Orthopedic Surgeon Casey Whale, M.D., Joins Stormont Vail Health
Stormont Vail Health announced that Casey Whale, M.D., has their medical team and will practice as an orthopedic surgeon, located at Cotton O’Neil Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, 2660 SW 3rd St., Topeka, Kan.
Dr. Whale is an adult reconstructive orthopedic surgeon who specializes in complex primary total knee and total hip cases. He has trained to treat complex joint revisions to the knee and hip whether the circumstance be an abnormality, infection, injury, revision, or replacement when a total knee or hip has been in place for too long.
Dr. Whale credits his drive to become an orthopedic surgeon to the way he grew up in Vernal, Utah, which has a population of about 10,000 people today. When he was 16, he wanted a car, but knew he would have to find a way to get the money on his own to buy one. Once he saved enough money and bought a car, he said it was always breaking down.
“I quickly found that I had an aptitude for repairing vehicles and soon thereafter, I started working a job in an auto body shop,” said Dr. Whale. “I started out at the bottom, changing oil. I eventually worked my way up to where there wasn’t really anything I wasn’t doing.”
Dr. Whale continued to work, and later manage, at the auto shop before owning his own business, Dilla LLC, where he would buy totaled vehicles from insurance companies, restore and sell them. He believes, while there are many differences, there is also a correlation between auto mechanics and orthopedics.
“Taking something that’s broken and not properly functioning and making it function appropriately... I think that my past in auto mechanics had a lot to do with my choice in becoming an orthopedic surgeon.”
Dr. Whale’s approach to medicine is making sure he can help people achieve what they want out of life, whether that be through surgery or another treatment plan. He depends on trust, to achieve a successful doctor-patient relationship that gets someone back to their normal self.
“You don’t walk into an office and see your doctor and you’re done. It’s a long-term relationship once you’ve had surgery. To see how patients go from where they were before surgery and then each visit after they continue to progress and get so much better, that’s by far the most gratifying thing I do.”
Casey Whale, M.D. joins Stormont Vail after finishing his residency at Wright State University, where he completed more than 700 cases as an Orthopedic Surgery Resident. Dr. Whale earned his medical degree at the University of Utah after attending Weber State University for his Bachelor’s Degree in clinical laboratory sciences and a minor in chemistry.
Dr. Whale has been a research assistant at the University of Utah since he started attending school there and has been a part of many projects that were submitted for presentation or publication. He was inducted into the Alpha-Omega-Alpha Medical Honors Society in 2015 as part of the top 5%. He is also a dedicated volunteer, spending time at free medical clinics for uninsured or underserved patients.
