Scott Lipscomb

I suffered a complex dislocation of my left pinky finger on the basketball court and was transported via ambulance to the Cornell-Presbyterian hospital, where I felt largely ignored and had to make the proactive effort to get a doctor to my room on two occasions during a six-hour ER visit. The doctors seemed courteous and competent, just not very attentive ... even though there didn't seem to be many patients needing care at the time. To make matters worse, I was given Cornell-related numbers for follow-up care and possible surgery. To my consternation, I was told that the soonest they could get me in for an appointment was 6 to 7 weeks away ... huh?!!

The reason I provide this horrific context is because, once I expressed my extreme displeasure, I was referred to doctors at the the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Steve Lee ... where my experience was completely different (in an extremely positive way). I contacted his office staff who let me know that he had not planned to be in that afternoon, but - based on my description of the injury and the fact that I am a musician whose hands/fingers are crucially important to my well-being - he felt that I needed to be seen right away, so asked that I be put on the books for that very afternoon. After carefully examining my injury, Dr. Lee scheduled me for surgery the next morning. In contrast to my assessment of the Cornell ER experience (very negative), I felt that this examination experience and scheduling process were the most positive ever; it was clearly evident that this doctor and his staff were interested in caring for me in the manner that would best serve my needs and were willing to make every effort to ensure that is precisely what happened!

In fact, during the surgery, Dr. Lee found numerous pieces of "debris" and a piece of gravel in my stitched finger ... as a result, waiting the 6 to 7 weeks Cornell offered would have been very dangerous to my health and could have resulted in significant infection or other complications. Though I would not wish the injury I experienced on my worst enemy, should such an injury occur to anyone I know, I will STRONGLY recommend the HSS services in general; and Dr. Lee specifically. It is now just over three weeks after the accident, and physical therapy (also at HSS) has improved the mobility of my finger substantially. I have no doubt that, within the coming weeks, I will recover most of the injured finger's dexterity ... and, with continuing work, will eventually recover fully. This is largely due to the care and timely help of Dr. Lee and HSS. Thank you for ALL that you have done for me!! Simply put, I cannot rate your services high enough!