I had the weirdest thing a while back.
A neurologist set me up to get a batch of blood drawn and an mri.

When I went to set a date for getting blood pulled, I was told that it couldn't be scheduled because the neurologist didn't write down the diagnosis.
Hell, silly me, I'd been thinking that he probably wanted bloodwork so he could make a diagnosis!?

Same thing when I went for the mri. I was asked what he had diagnosed (and just agreed with the suggestion..think she asked if he thought I had a pinched nerve)

I'll be going to see a neurosurgeon next week.
I haven't had spinal surgery, but this thread sure caught my eye.

Good luck, Don.
If you talk to the other patients in the waiting room, you may be able to get a pretty good idea of how satisfied his patients are with the operations they got. With doctors being so specialized, most of the folks sitting there are probably there for the same thing.