I said, my mother has been a nurse for over 20 years & she told me I need an MRI to see injury to soft tissue, something x-rays can't find. He said, “Well why don't you get your mother to treat you?” I replied “My mother does not own an MRI machine, sir.” Then he told me that he thought I should get a new doctor and he stormed out. When my sister & I left the exam room we were in shock. She told me she had seen him once herself for a leg injury, and he had been nice to her. She said she had no idea what his problem was and concluded maybe he was in a bad mood. Before I left I spoke with the office manager, and I told her about his horrible bedside manner. She was polite, but offered no resolution. She only said, “I can't make him give you an MRI.” She never said anything about his horrible bedside manner. I filled out a records request to have all my records from that visit sent to my home. I also got the number where I could file a complaint for Dr Mays' awful attitude. My sister even remarked that he “needed anger management”. I DO NOT recommend this "doctor" to anyone. He was completely rude to me without any reason, when I maintained a calm and respectful demeanor with him the entire time. He did not want to answer direct questions about my care, and in fact went so far as to avoid them with absolute hostility!