Aj Anderson
West Fargo,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, May 15, 2015
First of all, I would like to extend my condolences about your son. It must be terrible having to deal with something like that with your own child, my heart goes out to you. Secondly, I am a patient of Dr. Perra's, and have been treated with nothing but respect and kindness from this man. 8 years ago, he fused my L5/S1 and my quality of life improved. He is a very direct man, he doesn't pull any punches, and tells it exactly as it is. He recommended fusing my L4/L5 as well because it was already starting to give out. I opted to only do 1 level, and today I am wishing I would have listened to his suggestion.
He said realistically that I could go 8 to 10 years before it would absolutely have to be done. Here I am 8 years later, and he was right. To me it sounds like you have a problem with their billing department, your insurance company and not the doctor. Dr. Perra gave me my life back, and I personally would recommend him to anyone who has back problems. Doctors have always gotten kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, and medical device companies.
Do they deserve some kind of compensation for their time researching products, you bet they do if they are doing so on their own time. You can't fault them for that, any red blooded American would do the same thing if given the chance. In my visits with Dr. Perra he never once brought up how much money he made, or how rich he was. He was, and is and always will be there to help people. The man donates his time to help under privileged children, and you want to crucify him for an insurance/billing problem. He's a good man, and the only surgeon I will trust working on my back.
Rachis
Hudson,#3Author of original report
Thu, January 12, 2012
Here's part of a Star&Trib story. Read the whole thing HERE I wish I had all this information before doing business with them! Note that seven defendants are from Twin Cities Spine Center including Perra.
lawsuit accuses Polly and 112 other leading spine surgeons of allegedly accepting a total of $8 million in unethical and possibly illegal consulting payments in 2006 alone.Polly declined to comment for this story. He referred all questions to his Minneapolis attorney, John Lundquist, who represents 82 of the surgeons named in the Massachusetts lawsuit -- including Polly and other doctors from Minnesota.
Lundquist would not confirm the amount of consulting fees the suit alleges were paid to Polly. "We are not going to comment on the personal finances of any of our clients," he said.Seven of the other defendants are from the Minneapolis-based Twin Cities Spine Center, a nationally known practice headquartered at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. The complaint alleges they accepted consulting payments from Medtronic totaling approximately $466,400 in 2006. They are Drs. Timothy Garvey, Francis Denis, Joseph Perra, Manuel Pinto, James Schwender, Ensor Transfeldt and Amir Mehbod. A Twin Cities neurologist, Stanley Skinner, is also named.
Rachis
Hudson,#4Author of original report
Tue, January 10, 2012
I wondered if the office was run like a cheap boiler room how is the rest of the practice? It didn't take long to find out. If you are considering treatment with Twin Cities Spine you should read this Bloomberg Report, "Highest-Paid U.S. Doctors Get Rich With Fusion Surgery Debunked by Studies"
Of all the spine centers in the US Bloomberg used TCS as it's example of greed and corruption and that says something. Do your research before you have any procedures that could effect the rest of your life.