25 March 2011

Orthopedic Surgon recommendations Canberra

| shirtz
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So ive broken my wrist 3 months ago. Its the scaphiod and has been in a cast but is not healing. I’m booked into see the specilist on 6th of MAY (public health at its best).

A few questions:

1. any idea how long i will have to wait to get it operated on?

2. If its stupidly long, i might have to suck it up and go private. Does anyone have anyone have a recomendation?

3. Any ball park of how much it will cost?

Any info will be tops! So over it!

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Can also recomend Dr Roberts

Chris Roberts did my right knee, my left knee twice, as well as my broken arm/wrist. Highly recommended

thanks for all the great replies guys. To clarrify it was done around 23 december and showed upstraight away on the x ray. 2 subsequent cat scans (last one on monday – so about 3 months) shows no improvement. the break is right across the middle and i understand the blood flow is poor anyway and mainly around the bottom of the bone.

i only have the “mbf 70% basics” cover so wouldnt expect much back but they said they would cover some things.

will ring up dr chris roberts on monday and see when he is free 🙂

+1 for Chris Roberts – he just fixed my hand for me and did an excellent job

walking by quietly12:42 am 26 Mar 11

2 thumbs up to Chris Roberts – who got the dodgy one working again

Dr Chris Roberts for hands/wrists definitely.

My comment got lost, so am trying again.
Chris Roberts from the Canberra Orthopaedic Group is THE hand Dr in Canberra. He spreader on hands/wrists all day every day, and has many years experience. . He would be my number one choice. My next choice would be Dr Damiani, who is also very good.

The best dr for hands/wrists is Chris Roberts. Damiani is also very good. Chris operated on hands/wrists all day, and is in my opinion THE Dr to see when it comes to that part of the body.

As its an upper limb, I would go with Dr. Katherine Gordiev. Extremely good and great follow up. Katherine doesn’t charge that much over – but it will be over the cap so keep that in mind. Not sure of the waiting times now but it used to be reasonable – perhaps 6 weeks.

Hope that helps.

If you need to go private try Maurizio Damiani at Canberra Orthopedic Group. Snapped my radius in half and cracked a few wrist bones in 2009. Went to Calvary on a Saturday and they set it, referred to Canberra Hospital on the Monday for a diagnosis of surgery. I was number 17 on the waiting list for an op on the Thursday, but they realistically said it would probably be the following week. They referred me to Damiano on the Tuesday and had it fixed on the Friday. Fantastic job done and continued no problems with racquet sports.

Surgery was around $1200. But you’ll also have fees from an assistant and also the anaesthetist (spelling?). They do give you an honest quote though of what you should expect. You need to check what the hospital charges. I have private cover so hospital fee was covered.

Also highly recommend Hands-On Physiotherapy at Mawson.

You want to ensure that scaphoid is fixed, it’s a very important bit of your hand. If you are already booked in to see the specialist, I assume that is your orthopod. You can opt to go private when you see him/her, to speed up your admission to hospital, but if it’s a bone break I would assume you’ll move to the top of the operating list fairly quickly even if you go public.

Orthopods do specialise in different parts of the body. Ensure your surgeon is a hand one, not a knees one.

Without knowing the extent of the injury, its impossible for anyone to be able to give an answer. A friend of mine broke his collarbone last year and expected to have surgery on it, but it healed by itself. After a second shoulder injury (unrelated) he again went through the 6-week waits, but once the surgeons decided to operate it was done within a week, in the public system, at no expense to him. Without medical knowledge of the situation, all we can do is speculate.

My own personal experience, Ive been on the waiting list for elective orthopedic surgery for almost 8 months, from an injury that first occured almost 2 years ago, also through public, as its not deemed as high a priority.

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