Myths vs. Facts about Dr. Ravish Patwardhan:

Dr. Ravish Patwardhan has experienced significant success in a short amount of time. However, due to a bogus case brought on primarily by a single trial attorney, many untrue rumors have been spread to the public, which are completely false. Below you will find a set of myths accompanied by statements that set the record straight.
MYTH: "Many patients have filed claims based upon legitimate reasons."
Truth:
A single trial attorney who has made his career suing doctors and hospitals has created a baseless and bogus case against one of the area's top neurosurgeons. In fact, a large number of the claims filed by the trial attorney are beyond the usual statute of limitations, and have been filed after a round of aggressive media interviews that some view as advertising. Even more alarmingly, some claims filed by the trial attorney were fraudulently attained.

***All four of the first four claims reviewed by an independent medical panel were found unanimously in Dr. Patwardhan's favor.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan has a significant number of legitimate claims against him."
Truth:
For nearly five years, Dr. Patwardhan did not have a single claim against him. After running a successful practice for years without a single legal complaint, a single trial attorney appears to be primarily involved in a media campaign, enrolling a multitude of patients. Many patients tried to file claims years after what appeared to be a successful operation (and in response to the media exposure). The overwhelming majority of these cases, which have gone to decision from independent physicians, were found to be unanimously in Dr. Patwardhan's favor.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan's credentialing is questioned."
Truth:
The statement that Dr. Patwardhan was not board-eligible at time of performing surgery is completely false, and part of the false case presented by a trial attorney. In addition, Dr. Patwardhan remained Board-eligible (contrary to what was noted in the media or quoted by the plaintiff attorney) when performing surgery.

MYTH: "Willis-Knighton—the hospital where Dr. Patwardhan worked—did not properly supervise Dr. Patwardhan."
Truth:
The same trial attorney who has targeted Dr. Patwardhan has also targeted Willis-Knighton, the largest hospital system in Louisiana. Several other neurosurgeons, including some of Dr. Patwardhan's neurosurgery mentors and colleagues themselves, have also been sued by Mr. Hammons. Willis Knighton contains one of the most rigorous medical staff review panels. Dr. Patwardhan has been in good standing with medical staff and continues to be supported by Willis-Knighton primarily because he has helped he has helped so many patients in the community. Some of his patients include other doctors who work at Willis-Knighton, LSU Health Sciences Center and other locations. Although no doctor has a 100% success rate, many patients to this day continue to believe in Dr. Patwardhan and trust him fully. Dr. Patwardhan had an exceptional level of service and success with a large number of patients.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan did a large number of operations in a short amount of time, suggesting abnormal capability."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan's is one of the most efficient surgeons in the country, who performs his operations in a minimally invasive manner. Minimally invasive techniques can be conducted in a fraction of the time, safely, by using advanced imaging technologies. A patient's recovery time will also be much shorter. That is the reason so many patients, including other doctors themselves, have sought out Dr. Patwardhan for their care.

Some elite cardiac surgeons conduct over 1,000 operations per year (which would seem incredible to some of their other cardiac surgery colleagues), and some of the other neurosurgeons in Shreveport also do a significant number of operations efficiently—without being subject to the level of scrutiny Dr. Patwardhan has experienced.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan's practice was different than some of the other routine practices in the same field."
Truth:
This is actually not a myth – it is a truth. Dr. Patwardhan did not believe in making patients who were in excruciating pain wait. For instance, if a patient suffered from a ruptured disc, many doctors would put them on a waiting list. However, Dr. Patwardhan obligated himself and his staff to work the extra hours to care for these patients and relieve their pain, returning many home within a day with marked improvement, and back to work within several weeks practically pain-free.

It was this quick-response practice which led to his practice growing to a high-referral base by word-of-mouth, and to the tremendously successful level at which he functioned. To this day, many patients remain loyal to him because they believe in his work from their own experiences.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan did operations for different reasons."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan used stringent criteria, as appropriate, which included: conservative therapy (such as physical therapy), multiple medications, chiropractic care and, diagnostic testing (performed by other surgeons). Dr. Patwardhan has helped thousands of patients who have successfully been treated and are very happy. In many cases, Dr. Patwardhan recommended against surgery when there was not a clear likelihood of benefit.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan did operations, which were cutting-edge."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan did perform operations which were considered to be cutting-edge. In cases where a new product was used as part of a clinical trial which patients chose to participate in, patients were informed about this and gave fully informed consent. Dr. Patwardhan has been recognized in his field for many accomplishments. For example, Dr. Patwardhan performed the first laser operation in the country of its kind for brain tumors, using properly approved guidelines. It was performed successfully, and was repeated in other patients successfully as well. Shortly after Dr. Patwardhan performed this ground-breaking first-in-the-country procedure at Willis-Knighton, other major centers such as MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering, and other around the country followed.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan was involuntarily stopped by the State Board from operating."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan, on legal advice and conforming to a request by the Board, allowed an independent assessment of his practice. He voluntarily signed a consent order (of his own choice, without absolute requirement) to allow such an assessment. On the Board's request (which was responding to complaints from a plaintiff attorney, as the plaintiff attorney was later quoted as admitting to), Dr. Patwardhan agreed to hold off doing any operations until an independent assessment was completed. Dr. Patwardhan agreed to be re-instated soon after the independent assessment was found in his favor. Unfortunately, the Board has not ruled one way or the other despite Dr. Patwardhan fulfilling every obligation capable and requested of him, and the reasons for his not being reinstated immediately remain unclear. For nearly a year, no clear due process leading to a hearing, or reinstatement of Dr. Patwardhan, appears to have been implemented despite all that has gone on. Dr. Patwardhan believes in continuing to persist until proper resolution, because he believes in all he has done to provide the best care to this patients.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan's follow-up care after surgery was questioned."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan had an open-door policy where he welcomed every patient, and saw any patient in clinic when he or she wanted or needed to be seen. Different surgeons have different practices about follow-up, but Dr. Patwardhan's belief has been that an "open door policy" should allow any patient the convenience of being seen as soon as possible.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan had conflicts of interest with other companies."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan had the strictest of intentions when dealing with drug or instrument companies, to avoid conflicts of interest. He never accepted lunches for his office (a common practice among many physician offices), or other activities which may be misconstrued and which are common practice with other medical practices.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan worked for specific individual motivations."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan was heavily involved in the community, giving tens of thousands of dollars through his non-profit organization to education programs of Caddo and Bossier school districts, participating in the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Community Renewal International, and numerous other organizations. As noted previously, many operations have been done for free when those in need could not afford it and had no other good options. To suggest otherwise has been insulting and wrong.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan has left the city and no longer practices in Shreveport."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan continues to maintain a practice in Shreveport, and his office continues to remain open to patients. Many patients continue to be seen in clinic. Dr. Patwardhan believes in fighting for what is right and will not give up. To give in would be against the goal of the American dream believed in by his parents, who brought his family here, and he believes in justice and due process (as long as it is applied properly to his case).

His insuring company, hospital staff members, and referring physicians continue to support him because he continues to be proven right with an overwhelming amount of evidence. Most importantly, many patients in the community continue to support him.

As for frivolous lawsuits, given new information that he is found to be in the right on so many cases, his strategy may change. Though he has put up with attacks without substantial retaliation, he has the ability to file counter-suits for frivolous claims against him. People filing frivolous claims or lawsuits against Dr. Patwardhan should be made aware that they could very well risk a counter-suit being filed in the future.

MYTH: "Dr. Patwardhan's motives or ability should be scrutinized."
Truth:
Peers reviewing Dr. Patwardhan's work have commended rather than questioned his work. Dr. Patwardhan has been recommended and has successfully operated on patients who were high-risk, highly prominent in society, and/or desperate people no one else wanted to take the risk of operating upon. He has successfully operated upon doctors, lawyers, judges, concert violinists, prominent businesspeople, politicians, young children, senior citizens, and those needing an operation who could not afford it, as well as respective family members and friends of each of these and beyond. He has done free-of-charge operations in cases where operations were needed, and patients could not afford it. Many doctors have singled out Dr. Patwardhan as "one of the few surgeons they would trust" to treat either themselves or their family members. A large outpouring of support from the community, angry about the egregious efforts against Dr. Patwardhan, has been overwhelmingly communicated to his office. As a result, the local community has awarded Dr. Patwardhan the "Outstanding Young Professional of the Year, among 40-under-40" award in the region, based upon his clinical work, research, and philanthropy; Comprehensive Neurosurgery, LLC, the practice he founded, has also been similarly recognized by the Chamber of Commerce for its services. Finally, Dr. Patwardhan has been recognized by his peers consistently over the years as one of the area's top doctors.

MYTH: "Patients were being given different opinions than from some alleged 'standard of care'."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan believes patients were being deceived – but by false information. Unfortunately, in the normal legal process, a patient can no longer contact Dr. Patwardhan (nor vice-versa) after he or she has filed a claim. If the patient is filing a claim or lawsuit based upon false information he or she has received from elsewhere (or worse yet, the promise of some "reward"), he or she will never learn the truth until the process has gone through the claims and judgment process, which may take several years. If a misleading story has been generated, then unfortunately a patient may be deceived and file a lawsuit or claim. Unfortunately, what many patients may not realize is that they may then be sued themselves for filing a frivolous claim.

MYTH: "Louisiana will stop losing its young people because of more transparency and regulation."
Truth:
Dr. Patwardhan exemplifies a young professional who has accomplished neurosurgical success at a national level, by performing unique procedures. Instead of highlighting these accomplishments for Louisiana, he has become a target of an attack by an attorney who is notorious for suing neurosurgeons and other doctors. The longer that such processes are allowed to continue, "business as usual" could mean less incentive for similarly minded and innovative physicians to practice in Louisiana. If no action is taken, this will continue to be the status quo.