Eugene Neurosurgeon has problems with basic medical terminology?

Saw a patient yesterday for their first visit. I had reviewed their records a week earlier and noted problems. Dr. Neil Roundy, a neurosurgeon at Oregon Neurosurgery, had seen the patient in May 2019 as a pre-operative visit. He documented that the patient has an incomplete spinal cord injury. While the patient can complete transfers on their own, they are constantly using their wheelchair. Dr. Roundy’s own words from his chart note: “Gait: normal. Tandem walking coordination: normal.” REALLY!! Normal? He can’t walk anywhere near NORMAL!

Dr. Roundy performed surgery on this patient in June. He documents in the surgical report that he placed electrodes at the T7-8 level. He then placed a generator in a “pocket overlying the left buttock and tunneled using the tunneler down to this level.”

If you are at the buttock and tunnel “down” in either reference to the head, you are NOWHERE near the T7-8 level. Why would you put a generator in the buttocks of a patient constantly sitting in a wheelchair?

Turns out on physical examination at my office the generator is NOT over the left buttocks, but actually over the left lateral lumbar region commonly called the flank which is ABOVE the iliac crest — that’s NOT the area commonly referred to as the “buttock” or gluteal region.

I personally put a call into his office on the week before and had to leave a message with his office manager. To date no one has called or written back. This is so sad.