Another thought on surgeon referrals through medical pros
Another thought on surgeon referrals through medical pros
Computec said:
A good though perhaps unorthodox way of finding a surgeon is to ask people in the same or a related field who THEY would have perform the same type of surgery on them if they required it. In the case of heart surgery these would be cardiologists and neurologists. Some of these people might be prejudiced for a number of reasons but by winnowing the names you are told you can ultimately get to the best. Someone gets named more than others.
Just a thought.
Jerry
For my second valve replacement, which OF COURSE! requires a much more experienced surgeon, I didn't want my HMO telling me who to go to, so we fought for about 5 weeks, which was dangerously close to the period of time I was given to have the surgery.
I paid a local, reknowned surgeon in the area to look over the list of surgeons in the group my HMO would
allow me to use, (DON'T get me started on that!!) in hopes he could recommend one of them for my rereplacement.
He commented that the surgeon my cardiologist
was insisting I HAD TO USE was not qualified to perform a second valve replacement.
He based his opinion on the fact that he had trained this doctor and knew his (severe) limitations. I appreciated his candor.
He pointed out a few others on the HMO list that he said were "good," but at that point my family was considering paying out of pocket, which would have wiped us out financially, to go the this very qualified, well known doctor outside my HMO.
Before making the decision to wreck my family's finances, I decided to meet first with some of the other surgeons, and on the way out the door, I asked the nurse if she had any thoughts on which surgeon might best. She said, "oh, most definitely Dr. M! You can't go wrong there."
Later that day, I received a phone call from the Reknowned Surgeon himself. He was calling to override the nurses' suggestion that I meet with Dr. M. He said, "I'd much rather see you go with Dr. T; he's more senior."
So, I went to meet with Dr. T the next day, and I was horrified. The man, who was close to retirement age, seemed tired and out of shape, and he kept dropping his pencil as we spoke. He had just returned from a long golf weekend, and he didn't want to schedule my surgery for the next day, although he could have. (I figured he needed another day to, shall we say, "decompress" from all that golf...)
I was very upset, needless to say. I was feeling so bad at this point... dizzy, chest pain, out of breath, I'd actually had a small stroke earlier that week (doctors told me I was imagining it) when part of the valve broke off, but thank heaven no lasting effects... Since I have blonde hair, the doctors were all treating me like I was exaggerating my symptoms, and I was met with extreme rudeness when I rejected surgery with Dr. T and asked to meet with Dr. M, the nurse's referral.
Turns out the reason Dr. M wasn't recommended by the "reknowned" surgeon who I had paid for guidance is that fact that they had been at the same teaching hospital for years before Dr. M had taken an offer to become head of cardiothoracic surgery at another heart center. So, I was almost the victim of professional rivalry.
I got a great feeling from Dr. M, and scheduled my surgery. Leaving that appointment, I decided to go pick up some beads for a post surgery craft project. (I finally felt that my odds of making it through were good enough to invest in some new beads; before that, I wasn't at all convinced!!) At the bead store, my significant other told the owner I was getting ready for heart surgery. She said, "oh.. my husband just made it through with flying colors! Dr. M (the surgeon I had chosen) was just great!"
She went on tell me that they had to reject an older surgeon that their cardiologist was pushing them to use.... guess who?
I think it's good to get medical professionals' thoughts on surgeons, but, unless you're very much on the inside, these opinions can be skewed, so take them with a grain of salt, and ask a lot of people on the street, strangers and friends alike, if they or any of their friends or family have had experience with the surgeon you're considering.
I tell everyone I got my referral to Dr. M. at a bead store.
