Practice

Dr Gary Shapiro failed a 5-way back fusion. I ended up in the ICU with high fevers, my left leg locked up in pain, low blood pressure, & a white blood cell count at HIV levels. After imaging, the hospital's doctor discovered that he put screws into my spinal column and ordered him back to fix it. Shapiro said he was taking out 1 extra screw. He actually removed 4 of 10 screws & left it unstable. At 6 month checkup I returned for CT results and he stated "Great News! Everything is tight and you don't need any more surgeries". I asked for a copy that stated: "perilucency in the S1 distal screw". That means it's loose, he lied to me, and didn't care about my excruciating pain. My PT at his office warned me to get out of IBJI for help. He knew they'd cover it up. Another neurosurgeon saw the danger of my unstable fusion & performed an urgent revision surgery at the height of the pandemic. He found a mangled rod & shattered S1 which was Shapiro's base. Back had to be bolted to pelvis.