Missoula Anesthesiology 2825 Stockyard Road, Missoula, MT 59808

"My surgical anesthesiologist was awesome. I’m leaving this review because Sandra is the person who called me back after I left a message and screamed at me because I tried to get a copy of my bill. In the past I have had plenty of providers email me a copy with my consent and she said she refused to do so. I also asked for a copy to be faxed to my insurance and she also refused to do that. The bill I received was missing pages and she prefers to yell and be defensive instead of help people. 0/10 Sandra."

"My review is based on an experience I had with Missoula Anesthesiology via the Missoula Bone & Joint Surgery Center. This year, I had to have a revision of a previous knee surgery, along with an additional surgery that added to total operation time. I had been planning on a Spinal, based on the advice of multiple medical professionals who witnessed my adverse reaction to General after the last surgery. Dr. Sirs walked in saying automatically "I'm not going to do a spinal," then proceeded to steamroll me with technical information that amounted to "actually we could, but it would be inconvenient to the surgery center and you because of the holding time after." I was also told, verbatim, "Well, since you were sick last year I'll do some things differently with the General this time, but if you get sick again, that's not on me, that's on you." Which is perhaps one of the most dismissive and dehumanizing pieces of rhetoric I've ever received from a doctor in any setting. Setting aside the fact that I was given no real agency in the conversation about my body, the choice of General again, particularly given my prior history, was a bad one. Post-op, I was quickly released and immediately passed out in my car. My partner had to drive me, unconscious, to the E.R., where I was lifted bodily out of my car, fresh surgery knee and all. My shirt had to be cut off my body so that they could attach ekg leads, that's how gone I was. I spent several hours at the E.R. before regaining consciousness. This experience could have been avoided if Missoula Anesthesiology took my patient history and personal concerns more seriously. Michael Sterbis, the lead doctor for Missoula Anesthesiology's team at Bone & Joint, called me solely at my surgeon's request. He did not hear my concerns, and refused to even recognize them as valid. He persisted that a Spinal wouldn’t have been worthwhile since I had a longer surgery that day and might have required a supplement of General near the end; I asked Dr Sterbis if this nonetheless would have resulted in far fewer General drugs being put into my system, and he grudgingly admitted that yes, of course it would have. Yet he still blindly defended Dr Sirs' decision and behavior, even given my last year's surgery providing solid proof that General Anesthesia could have significant adverse effects on me. In summary, Dr Sirs steamrolled and made an imperfect call, then Dr Sterbis doubled down hard to back up Sirs, to the degree that I could hear him getting irritated and had to ask if he even thought my concerns were valid. He would not answer that question. I am ultimately unclear why Dr Sterbis even called me, since he showed no receptivity to my concerns whatsoever. I don't know if Dr Sterbis was following a liability insurance playbook, or if he's incapable of putting himself in a patient's shoes, but it’s pretty clear that didn't care about my experience and was only humoring me with a call because my surgeon asked him to. In worst case scenarios, Missoula Anesthesiology will double down, protect themselves, and ignore patient concerns. I won’t feel comfortable and safe in their hands again."