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What ?s should surgeons be asking their patients?
[quote]HI Groundfaller,
I hope things are better for you. What you describe sounds very much like my experience. As soon as my condition worsened about 7 weeks post surgery I found out the truth about my quote expert hernia surgeon who supposedly performed a large number of hernia surgeries with less than 8% total side effects and complications prior to mine. Afterward when I got worse, I was told the surgeon had no idea what was wrong since he performed so few hernia sugeries. Six years post surgery I just found out he had done a whopping 2 hernia surgeries(just days before my operation) before mine in the previous 18 months. What is also shocking he is now posting online as a surgeon at a Hernia Clinic. And according to a report I received if accurate he did not perform one hernia surgery between 2011 and 2015.
When my problems started it was me that was the problem and was bounced from different specialist to different specialist but when questioned they had no real expertise in this matter unlike the moderators on this site. I finally got new insurance and paid out of pocket to go to one of the real hernia experts to be fixed. Less than a week after corrective surgery I was without the previous pain, walking normally and even spent 11/2 days spectating at an auto race, meaning I was walking the whole day.
I agree with your “First and most importantly, there needs to be more dialogue and more time spent working with the patient. For lack of a clinical term, don’t leave your patient with “lost cause syndrome.”” statement.
I firmly believe that every hernia patient should be given this website address, Dr Goodyears website address and be given a copy of the book Unaccountable before surgery unless an emergency. This would give the patient a much better understanding and true picture of what is to come.
Next there should be a complete checklist that both the Dr. and patient need to check all of the boxes on all aspects of the surgery before the informed consent.
Than the patient should be given a complete copy of all presurgical visit notes and the agreed upon surgical treatment plan to take home and review to make sure it is accurate and complete. I thought I covered all the bases with my surgeon and his staff prior to my surgery, but when reviewing my medical history post surgery I found they failed to note any of the agreed upon treatment plans and none of my history was accurate and no notes by the doctor on the location of my hernia. Here is one example]
It would be nice if statistical information about surgeons, their procedures, numbers, and their outcomes, as well as anonymous patient info were public data, so this type of situation could possibly be avoided.
It may be helpful for you to share the name(s) of the providers who ended up assisting you in correcting and recovering from your first unsuccessful surgery, if you are comfortable sharing that information.