James W Dooner, MD – Austin Retina Associates

If you require an emergency appointment relating to your retina, this is certainly this practice to go to. Highly recommended by a good friend who experienced a detached retina and had to have emergency surgery. The surgery was a success. If you require follow-​up appointments, either schedule your appointment as the first one of the day or clear your calendar for a half-​day.
My 13 year-​old daughter suffered a blow to the eye and our ophthalmologist was able to get her an emergency appointment at this practice. My husband took her to the emergency appointment as well as a follow-​up appointment with Dr. James Dooner. She was diagnosed with retinal hemorrhaging and was treated accordingly. We were impressed with the precise diagnosis and related treatment.
Today’s appointment was a second follow-​up, a month after the initial follow-​up. We arrived 10 minutes early and within minutes were called to meet with the technician who conducted some basic eye tests and dilated my daughter’s eyes for another exam, I assumed with Dr. Dooner. We were ushered to an area with multiple dark waiting rooms. Both rooms were occupied, with mostly elderly patients. After nearly 50 minutes of waiting, I asked an employee how much longer our wait would be. She walked away to check and returned with a generic answer of «Soon.» I watched elderly people either asleep or in discomfort sitting in the waiting room, heard many patients ask how much longer they had to wait and they received the same generic answer,“Very close” or «soon». Over an hour later, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the process and decided to leave. I was clearly not pleased as I didn’t have the time to waste. By the time I reached the reception area, a male nurse came after us and then decided to put us in an exam room, all the while some of the staff was laughing at us. I wondered why were they laughing? Perhaps it was because I was disgruntled after waiting over an hour or are they used to people being disgruntled? Highly unprofessional staff and still no doctor. As my daughter and I walked out of the exam room, I observe to my left a workstation area and notice staffers still laughing, including Dr. James Dooner. I was in such complete disbelief that Dr. Dooner did not even attempt to rectify the situation — at least offer an apology for running late and making us wait — for a simple 5 – 10 minute follow-​up. I immediately lost respect for Dr. Dooner, his staff, and this practice. So, after checking out with a very sympathetic and informative front desk receptionist, I found out that a normal wait can be 1 – 2 hours and that someone should have informed me. Who has 2 hours to waste? The assumption that patients have that time to waste is disrespectful. Austin Retina Associates has clearly shown that they do not respect the patient or the patient’s time. Something is clearly wrong if they run that far behind schedule and think nothing of it, and doesn’t attempt to rectify the situation.

Class act. Superb surgeon. Scleral buckle for detached retina on a Sunday morning. He and my anesthesiologist shared the plan for managing my allergies during surgery which went smoothly. I’m retired from the OR at CCF and all went the way I would have treated any patient I cared for. They also shared information afterwards for my personal medical records in case I need another procedure. Post op went smoothly and he was encouraging at all appointments.

My eyes have needed more attention than most folks’ eyes. My most recent surgery was by Dr. Dooner, and I cannot rave enough about how positive my experience was. First — and I guess foremost — his surgical skill is top-​notch. But the respect with which he treated me, and with which the whole Austin Retina team treated me, is unsurpassed. I have said this before about Austin Retina’s Dr. Harper, and it is true of Dr. Dooner too — he doesn’t just treat my eye, he treats me. He answered all of my questions patiently, and did NOT think any of them trivial or stupid (or, let me say if he did, he didn’t let on!). And indeed the whole Austin Retina staff — reception, technicians, Dan the surgical co-​ordinator (clearly — it is a bad thing to be on a first-​name basis with your surgical co-​ordinator — but let me say this is one thoughtful, empathetic, caring man!!) — are very customer– (patient-​) oriented. It is clear than Dooner, Harper, Martinez et al. hire and train with this in mind. I am pretty sure I would be blind were it not for Austin Retina Associates. I hope you don’t need them. But if you do, be glad they’re here.

So far so good. My dad had surgery with Dr. Dooner last week and our follow up visits have been a pleasant experience considering the nature of our visits. The staff and technicians are great and friendly and the longest we had to wait for our appointment was half an hour once (when the waiting room was really full) but usually we wait about 10 minutes. There is a sign that says to check in with reception if you have waited for 30 minutes, by the way. Dr. Dooner is up to answering all our questions and is very cautious which makes me feel very comfortable that he is not missing anything. We even had a late night worry right after the surgery and called his office and a technician called us back within 20 minutes. There is easy parking and a large fish tank with some beautiful fish in the waiting room.