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Personally I wouldn’t go so heavily on reviews. I would ask the surgeon how many of the procedure ur contemplating he has done this month, this year and this decade. Ask about success rate, complication rate, mortality rate, failure rate. Ask for the same numbers for the hospital as the ancillary staff are key variables. Ask how much of the procedure he will do himself as opposed to residents or surgically specialists (not surgeons but helpers). Ask if he would be willing to schedUle u for a day he wasn’t on call the night before.
Compare the two surgeons answers and go from there. A surgeon with good numbers will be proud of them and very willing to share them with you. If you experience hesitation or pushback when you ask, I think that is a red flag
Replies to "Personally I wouldn’t go so heavily on reviews. I would ask the surgeon how many of..."
@laura1970
Great things to ask . I always ask how often do you do this, but never as specific as you were saying. Also, since I did have a laminotomy (smaller than laminectomy) with one of the people I am considering, I have a familiarity and certain fondness for him, but I don't want sentimentality to cloud my choice. Also, the first surgery, decompression without fusion only helped for four months, then the symptoms came back I was attributing that to the fact that I didn't have fusion right away. He did say in our first meeting that I might need fusion a year or so after a decompression, but actually the symptoms came back much sooner than a year. Would you say that's red flag ? He is a well recognized neurosurgeon in NYC, but on the younger side.
@laura1970
Thanks I interviewed a surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC, supposedly one of the best hospitals, but there are many good ones here. I asked him how many cases he had with complications and he said "none." I was anxious and forgot to ask how many fusions he has done this month, due to sleep deprivation. I will have to ask him on the portal I suppose.
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@laura1970
Great advice!