If you are considering a procedure, please do your research and go to SEVERAL different doctors and get SEVERAL different opinions on what kind of procedure you are having done. Please remember the following when choosing a surgeon:
1. Do not choose a surgeon based on how well you "liked him". Base it on the FACTS. What is are the doctors post op infection rate, what is his complication rate, how many patient case does he complete in on day, how easy is it to get an appointment (not a general appointment, but an appointment that is urgent cause you think something may be wrong), how readily available are they to speak to after office hours and on weekend if you think something may be wrong, do they have any malpractice lawsuits against them, what are other patients saying about him, etc. These are all questions that can be answered with FACTS, not how well you like him. His personality is not gonna be the one performing your surgery, it's his skill and knowledge. You want a doctor who is the best of the best surgery wise, not a doctor who gets all the points cause he's super nice and has a great smile.
2. Get SEVERAL opinions!! No doctor does a procedure the exact same way. While some doctors will do just about anything to make sure you will get the surgery, and they get paid, there are other that are very particular on the requirements that have to be met before they will perform on you. The doctors that make you jump through more hoops to get surgery are typically the better doctors, because they make sure it's 100% safe for you to do it. If you see 4 doctors, and 3 say it's not a good idea for you to go through a procedure cause of xy&z, and you go see surgeon #4, and he without question says he will do it.. Hello RED FLAG?! Those are the types of doctors that I personally wouldn't trust, cause they are willing to risk your life over $$. By getting opinions from several doctors, this will give you an opportunity to maybe see the same procedure be done in different ways, one doctor may bring up a possible complication that another doctor didn't, and so on. Before you 100% choose a doctor, visit with several and see which one you think is a good fit for you.
3. Try not to read reviews such as these listed below!!!!!! You don't know what the situation is behind the paragraph!!! A patient could say that the doctor screwed up, and got a really bad infection, and the doctor had to open her/him back up, blaming it all on the doctor, when in reality it's because the PATIENT didn't follow directions, and didn't take her antibiotics like prescribed, didn't do her dressing changes like told, and went swimming 3 weeks after surgery in a public pool! Base what YOUR review of the doctor is on YOUR experience.
4. In order to have a successful procedure with ANY doctor, with any kind of procedure, from having a mole removed to a heart transplant, is how you handle it. You must follow the directions and recommendations of the doctor very carefully. By not following every direction, you are setting yourself up for failure.
5. ASK QUESTIONS. No question is a stupid question!
6. DO YOUR RESEARCH. But remember: just because it is on the internet, doesn't make it TRUE!!! Only rely on accredited websites, such as the CDC, American heart association etc. Anybody can write on Wikipedia!! Don't trust websites that are personal websites, or that are not backed up by sources. And remember: just because a doctor may have written the article, doesn't mean that it's 100% accurate! Doctors have different opinions of things, and the only doctor opinion that matters is the doctor who is opening you up. An example of research you should be looking for is what are different ways the surgery can be completed: if there are 5 different ways a procedure can be done, and then ask the doctor which way he will be performing the procedure, and what his reasoning for using that procedure on you. Does he always use that procedure or does he have 3 he chooses from and he then will pick from those which one will be best for you giving your medical history. Remember that surgery shouldn't be one size fits all! If a doctor only does it ONE way, it may not be the way it should be done on you!!! By having some basic background research of the topic, you can then have a basic idea of what he is talking about.
7. Even if your reading this because you just went to the ER with abdominal pain, and come to find out you need surgery, like tomorrow morning cause your gallbladder needs taken out, and you meet your doctor, and things done click... ASK IF THERE IS ANOTHER DOCTOR THAT CAN DO IT! As a patient you have a right to a second, third, fourth opinion. If there is time and it's not a critical, emergent situation, still do all the above steps!!!! It may not be as through as you would be if it was a planned procedure, but a little is better than nothing.
I am not a doctor, but I am a nurse, a surgical nurse. I work in a busy hospital, where I work on a busy surgical floor. Too many times I see the same things happen to patients, because they didn't do any of the above things, and have witness so many things go wrong. Things go wrong for so any different reason, but mainly because the patient didn't do one or more of the tips I've listed.
People get so narrow minded when it comes to picking a doctor. I just happened to scroll onto this website and starting looking up doctors I have worked with in the past and reading reviews of what people are saying about them. I can tell you that I wouldn't agree with 90% of what anyone has written about any of the doctors I have looked up, both positive reviews and negative.
Don't rush into making such an important decision, obviously there are critical situations where you don't even get to choose your doctor, but those things can't be changed. Your outcome of your p