Dr. Joseph Petelin, MD

Professional. Dedicated. Able. Experienced

I was having an appendicitis attack. You could tell that Dr. Petelin was very frustrated at how long it took me to get to the hospital because something was mentioned about a game he was watching! He was much younger then so I hope he has learned to put his patients first. After the appendectomy I got an infection so I had a lot of pain. He was very short & curt with the nurse, insisting that I walk. The nurse reminded him that my right leg was in a cast and that I was doing all I could do. A friend witnessed how rudely he spoke to me and the nurse. I was sent home, still in pain, and the antibiotic had to be increased. Who knows why I got the infection from his surgery?

He took out my gall bladder in 1996. The surgery was last thing on a Friday night and I was in bad shape. I had a badly diseased gall bladder. I had numerous issues including infected drainage for four years from the laproscopic incisions.Post op; I had major pain which Petelin and his assistant diagnosed as phantom pain. It was not phantom but was another medical issue that they were too busy to listen to and it ended up being dire. My biggest mistake was in not having traditional surgery to lift out my entire gall bladder without chopping it up. I was sick for four years after this surgery. Petelin had 17 framed newspaper headlines in his office about his pioneering laproscopic technique. I was unusual in that my gall bladder was extremely diseased. He should have declined to do it laproscopically and sent me on to another surgeon if he did not want to do it the traditional way. I was too ill to know and he should have given me and family RN beside me a choice.

Dr. Petelin operated on me in late July 2018. Two weeks post-op I mentioned that I had something growing in the outer abdomen under my rib. He was only concerned about his own stitches. Because of his uncaring attitude, 3 days later I was taken to St. Luke's South Emergency Room where under the care of a surgeon there I was diagnosed with a baseball-sized abscess which was over a fistula that formed because of a drip from the duodenum most likely from the surgery. I spent 49 days in the hospital and several more months in Rehab at another facility in order to recuperate.

Do not question getting a procedure with Petelin! He saved my quality of life after finding a hernia that no other surgeon or Dr could find. His bedside manner is clear and concise! The nurses at the hospital acted as though he was the end all of be all. He knows what he is doing! He invented procedures that are noninvasive. I daily think about what an amazing smart surgeon he is! Thank you Dr Petelin!

He is a wonderful surgeon! He explains exactly what he is going to do. He make the hospital adhere to what he needs and wants for HIS patients. He just did my Gallbladder. Old hat for him, but when he got in I was full of adhesions and took the time to fix it all. Some say he doesn't have a bedside manner, For me I want a competent surgeon.

He is a very experienced and caring doctor. I have had two surgeries performed by him in the past year. Each time he explains everything thoroughly. If there's something I nbeed to know, he will answer the question.