Dr. Herbert P Edmundson, MD

Re Dr. Herbert Edmundson - Negative Experience!
Adj that come to mind re Dr Herbert Edmundson: rude, uncaring, cold..., abrupt, unprofessional, offensive, condescending, impolite, bully, arrogant, ill-mannered, lacking in self-awareness, egotistical, inept

My daughter had a sports related injury/concussion. We took her to her sports med physician for exam. Friend suggested we visit a neurologist. Being a nervous mother dealing with our first concussion, we decided to check out Dr. Edmundson.

I took my 15 yo daughter to Dr Edmundson for concussion evaluation. MRI taken that very morning by her sport med physician. Figured we would discuss the accident, go over what her symptoms/treatment had been & review MRI. Wrong! Dr Edmundson treated us like “things”. He took my daughter’s chair, turned it so that she was facing him with her back was to me. He told her he would be speaking with her and I was not allowed to contribute to the conversation.

He questioned her about her accident, time exactly, day of week, exact date, when did she go to dr, etc. She got confused & if she misspoke, he intensified his questions & said something to the effect of "Well, your mother gave a different date on the paperwork & it doesn’t match up with what you are saying. So, which is it are you giving the right date or is she?” He badgered her until she broke down in tears. My daughter suffers from severe anxiety & takes rx to help with those issues. I put that info in her records. He then addressed the fact that she’s on the rx for anxiety & acted flippant about why a child her age would be on this rx. Doesn’t make any sense to him. How dare he state this in front of of my daughter without knowing one single thing about her or her history?

He pronounced his strong opinions about the care I gave my daughter, the care she rec'd from her physician and stated that it was all a very big problem and perhaps the medical board should be notified etc. Her physician is amazing & did everything right, often going above & beyond to get her proper treatment. Dr Edmundson made terrible presumptions that we were all inept and at fault without even speaking with me, without getting any details regarding the accident, without inquiring about the details of her symptoms and certainly without asking about the treatment she had already received.

Dr Edmundson’s style is that he will control the conversation completely. He quizzed her intently about headaches in our family. Has your mother ever had a headache, dad, brother, etc. None of us have issues with headaches but because she mentioned once upon a time had a headache, there he went off on a tangent. He asked about her brother and she, like any sister stated that he’s a pest, etc. & started off on a tangent about how he felt sorry for my son. He concluded that it must be difficult for my son to be living in a family with such a successful sister & how badly that he must feel. What? This man has absolutely no idea about our family dynamic & was making assumptions that my son is somehow sad & mistreated!

When he conclude with his interrogation of my daughter, he finally looked at me and said, "Did she get anything wrong?” When I started to explain a few things, he interrupted & asked again, “Did she get anything wrong?" He was not remotely interested in hearing from me. I was stunned that a physician was speaking to me in such a callous manner.

He did a quick exam. He did not address the MRI results that we brought with us. When he deemed the visit over, he began to walk out. I stopped him & asked what he proposed we do about her concussion. What did he recommend as far as her missing school? What were his recommendations as she was unable to stay in that environment due to the bright lights and loud noises? She had missed a lot of school at this point. He wasn’t interested in addressing that.

Even after I asked specifially, he did not address school issues or concussion accommodations. His response was to come back in 2 wks for more testing & 2 wks after that for review of the results. His plan was for us to leave, wait 4 wks to receive answers about her condition. He was walking out of our appointment without offering a single thought about her condition or any guidelines as to what she should be doing in the meantime. On his way out, he got in her face, pointing his finger and said something like, no sports until I say so!

I wish I had walked out of that appt. Have never experienced anything like it & kept thinking it would get better but it only proceeded to get worse. My daughter will never forget how she was treated & I will never forgive myself for allowing this man to treat my child the way he did. He should not be allowed to continue doing this to people. I honestly do not see how he has any patients. In my opinion, he needs to be investigated. more details