Thanks for the feedback and the welcome. My doc provided a reference letter with the referrals. I thought the SCS recommendation was ridiculous. Especially since this doctor was a fellow at the Cleveland Clinic under Stanton-Hicks when Stanton-Hicks said no SCS. The only thing that has changed in the years since then is that this doctor is now at an independent office. I actually told him that I thought he was putting his own financial interest before the needs of the patient. He scoffed and told me that wasn't true. I said that it was, especially since he apparently forgot that he saw me as a patient when he was a fellow, several times as a matter of fact, and wrote the same prescriptions for me then as I am currently taking now. I told him the only thing that changed besides his opinion on my course of treatment was his place of employment and the probability that he shared in the profits of his new place of employment. Needless to say, prior to my comment, he didn't remember me, which is not surprising since the Cleveland Clinic treats patients like cattle, you're just a billing number over there. (This statement probably doesn't apply if you need serious surgical procedures or have cancer though).

Another thing that was weird, they HD me sign an opiate contract and had me do a mouth swab for saliva test 30 seconds before the doctor even saw me, which I thought was odd. I know that drug testing is not only to check for compliance, it is also a money maker. It is my opinion that he had no legitimate purpose for that test, especially since he didn't write any prescriptions. I am going to wait and see if they bill medicare for that test. It was completely unnecessary, and quite frankly, an invasion of privacy.