United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

If my daughter needs surgery (she is currently 11 weeks old), I am looking for others' opinion and recommended surgeons. I am willing to travel where ever in the US. You can read my previous post in this forum for specifics on my daughters case. She has OBPI to the right arm. Has almost full shoulder movement, but no upper/lower arm nor wrist/hand/or fingers.

Welcome to the boards, but I'm so sorry to hear of another young one injured!

If you look at the top menu under resources link you will find a medical directory that lists surgeons with experience in the bpi speciality. I would contact those by phone that you might be interested in and see if you get a feel from a phone call. Many of the surgeons offer clinics where your child can be evaluated and get recommendations.

I think nearly every one will tell you to get more than one opinion. You will nearly always get various opinions on treatment, as many doctors approach treatment in different ways. No one is more right than the other, there just isn't a well-defined treatment for the injury as each one is different.

That being said, as a parent of a child (12 years) that has had two surgeries, you'll need to find the treatment plan that you feel most comfortable with. My daughter has been seen by Nath (who did her two surgeries) with follow-up with the Cincinnati BPI clinic and Dr. Waters at Boston. If you would like any more information about my experiences, please feel free to e-mail me for details.

Best wishes to you and know that you are not alone!

Kim

Dr. Kozin at Shriners Hospital in Philly is AMAZING!! he did my daughters surgery and I will be forever grateful!!

You might want to look into Dr.Thomas Tung and Dr. Susan Mackinnon. Dr. Nath actually studied under Dr. Mackinnon before he headed to Texas. Susan Mackinnon is Chief of Surgery at Barnes-Jewish and has written over 300 research articles on Brachial Plexus Injury and they are worth reading if you have the time. Mackinnon and Tung are located in St. Louis Mo. at Washington University, Barnes Jewish Hospital. My daughter is in the process of getting her surgeries done with Dr. Tung. Being in the healthcare field myself for the last 20 yrs I can honestly say with professional knowledge/background, these surgeons are top notch.

Dr Mih in Indianapolis IN at the Indiana Hand and Shoulder Center is great! He works out of multiple hospitals in Indy, including Riley Children's Hospital. He did my surgery for my TBPI, but the way my doctor found him was becuase a colleague stated that he did BPI surgeries on kids at Riley.

He did some of his training at Mayo Clinic and he has been an excellent doctor in my opinion. My experience with him has been absolutely wonderful.

Without him, I do not think I would be where I am today. He explained everything to me and my family and was a total patient advocate as well while I worked with my college when I missed school.

As others have said, just make sure that you find a doctor you are comfortable with. Many of the places will talk with you over the phone to give you an idea of their services and what not. Make sure you do your research and talk with your primary doctor as well so that you are comfortable with who you choose. If you meet someone and don't feel comfortable, get another opinion. That is the most important part! You want to find someone that fits your needs and can do what your child needs.

I would travel across the world for Dr. Stevanovic at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. He is amazing. I would be happy to speak with you about your questions and concerns in general if you want to contact me. Please do your own research on any Dr. you're considering... LOTS of research!

We have not gone through any surgeries yet but we live in South Florida and have seen Dr Nath and Dr Grossman. We liked Dr. Nath but he is not a Medicaid provider so we now have been seeing Dr Grossman and we really like him a lot. My daughter is 5 1/2 months and goes for a MRI in January. They said its a 50/50 chance that she will need surgery so for now we are just continuing PT/OT

Hey there and welcome to the boards. My son was seen by Dr. Grossman but I didn't care for him or his staff. We did, however, find Dr. Nath and loved him and his staff. We have had 2 surgeries with him and my son has had amazing results. The first surgery wasin WPB when he was 13 months and then again at 15 months old. We werew not covered by insurance but please do not let that stop you. Medicaid will pay for the hospital stay, anesthesia and such. You can make a payment arrangement with Dr. Nath or most OBPI surgeons. We will be happily paying and applying for grants for the rest of my life but my son can move his arm, not 100% but anything is better than they way he was born. Message me if you have any questions.

I personally would recommend Dr. Waters or Dr. Kozin, but I most definitely would not go to Dr. Nath. He recommended my daughter have 2 surgeries she did NOT need. We sought the opinion of 5 other surgeons and none agreed with Dr. Nath, who insisted she had a contracture. Today, at the age of 8, she never had surgery and absolutely no one knows she has an injury unless we tell them! Also, you can look up Dr. Nath through the Texas Medical Board and read the text of the disciplinary actions that have been filed against him by the board which are still pending and the result of which may be quite damaging for him. I will spare the nasty details here, but this is public information and you can certainly read about it here: http://reg.tmb.state.tx.us/OnLineVerif/ ... rmit=K4969

Michelle