Dr. Donald D Hales, MD

Write a Review928-774-7757

Dr. Hale's office person who makes the appointments said, "He won't see you unless you've exhausted all your options." I thought that meant that he was an expert in high demand, not what I later found out myself, and from others, that he is a surgery-happy doctor, and that that's the only thing he advises for everyone, and tries to scare people into doing. He saw me for limited symptoms caused by calcium buildup on the vertebrae, (OPLL), and the resulting spinal cord compression. At the time I had no idea what was going on, and he told me I could become quadriplegic from even sneezing, or tripping and falling, and needed to get immediate fusion surgery.

I spent 6 anxiety-ridden weeks, researching the condition, while waiting for a Flagstaff neurosurgeon, Dr. David Sacco's second opinion. I discovered that there is absolutely NO empirical evidence of any kind that someone who has my condition is at greater risk of quadriplegia, and that it is only general, commonly held "common sense wisdom" by doctors. The second opinion was to simply keep an eye on the condition, and get another MRI in 6 months to a year, as my symptoms were minimal, and had already gone mostly away after making lifestyle changes, in terms of getting up from sitting regularly, and doing stretches. Doctor Hale and his assistant would not call me back to discuss any of this, even after I called back twice, both times being assured that he would call me. This doctor is really hurting people by creating huge anxiety, that only makes healing much more difficult. He is both unethical and unconscionable in his greedy pursuit of endless $21k operations. He covers himself from liability and sanctions, by using surgery scare tactics in person, like saying that you could become quadriplegic from even sneezing, or tripping and falling if you don't get surgery, but then in the actual written report, only saying that the risk of injury was only "relatively greater!"