I don't understand the negative comments about this Dr. He has done two surgeries on my mother and has never been anything but kind, empathetic and genuinely concerned about her quality of life. He fixed her hip when a crappy surgeon screwed it up making my mom wheelchair bound for 2 years until we found Dr Donaldson. His bedside manner has always been great and he has been very patient with my elderly mother.
His staff on the other hand needs to take some patient care classes. His PA has always been very nice but never an apology for the long waits. His staff can be rude on the phone. Every office visit we have we are kept waiting a minimum of an hour whether it is to see the PA or the Dr. and the staff could care less. When I asked if we could just come an hour later than our actual appmt I was told that no we had to check in on time or we would be pushed back. So no consideration for anyone else's time, that is true but I do trust Dr Donaldson completely. If only he would work on training his office staff to be professional and at least act like they care about people (I have heard them talking about patients behind their back so I'm sure they have done that to us too). Even a smile would help but when you go up to them to ask a question they look at you like you are just a pain in their ass. That may be true but then maybe healthcare is the wrong profession for them.

Submitted Aug. 24, 2017

I had seen this doctor 3 times in he past 3 years for knee replacement. Always, one has to wait 1 hour at least, and his staff is very rude and do not return calls for appointments thus one is forced to come over personally. He also has a 'nurse' by the name of Erin who assist him with patients. I saw her 1 month before seeing him and after the meeting I caught her making fun of me as I was leaving the office. The last visit to this doctor on June 21, 2017, of no more than 10 minutes to schedule for possible surgery, he became agitated, loud, very upset when I asked 3 basic questions that concern surgery (i.e., medications) as I had heart surgery before and my cardiologist would like to check on these. Blankly he said "I am not going to baby-sit patients neither have any other doctor advice him on medications.' He ended by stating that he won't take care of me and that I should go somewhere else. He was so rude and offensive that my husband who witnessed this situation and shoked pointed to him that he might have a point but his manner was very wrong. We left and I was totally shaken by so much rudeness. For 2 nights I could not sleep. Never did I seen such a monster doctor in my 74 years of age. He needs professional help and should go back to medical school to learn about the Hipocrates Oath. He should learn about being human, understanding and caring and that MONEY is not everything. God helps him. Please don't waist your time and money with such a creature!

Submitted June 26, 2017

I agree with most of the comments written here. I am glad to see I am not the only patient that finds him rude. He did 2 hip replacements on me. The first one went well. But, I never saw him once, only his P.A. The first surgery was in2011. In 2013 he did replacement surgery on my other hip. I saw his P.A. only before surgery. After surgery I did see him only. He was extremely rude & accused me of only wanting pain meds. when I told him at every office visit I was still in pain. The last visit I had with him he said my pain was really in my back & wanted me to have an MRI on my back. I was also at least 1/2 inch shorter on the last leg he operated on. This was in Oct. 2014. In Feb. 2015 I awoke one morning and could not walk. After a few days I was able to walk with a walker. I did not want to go back to him......I researched some other Orthopedic drs. and choose one in Pasadena. The new dr. discovered the cup on my hip had broke a good size piece had broken off. He believed the cup was set too far over to one side & that is most likely why it broke. Dr. Donaldson should have seen this in the x-ray he took. I had to have revision surgery in Feb. 2015. It is harder to recover from revision surgery, the dr. had to take out a lot of scar tissue & it was turning black on all of the tissue. Dr. Donaldson has a very bad bedside manner & his head is too big to go through any door. I would never go back to him even if it meant I would never walk again. Stay away! Some members of his staff are very rude too.

Submitted Feb. 19, 2016

Dr. Donaldson had to do 2 hip replacement surgeries on my disabled brother. The first hip replacement surgery the pin was not long enough and wasn't found until a second opinion A YEAR LATER by a different doctor and EXCRUCIATING pain and after being told by his office numerous times that he was fine. He then had to do surgery a second time to fix the problem and now after 6 months my brother is still not walking correctly and he always cancels our appointments to see him. We have never seen him personally since the surgery and now will go see another second opinion to see if the hip is messed up again. It is so frustrating that he does not care about his patients like a doctor should and just wants to make the money. I also found information on the internet that he was involved in collecting over 1 million dollars in kick backs from a company that has now recalled their hip replacement products because they are defective. He is shady all the way around. Shame on him. Stay away.

Submitted Aug. 6, 2015

I got to see the Dr. Donaldson one time before surgery on my knee. The rest of the time I only saw his PA, including in the hospital post op. The wait time at his office is atrocious. The minimum is 1 hour, and was once kept waiting for ovwe 3 hours when I insisted on actually seeing the Dr. He was very flippant when questioined why so long. Just laughed! He orders xrays for EVERY visit....his father-in-law is the radiologist. I spoke to several post op. patients who had knee surgery. EVERYONE suffered a wound infection after surgery, including me. I am apalled at Dr. Donaldson's lack of professionalism and his greed. By the way I am an RN and I would NEVER recomend this Dr to anyone. Please find someone else.

Submitted March 15, 2013

Dr. Donaldson fixed my jacked up hip, I had a compound fractured femur, broken hip,shattered hip socket. It had gotten infected and after that all cleared up he put in a hip replacement. He did a excellent job,I am lucky to still have a leg and be able to walk.

Submitted Oct. 2, 2012

Dr. Donaldson was so helpful at the visit before my surgery, answered all my questions and took his time with me. I chose him because he was one of the highest rated surgeons on my insurance carrier's list. The surgery went very well, and I have had no problems since then. I love his PA, and the office staff is always helpful and courteous. Sometimes I have to wait for my appointments, but that's to be expected with a surgeon. The wait is never for an unreasonable period of time.

Submitted Sept. 15, 2011

Had two surgeries with Dr. Donaldson, a partial knee replacement in Sep 09 and a total hip replacement in Jul 10. Outcomes for both were outstanding. I was very pleased with each of my encounters and appointments. It's a pleasure to go in, discuss the options available, view models of the devices, discuss the pros and cons and then select the device that was best for me. I think that it helped that I did my research prior to the appointment so that I could prepare and ask the right questions. My wife took notes and we both were prepared.

Submitted March 24, 2011

The person who answered the phone kept me on hold for over 20 minutes. When I finally had my appointment I waited over 3 hours to see him, said I needed surgery. His RN was short and rude had the attitude she could care less. The surgery scheduler who must also be the office manager was rude to me and her staff. I wanted to schedule another appointment to talk to the doctor about what types of hardware he uses and she said I didn't need to that I can look it up on the internet. Then she yelled at the gal at the front desk and called her a liar in front of ALL the patients in the waiting room. Very unprofessional wouldn't recommend this doctor mostly due to his staff.

Submitted Oct. 21, 2010

He put the wrong size prothesis in my knee and then refused to tell me! He just wanted to tell me that I needed MORE pain pills, and that I had not had enough physical therapy - and then insisted that I only use his personal physical therapist. This cost us much money. After 5 months of HELL I got 4 second-opinions, all indicating that he had used the wrong size medial compartment. I had further surgery in Los Angeles with the Dorr Arthritis Group. I now have a 100% success. Stay away from this doctor!!

Submitted June 27, 2009