He performed a 12 hour brain aneurysm resection surgery on my husband 5:16:2014, 60 days in coma +51 days brain injury rehab @Mercy hospital. I was pissed at him for I felt he deceived us but in the long run he saved my husband life. My husband suffers from aphasia and hemiparesis in the rt side. But is a walking, talking absolutely a miracle. It took a long time to accept our new life. But we did it and I think it’s made us closer. Married 32 years.

Submitted March 18, 2023

This man did a spinal surgery for my mother in the 90s. He did the surgery and ignored the fractured part of her spine, which her next surgeon found and fixed. I would not recommend him for anything. Due to this, my mom has had many more surgeries and ended up with a spinal cord stimulator.

He also was overheard informing his staff that a patient did not need more pain meds after major surgery because "he's a smoker and deserves to suffer."

Save yourself the trouble and find a doctor who actually cares.

Submitted Oct. 26, 2022

I was lucky enough to get in to see dr. Gardner in 2009. I had a cyst on my brain stem. No one knew exactly what to do. Dr. Gardner did not attack the cyst he attacked what cause the cyst. Hands down he saved my life. He and a dr. Spiro fixed for vertebrae in the middle of my back and a broken neck I didn't know I had. Then they took care of what cause the cyst. Turns out I had a Chiari malformation caused by a football injury when I was 14 years old I was 47 when it started giving me problems. Dr. Gardner saved my life.

Submitted Aug. 4, 2021

I don’t even know where to start..
doctor Gardner what a amazing doctor and person, we travelled from Australia to see him and he’s wonderful team! My husband has craniocervical junction chordoma, he had 2 surgeries while in America and the care he received was nothing short of amazing, we would happily wait 10 hours in the rooms for a appointment everyone needs to remember he’s saving life’s not taking a nap... we will be forever grateful for this wonderful man and he’s whole team.

Submitted April 29, 2021

I only had one bad experience with him. He removed scar tissue from my spine. I lost all of my feeling from my neck to my toes. He told me that my feeling should come back within a year. Sadly, it's been 3 years and my feeling never came back.

Submitted Oct. 21, 2018

I will not be returning to Dr. Gardner's practice. I have seen him once for a total of maybe 15 minutes. I sat in the waiting room for an hour only to be taken back to the exam room to wait another hour to been seen by the resident who spent 10 minutes with me. When he left, I waited another hour until Dr. Gardner FINALLY came in. Again, he spent maybe 15 minutes with me. He was polite and answered my questions. Before I left, I was told I needed to speak to someone about scheduling some more tests, I was never pointed in the correct direction and the person that I needed to schedule with was busy with another patient. After waiting 10 more minutes, I went to the check in desk and explained the situation. I was already late for work so I needed to leave. I was very rudely told I could call and make the appointment myself but I needed to wait for the resident to bring out the referral form. Well, that took another 10 minutes! I had my tests and when a week went by without hearing from the doc I called his office, of course I could not get a human on the phone so I left a message. Conveniently, the next day, I received an email stating my test results were available on line. I read them and understood them but felt like I still wanted to talk to the doctor to find out the next step. I called and once again was not able to get someone on the phone so I left another message. Yet another week went by with no response from the doctor let alone a nurse. I called for the THIRD time and managed to get a person on the phone. I was told that the only way the doctor would discuss the results with me was in person and the next available appointment was not until August 21! I looked at the calendar and realized it was pretty much 2 months away! Obviously, it is not that big of a deal if he won't call me back and whomever I spoke to feels that it can wait two months. I'm sorry but I find the fact that I have to wait 2 months to see the doctor just to discuss my results to be absurd! Between the ridiculous wait times and the not returning my phone calls, I will NOT be returning to this practice.

Submitted June 27, 2018

Dr. Gardner saved my life removing a clival chordoma. Anyone complaining about waiting a couple hours can take a hike. Dr. Gardner is constantly attending to surgery, complications, clinic, and helping save the lives of people from all over the world who come to see him. It's completely fine to wait an hour or two to see him, knowing he is helping someone else with the same attentiveness and thorough care he gave to me and to my family. His staff (especially Belinda and Michelle) are wonderful and make you feel extremely well cared for.

Submitted Oct. 24, 2017

Dr. Gardner removed a very large tumor from my brain, I am very grateful for the time he took to review the scans prior to surgery in order to know as much about what had to be done prior to my surgery. In my opinion Dr. Garder is very good at what he does and is very professional. I would definitely recommend him .

Submitted Aug. 31, 2017

EVERY TIME I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT I HAVE TO WAIT A VERY LONG TIME JUST TO GET MY MRI RESULTS. VERY TERRIBLE AT PUNCTYALITY AND NO CONCERN OF THE PATIENTS TIME. I HAVE BEEN GOING THERE FOR YEARS AND THE SAME THING ALWAYS HAPPEN I WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT. THE STAFF IS NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL THEY LOOK LIKE THEY ALL SAT ON A TACKS OR SOMETHING TERRIBLE. NO APOLGY AT ALL UPMC NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED BECAUSE THEY DO ALL THE HIGH PAYING INSURANCE FIRST AND THE MEDICARE PATIENTS HAVE TO SIT THERE ALL DAY. HE GOOD AT WHAT HE DO BUT HIS TIME MANAGEMENT AND PUNCTUALITY SUCKS.

Submitted April 12, 2016

Dr. Gardner and his team of talented doctors removed a pituitary tumor for my brother a few months ago and he's doing fantastic now. My family feels so lucky that Dr. Gardner was able to perform the surgery through the nose and there were no complications! We have him to thank for saving my brother's life.

Submitted July 17, 2015