Reiley Mark A, MD

I would not even recommend Dr. Reiley to my worst enemy. Below is the second part of my story, which I began in my review of Dr. Reiley’s Orinda office. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to read the whole thing, but trust me – do not go to see him.
MY STORY — PART TWO
[I had just seen a new doc who said I needed to just walk on my ankle, after Dr. Reiley had me stay off it on crutches for 7+ months insisting that it would «heal on its own.”]
In my gut I knew that she was right. So I started trying to put a little weight on my foot, and I cannot even describe the pain … the closest I can come is that it felt like tiny knives stabbing me repeatedly not just in the site of the original fracture, but all over my foot, ankle, and leg. Try as I might, I could not put more than the tiniest bit of weight on the leg for the next two months. Then, slowly, with the help of physical therapists, I began to put a little more weight on it each month. I was not able to walk without the assistance of the crutches until month 14 (and even then, I couldn’t walk very far). Multiple MRI’s and X-​rays showed chronic inflammation and osteoporosis in a foot that previously had just a tiny fracture that didn’t bother me significantly or keep me from walking.
I know that this is getting really long, so I’ll try to get to the point. It has been 6 years since I first saw Dr. Reiley, and my body is nowhere close to recovered. The year-​long use of crutches have left my body completely out of balance — twisted like a pretzel, with most of my muscles either weak or overly used and sore. I used to be a strong athlete — now I am lucky if I can walk up a staircase without severe pain. The imbalances in my body have also left me very injury prone. A recent whiplash injury from a minor car accident which would probably have caused a normal person a month or two of pain has left me in unbearable neck, jaw, shoulder, and back pain. My doctors agree that my weak /​overstrained muscles (due to my long history of disuse and misuse of the muscles and ligaments in my body from Dr. Reiley’s «treatment») made my body more susceptible to damage in the accident and have made it much more difficult for me to recover from it.
As if it could get more frustrating … This past December, I finally got my body strong enough to where I was able to handle surgery on the original ankle fracture (which was still there — exactly the same as it had always been). This surgery — the one that Dr. Reiley had scoffed at – has an 85% success rate and a non-​weight-​bearing period of three weeks. That’s right, THREE WEEKS, followed by rehab/​PT. Unfortunately, the five+ years that had passed since the original injury made the success of the surgery less likely in my case. I’m still waiting to see if it will recover, but even if it does, the damage that has been done to the rest of my body appears to be permanent.
Every doctor I have seen in the past four years has been absolutely SHOCKED that Dr. Reiley had me stay off my foot for so long. They are even more shocked when they hear that he didn’t give me any assistance with physical therapy, range of motion exercises during immobilization, etc. And apparently, for my particular injury, the success rate of «staying off it and seeing if it heals on its own» is around 20%, and is not recommended. Basically, a problem that should have been resolved in a month — with me resuming normal activities — became a lifelong cycle of pain and disfunction. One of my doctors commented that my story reminded her of a story of a guy who took his brand new car in to the shop to get a small leak fixed, and while it was in the shop, another driver crashed into his car and totaled it. I honestly feel that my life has been taken from me because of the carelessness and ineptitude of Dr. Reiley.
I wish I could say that at least Dr. Reiley was a nice person who meant well, but he was not. Throughout the entire process, he was condescending, dismissive, and rude. When I asked questions about my treatment, he made it seem like my questions were stupid and that I was just worried about nothing. He also prescribed me a «bone healing» machine that I was supposed to hook up to my foot every day — without telling me that the machine cost around $ 1500, most of which was not covered by my insurance (and was non-​refundable once used). When I looked up more information about this «bone healing» machine, it sounded worthless. I can only guess that he got some sort of kickback for prescribing it.
I hope that mine is just a fluke case, and that others have had more positive experiences. Either way, I apologize to anyone who has seen him in the past 5 years for not getting this review out sooner. It took me a long, long time to work up the heart and the courage to write it. I hope it makes people think twice about seeing him — and if they do see him, to make sure to get a second opinion.