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  • 2 days ago
50 year experienced orthopedic surgeon Perry L. Savage Sr. rudely asked me "where I got the money" to pay for my 2019 exam before looking at MRI images in front of me and telling me with a straight face the 6 inches diameter of head infection seen there "looked normal".

Backing up my own experience, a new review is out in May, 2026 by a patient who underwent surgery with their doctors 3 years ago. He relates a story of being discarded and refused service following informing the practice that he was now self pay.

Run down of issues with my Dr. Perry L. Savage Sr. / OrthoAlabama Spine & Sports (1801 Gadsden Hwy, Birmingham, AL - near Trussville) 9/14/2019 $300 (CASH) exam:

- Appointment at 3pm, I sat in the waiting room 2 hours until I saw him. Walked out of the place near 6pm.
-Waiting area does not offer patient customer privacy (or security). A crude half wall / Chinese screen curtain separates patients from the sign in area where 4+ patients at one time give their personal details. Customers can be heard giving personal health details (HIPAA) in the general waiting area adjacent to this section.
- I presented images of my own head (CT / MRI / X-RAY) (PRINTED OUT & ON DVD), clearly showing the issues (head trauma) which were not acknowledged by this 50 year professional, who graduated from The University Of Alabama School Of Medicine in 1968. I showed many of these images to Doctor Savage on the computer in the exam room and was told they were normal and showed no problems / injuries. I paid this man $300 for his experienced opinion.
-Savage told me & noted in my chart my images were too low of quality to make a determination on any injury being present. In new findings in 2026 (SEE VIDEO), an analysis of those same pictures not only spotted fractured bone (in the C1 atlas of my neck) but contradicted Savages claim, I was told: "THE IMAGE IS A HIGH-RESOLUTION BONE ALGORITHM SLICE, WHICH IS APPROPRIATE FOR EVALUATIING OSSEOUS (BONE) INTEGRITY". Savage also told me several inch diameter infection surrounding the injury in other MRI images were normal, containing no injury.
-Physician Assistant Ben Jeter P.A.-C. sat in during this exam. He entered the room and never introduced himself. Dr. Savage never introduced him to me as well (not professional).
-When Savage wasn't looking at my CT, X-Ray and MRI images on the exam room PC, Jeter thumbed through the images. I showed the doctor a few of the frames containing my 3 inch diameter basilar skull damage and was told no injury appeared there even as I sat struggling to hold my head up on my shoulders after waiting 2 hours to see him.
-In another video I talked about a 2023 civil court case in which Doctor Julian Patrick Druhan was sued (after a patient died) along with Birmingham Radiological Group (3 of their MD's previously failed to note injuries in CT, X-Ray & MRI). OrthoAlabama may have a partnership or special working relationship with them.
Transcript
00:00For all the details on what happened to me regarding my injury, we're pushing 100 hours plus of video now.
00:07YouTube channel My Medical Nightmare.
00:09Alright, a new customer and patient review posted for OrthoAlabama Spine and Sports.
00:16Location near Trustville, Alabama, 1801 Gas and Highway, Birmingham, 35235.
00:24It relates an experience of being patient dumped when they dropped their insurance and went to self-pay status.
00:34I was a patient at this same location in 2019.
00:39This resonates with what happened to me.
00:42I'll go into my own negative experience here later on in the video.
00:47Founder Perry L. Savage Sr. retired at the end of 25.
00:52It looks like the company is now being run by junior Dr. Loren Savage.
00:57In the interim period, neglect, laziness, and the snatch and grab greed has been supercharged.
01:07My prediction is it won't be very much longer before regulatory authorities step in.
01:14So to the review, this is from May 2026.
01:20They write, I am beyond disgusted with the lack of professionalism and blatant greed at this facility.
01:28I previously had a full knee replacement here with Dr. Peavy in 2023 when I had insurance and had a
01:38good experience.
01:39However, now that I am self-paying in 2026, they treat me like a second-class citizen.
01:46After being in a recent accident and injuring both knees, I tried for over a week and one-half to
01:54get an appointment.
01:56They ignored my messages and never called back.
01:59I only reached someone because I spent days calling them incessantly.
02:04When I finally reached billing, they quoted me specific prices, $102 for the visit, $57 for x-rays, and $464
02:14for an MRI.
02:16I was fully prepared to pay these costs.
02:19Today, everything changed.
02:22I called to finalize the appointment with a check from my attorney to cover the costs.
02:27And the receptionist was incredibly rude.
02:30She flat-out lied and said the prices I was quoted were wrong, claiming it cost $300 just to walk
02:39in the door before even touching an x-ray or MRI.
02:43To make matters worse, they reneged on their previous agreement to accept a check from my lawyer.
02:49It is clear this office is only interested in price-gouging insurance companies.
02:55Because I'm a self-paid patient and they cannot milk an insurance provider for thousands, they give me the runaround
03:03and provide false information.
03:05They claim to record calls.
03:07If they actually honored those recordings, they would see exactly what I was promised.
03:13This goes to show they do not care about their patients, just money.
03:17To refuse a returning surgical patient who is injured and ready to pay just because they don't have insurance is
03:25unethical and greedy.
03:27If you do have to talk to them, save yourself the headache and go somewhere that actually values human beings
03:33over a bottom line.
03:35My advice is that this individual should immediately take their hard-earned money and seek a better physician.
03:44Yeah, once they find out you're self-paid, you're red-flagged, and even if you come up with the money,
03:52like in my case, you will not get a proper medical service.
03:58And that's how they operate.
03:59In fact, they apparently looked down on self-paid patients.
04:04Savage Sr. had the gall to ask me where I got the $300 to pay for my visit.
04:14This 50-year orthopedic surgeon decided he was not going to do his job that day.
04:21All right, so my issues with Dr. Perry L. Savage Sr. in Ortho, Alabama Spine and Sports.
04:29September 14, 2019, $300 cash visit.
04:36Appointment at 3 p.m.
04:38I sat in the waiting room two hours until I saw him.
04:42Walked out of the place near 6 p.m.
04:45Their waiting area does not offer patient-customer privacy or security.
04:52A crude half-wall Chinese screen curtain separates patients from the sign-in area, where four or more patients at
05:02one time give their personal details.
05:04Customers can be heard giving personal health information, which is a concern of HIPAA.
05:11In the general waiting area adjacent to this, in the visit with Savage, I presented images of my own head
05:20and neck,
05:21clearly showing the issues, which included several-inch diameter head trauma.
05:27Curiously not acknowledged by this 50-year surgeon and professional who graduated from the University of Alabama School of Medicine
05:36in 1968,
05:38probably has seen almost every type of injury that is humanly possible.
05:45So one thing Savage told me was that the medical imagery that I showed him to assess my injury was
05:53not good enough.
05:55He wrote this in my chart.
05:57You can see it here.
05:58He says I just showed him a few slides of CT copied on paper.
06:03This is not accurate.
06:05I had a DVD-ROM disc that Dr. Savage put into his computer in the examination room.
06:12We both looked through imagery.
06:16I pointed to the same area in these pictures where anomalies have been noted.
06:22And again, he told me with a straight face that those were not injuries.
06:27My pictures looked normal.
06:29And I'll show some new findings as of April 2026.
06:35Interestingly, the same CT scans that I shared with him that he said weren't good enough have been newly assessed
06:43to be a high-resolution bone algorithm slice appropriate for evaluating osseous bone integrity.
06:52I had a chance to put this imagery in front of some new experts and compare this new information to
07:01the few lines of text Savage wrote in my chart.
07:07All right.
07:07So the area we're looking at, an axial view of the craniovertebral junction, specifically focusing on the base of the
07:16skull and the first cervical vertebrae, C1, the atlas.
07:19Primary findings.
07:21Within the highlighted red region, patient's left side image right, there's a significant disruption in the cortical continuity of the
07:30C1 lateral mass and posterior arch.
07:34This appearance may suggest a common unit fracture where the bone breaks into several fragments.
07:42The bone in this area appears irregular and displaced when compared to the contralateral side that's the patient's right.
07:51These findings could reflect an acute traumatic injury to the atlas, such as a Jefferson-type burst fracture or a
08:01complex lateral mass fracture.
08:03In continuing examination details comparison, when comparing the highlighted region to the opposite side of the image, the normal ring
08:13-like structure of the C1 vertebrae is lost.
08:16The contralateral patient's right side shows a more continuous and expected cortical outline.
08:24Anatomical deviation.
08:25The fragments in the red box appear to be shifted, which could indicate instability at the craniovertebral junction.
08:34The findings are highly consistent with an acute fracture of the C1 vertebrae, atlas, on the patient's left side.
08:43Because injuries to the upper cervical spine carry a high risk of instability and potential neurological complications,
08:53this requires immediate evaluation by a neurosurgeon or orthopedic spine specialist and usually necessitates stabilization, such as a cervical collar,
09:07until fully cleared.
09:08I mentioned in the other video where, after challenging the Birmingham Radiological Group, Ascension, and UAB doctors,
09:17I was retaliated against in the future healthcare providers that I went to.
09:24When they looked into my case, some protest was made from one of the earlier providers,
09:31and all of a sudden I found doors were being closed to me in my quest for diagnosis and treatment
09:39of this injury,
09:40which I was repeatedly told did not exist.
09:44Two, Ortho Alabama and Dr. Perry Savage,
09:48they apparently had a working relationship or partnership with the Birmingham Radiological Group doctors,
09:57UAB St. Vincent's and Ascension.
09:58In the chart note where Savage claims he cannot explain my pain,
10:04but refers me on to their partners, University of Alabama at Birmingham, UAB.
10:09I did another video where Ortho Alabama and their Dr. Malampati were the subject of a civil lawsuit
10:19in which Birmingham Radiological Group, Dr. Julian Patrick Druhan,
10:25was blamed for contributing to a patient's death days before that individual had some medical imagery done
10:35and was accused of not spotting deep vein thrombosis,
10:41which may have been a causative factor in that patient's death.
10:44Physician Assistant Ben Jeter, PAC, sat in during this exam.
10:50He entered the room and never introduced himself.
10:53Dr. Savage also never introduced him to me as well, and this is not professional.
11:01When Savage was not looking at my CT x-ray and MRI images,
11:05Jeter thumbed through my files.
11:08Mr. Jeter silently observed,
11:12When I left, this man told me someone in their office would call me about a UAB neurosurgery referral
11:21in a few days' time.
11:23Why was I referred to a neurologist if the doctor claimed I had no injury?
11:29This phone call never took place.
11:32After one week, I had to call OrthoAlabama myself and found the appointment had indeed been made.
11:41Again, I was not informed.
11:43And what's more, I was put on a three-month waiting list for the referral to UAB.
11:49Dr. Mina Lubos, I was called by UAB and told I would have to wait an additional month
11:57because they were moving to Gardendale.
12:00At this point, I told UAB to forget it, and I canceled.
12:04I tried to contact OrthoAlabama and Dr. Savage later.
12:09When I found out the true extent of my injuries, I told an office representative,
12:17I did not believe I received fair service for my money.
12:21I invited Dr. Savage to call me and discuss this.
12:25A telephone call was recorded.
12:26You can hear it in my videos.
12:29The OrthoAlabama receptionist played the usual out-of-office games,
12:35despite the fact I got a call from the office manager just a few minutes before.
12:40That call that I was promised then and there was not returned either.
12:44I was referred to Dr. Savage in OrthoAlabama from a previous visit at AFC American Family Care,
12:53$175 cash, located off of Parkway East near Roebuck.
13:00American Family Care would not back me up on getting this write-off of a medical exam corrected.
13:07I later learned AFC is corrupt and not a reputable practice,
13:12and anyone who takes business from them is immediately suspect.
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