Looking for advice

[Yiannis]

thanks Tom you are right, it depends of me .. !!!

Something new I would like to ask : "What are the main indicators for a good doctor selection regarding the surgery". What are the main characteristics of the "best" surgery team ??

 

[tom in MO]

It's hard to get information and even harder to know how reliable it is.

For me, the hospital chose my doctor. I looked him up on the internet and found out that there was one positive and one negative remark. I discounted the negative, because it was an older person and the complaint was made by a family member and did not sound legitimate. I found out on the internet that he was involved in clinical trials, which to me meant that he and his team were "up to date." When I met with him, I asked him what his failure rate was and he laughed and said he didn't really know. He then told me that he did about 100+ valve operations last year and only one did not go well. The reason was the advanced age and poor condition of the patient, which did not apply to me.

 

[Guyswell]

Yiannis,

Look for a surgeon and a hospital that does a lot of these surgeries. When it comes to open heart surgery, experience matters a lot. If you can find out where the most difficult cases and the oldest and sickest patients are sent and treated successfully, that will probably be a place with the necessary experience. In this country, the Cleveland Clinic is such a place. In the U.S., hospitals will often publish reports of their clinical success rates and mortality rates on their internet sites. If you ask around, the surgeons you talk to and the cardiologists you talk to will have certain names in mind. When a surgeon's name seems to come up again and again among his or her colleagues, he or she probably has a well-desrved reputation for excellence. Good luck.

 

[Gail in Ca]

How did I chose Dr. Miller and have all my surgeries at Stanford hospital? He was recommended by 3 cardiologists as one of the best in the world. When I met him, I knew he was the Doc for me, so confident and easy going, and could explain everything. He also has so much experience doing the type of surgeries I needed. My nurses told me people come from all over the world to him, after they are told nothing can be done for them.
I had heard only great things about him, and I always have felt like I was going to survive each surgery before it happened.