Top Doctors 2009

Comments

By Jenna melman on Jul 29, 2009 at 11:52PM

I love you Dad

By Dr. Marnie A Hansen on Aug 01, 2009 at 3:19AM

I am an avid reader of yours, and love the information you provide the Seattle community with. I just bought a copy of your Top Doctors issue (which I have been anticipating), and noticed that you had a wonderful selection of general practitioners, and in turn, I was hoping to see more mention of Chiropractic in this new issue. To my disappointment, I didn’t see any mention of Chiropractors. Doctors of Chiropractic are highly trained in neurology, musculoskeleltal conditions, nutrition, neuromuscular therapies including physical therapies, and more, depending on the specialty. As a Doctor of Chiropractic myself, I was required to complete 8 years of rigorous medical training in order to call myself a Chiropractor, the same amount of education required of any physician. Most act as primary care physicians for individuals and families alike, with an emphasis on prevention, lifestyle modifications and wellness. Doctors of Chiropractic take pride in educating their patients about natural methods to prevent illness and stay healthy for life, and many take prominent leadership roles in providing the public with top quality health and wellness care. Research has shown that Chiropractic care actually saves individuals significant amounts of money spent on healthcare over the course of their lifetime, and promotes longer, healthier lives. I believe that amidst today’s healthcare crisis, it would be of great service to your readers to provide a greater emphasis on what some would consider “alternative therapies.” With the emergence of preventable chronic diseases, the obesity epidemic, and our children being over-medicated it’s imperative that the public is educated and provided information on as many healthcare options as possible. In this day and age, “alternative therapies” are anything but alternative if we are to address the true causes of sickness, rather than continue to endlessly chase after the symptoms when our result is more sickness. With that said, I would love to see what you come up with in the future! Thanks for your time and hard work, and I will be looking forward to that exciting issue!

By Jason F. on Sep 14, 2009 at 9:47PM

Chiropractic is based on pseudoscience and nobody, no matter how long they “study” it, should call themselves a doctor.

By Cynthia NERO on Sep 28, 2009 at 7:50PM

I would like to know exactly how many votes did the 347 selected doctors receive on average. I understand that 1200 doctors voted.

By Eve on Oct 12, 2009 at 4:15PM

I enjoyed Dr. Hansen’s post, and have to agree that I am also disappointed to have Chiropractic left out. Especially since I have not found a good one out here, since moving from Chicago.

When the physician I saw out here gave me sketchy results, I called home to my chiropractor of almost 15 years to get a second opinion. I value and hold his medical advice far above any doctor I have seen. Mostly b/c he is always the one that’s correct and his knowledge is vast!!

By Beth on Mar 18, 2010 at 11:38AM

I have been a patient of Minor and James for several years 11.5. I have watched the quality of care decline for the last two years. It’s gone from a progressive cutting edge provider, offering the highest in health technology, providing doctor accessibility, education and real time response. Now it’s non responsive, cumbersome, fragmented, and generally a disappointment. Example, I have insurance, however, every time I go to the doctor the charge is approximately $274. After my insurance pays a portion, I still have co- payment and a sizable residual balance. $274 is a for quick 15 minute appointment. Recently, I went to the doctor to get the blood work results. I said I have four questions regarding my blood work, however, the doctor said, “ you will need to make another appointment to talk about the other results – I can only talk to you about one issue per appointment” If that is true, it will take me four appointments to get the results I seek. The doctor spoke to my thyroid issue and changed the medication. She again said the other results would have to be addressed in another appointment with her. I then called the “specialist” to confirm that the internist that changed my mediation – did so correctly. I was told by the specialist that I would have to come in for another office visit, if I wanted to know if he agreed with the internist. Now we are at well over $500 for the one question, of thyroid medication. I have palpitations, chest discomfort and still have no level of confidence the doctor that changed my medication did so correctly. The specialist won’t confirm it over the phone. Keep in mind both of the doctors I am referring to – are both from Minor and James Medical. I did pay for the office visit to hear a portion of my Blood work results, now I can’t afford to go to the doctor several time to talk about the same medication. I was actually told by the thyroid specialist office “ you should have come to see us” WELL! When I called the scheduling office- I was told the specialist could not speak to any issues other than the thyroid issue. When I went to the internist – she talked about only the thyroid issue and not the other blood work. I told her I was there for the other blood work interruption, her response “ you will have to make another appointment” Again, as I write this, I have chest pain, and my heart is beating too fast. It’s frightening not knowing if I am ok or not. I can only hope I am.

The telephone system has declined as well. If I call the Minor and James clinic and ask to speak to a nurse, I am sent through a long indirect automated phone system, only to find myself talking to the scheduling department, and then transferred again- to a voice mail system.

By Ephraim Hendrix on Mar 25, 2010 at 4:41PM

This list is meaningless. It is a beauty contest based on second-hand information. Three of those listed above have given me exams and advice that were worse than incompetent.

Unless the doctors who voted received care from the ones listed above and those listed above did not know that their patients were doctors, the exam quality should not be considered.

Common sense demands that we recognize that professionals are more likely to give more thorough service and do more in the presence of their peers than they will with the uninformed. The voters are biased. It is a human characteristic which doctors and patients share with.

By Emily Mcfarlance on Oct 11, 2011 at 12:15PM

This is an awesome article. Thanks for posting

By Doug McCracken on Jun 09, 2010 at 9:59AM

To the uninformed individual who expressed his opinion that chiropractic is not a science nor should they be called doctors, you couldn’t be more wrong. Chiropractors study the anatomy for 4 years, the same as an MD. I trust a chiropractor more than an MD who simply prescribes muscle relaxers and pain pills. I went the western medicine route a number of times unsuccessfully, only to get resolve from a chiropractor.

By Mark Edmands on Jul 12, 2010 at 11:51PM

Since the Editor knows the actual number of votes per category or doctor, why won’t you simple state that number? For example, it would be most helpful to say Dr. X received 30 out of 100 votes. Please simply state the number of votes that would allow a doctor to be considered a top doc by their peers.

I also understand that most all doctors consider themselves within a particular medical community – often centered around a hospital. I understand that hospitals heavily remind and encourage their doctors to vote for one another from the same community. Therefore, hospitals who employee and control doctors (e.g. Virginia Mason, UW, Swedish) will likely be able to get more of their physicians on these list. How does the editor account for this type of statisical bias?

By James Roid on Dec 14, 2011 at 7:50PM

Thank you so much for compiling this list of doctors. I am always lost when I need to look for a reliable doctor, and now I know where to look for one! I wish there was a magazine or book I could buy which provided me with all this convenient information. A doctor once prescribed me with steroids which had many negative side effects on me, and after that I lost trust in doctors. I do hope these doctors are much more reliable!

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By Jason on Apr 06, 2011 at 3:32AM

good one

By Heather on Mar 12, 2011 at 5:02PM

I appreciate your attempt to help people find good providers in a broken medical system. However, asking medical providers who they would choose for help for themselves and/or their families won’t work. They are not only biased, but they legally are not able to even imply that someone would not be a good choice. In addition, I am a registered nurse here in Washington State. I wanted to become a nurse to help people and because I believed that those in the medical community shared the same belief system. Sadly, I have found out the hard way that that is not how it works. I have a family history of thyroid problems and have had symptoms since I was a child. I have been trying for literally 22 years to find an answer to my growing list of debilitating symptoms. In 2004, I got the closest when a Gastroenterologist saw my low TSH and felt my symptoms were very likely Hyperthyroid. He sent a note to my PCP. I was actually referred to an Endo who only did the same basic labs. What I know is that you are supposed to do more than that. You are supposed to do the RAI-U Scan, Ultrasound, and CT of the neck and thyroid. I never got those. I am now on my 4th Endo with the same stupid result. I have come in with every lab that shows the same results. I have come in with a detailed list of symptoms. I have come in armed with the knowledge of symptomology and testing processes. I have begged, pleaded, and demanded the proper tests only to be dismissed with the waive of a hand or treated coldly and indifferently. Then later to get my records and read that they felt it was the old lazy stand-by of “depression and anxiety.” Which, I want ALL your readers to know they are SYMPTOMS, not diagnoses. Symptoms are signals by the body that something is wrong and it needs to be found. If found and properly treated, those symptoms should resolve.

You would think that as a RN in a nursing shortage that I would have received prompt testing and treatment to return me to normal function, right? Wrong. I have been on disability since 2004. Two years after graduating nursing school for misdiagnoses of MS and Dysautonomia, when it was really a underlying thyroid condition (still needing to be diagnosed) and serious adverse reactions and side effects to all the medications they gave me over the years to squash every symptom I was reporting. Those meds made me very sick and I even ended up hospitalized for them. I am now off all of them and the very same thyroid symptoms I was reporting are still there, minus all the side effects and adverse reactions to the drugs. Go figure.

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