[notanewbeeok]

I’ve worked with surgeons. Like any profession there are very few that are exceptionally good. Quite a number that are mediocre and too many that are incompetent. And they don’t cry like in the movies when they lose a patient. It’s “what’s for lunch?” And guess what Chuck (for you) if they screw up , most of them refuse to take responsiblity for it and try to blame it on something else, often the patient. Surgeons practice the go ol boy, “don’t rat on your colleagues” same as the average cop.
I know from attending xray conferences where they laugh off obvious incompetence.

Re my so called “negativity” I will add more. I find this forum in total to be largely a source of ignorance with a lot of people in the dark trying to find answers. Unfortunately most of these hernia surgeons are too busy raking in cash to care about quality service and the patient and professionalism. Sad the state of medicine these days. Some of the old doctors still follow the hippocratic oath, but not that many.

Where are all the surgeons here contributing to the forum?
I remember this forum from 15 years ago, there were a lot more of them contributing. I remember the surgeon from PA hernia center was quite professional and a good contributer here. The forum has deteriorated since then, quite obvious.

Re Mark’s post in reply to me. I agree the results are most important and the data supports your contention that the results between sugery centers and hospitals are quite similar. Except in hospitals they often run diagnostic blood tests to access the overall health of patients.
Also saying that centers often refer patients to hospitals because they want to protect the patient
at risk shows ignorance. They do this to AVOID BEING SUED and to improve their statistics. Had the surgeon and his center bothered to run those tests there would be one more ALIVE patient that he killed from his negligence-a surgeon often mentioned here and recommended.

I now have a pretty good idea of what research shows about the differences between hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. But I do not yet have a handle oh what percentage of hernia centers demand money up front, often thousands of dollars up from. I am guessing MOST of them do.

Mark and others who don’t like my negatvity, nobody is forcing you to read my posts.

[notanewbeeok]

“conspiracy”, those are YOUR words not mine (don’t put words in my mouth).

What I did say is that it borders on unprofessionalism to leave a practice and patients and prospective patients in the dark. Professionals don’t do things like that.

And last I heard your promise was to let us know in October, not November.

Concerning advertising and marketing by surgeons. I have come to realize hernia surgeons are a ‘time a dozen’. Everywhere you look you see hernia centers advertising. I much prefer to trust a doctor who has an established good reputation, speaks English fluently, has high professional standards as well as being a good surgeon. The old standard from about 50-70 years ago was it is unprofessional to advertise. In fact I believe either take AMA or other authorities imposed sanctions against it. Competition among “hernia repair” surgeons is steep. So to prosper (and the clinic they are affiliated with) they must advertise.

[notanewbeeok]

Are you the same guy who posted a while back about how he could not get Dr. Kang’s “English interpreter” to respond to his emails?

I don’t have to search it but I recall the post was quite negative about Dr. Kang and his “english interpreter” could not be bothered to communicate with a patient.

Most doctors are intelligent and well read and many speak foreign languages. In fact most specialists I know of do.
English is the most widely used language in the world. If Kang doesn’t know English well enough to talk to patients, he should enroll in a language course, not expect people that come from abroad to speak Korean or to communicate with a non-medical “interpreter”.

His website reads like a giant marketing effort similar to what you might see from places like Ali Babba. Not my cup of tea for sure. In fact doctors who advertised with prices used to be looked down upon by most doctors as being unprofessional.

[notanewbeeok]

Well, I am hesitant to post this because I am not here to destroy this forum or anyone’s reputation.

Having said that, in the short time I have been here, I am not impressed with the surgeons mentioned here. In fact I just read a court complaint of one of the surgeons often mentioned here of a man he killed through sure negligence and neglect. Also he has about 10 cases listed in the courts. Reading the complaint, I was flabbergasted by how negligent this guy was. And he is one of the so-called “hernia specialists” that all he does is hernias. Ha. This is a surgeon I was contemplating contacting, in fact I did email him and got no response. If I had not researched him I might have come under his knife.

I don’t know if this is any help to you or not but the U. of Iowa’s website mentioned rebuilding the abdominal wall of select patients that have weak tissue through the use of grafts. You might want to contact them. I believe they are in Iowa City, IA.

Sad to read your story. Let this be a warning to guys who complain that I am looking for the perfect surgeon. I am not. I am looking for someone who is professional with ethics and a committment to the welfare of his patience and who is competent.

[notanewbeeok]

Maybe you need a remedial course in reading comprehension. I never said I’d choose a surgeon based on his political views about the poison injections that morons are trying to sell as a “vaccine”. I said I won’t go to Canada for the reason that the latest I have read on Canada states they require poison injections to enter the Country. That of course comes courtesy of the idiot communist they have running the Country, TURDoh. Another poster said this has changed but offered no url or other reference so far to verify that.

All of that is irrelevant (if you actually read my post) for my reasons for choosing a surgeon. This is not patty cake we are playing you are betting your life that the guy cutting you open knows what he is doing. As testimony to that are the hundreds of posts I’ve read off this site from people saying they wish they never had the surgery due to chronic pain and a surgeon who tries to blame it on the patient or just ignores their complaints. Chronic pain, recurrence, problems with mesh, etc etc. The list is quite long for so-called “routine surgery”. Surgeons in case you don’t know this, most of them LIKE TO CUT. That’s what they get paid handsomely for. A surgeon that advises you not to get surgery deserves a ton of respect.

I’ve worked with surgeons , have you? I will wind up just fine. You on the other hand may choose a surgeon based on someones recommendation here without doing any research. Good luck with that.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  notanewbeeok.

[notanewbeeok]

You mentioned “discomfort”. Was that from the tiny hernia or the previous repair site?

If you’re not having any pain from the tiny one, there is no reason for surgery. Eventually it will probably get worse depending on your age and activities. I’ve gone for over 15 years with a large inguinal hernia that is easily reduced and rarely causes pain. I would not have it fixed except that I developed another on the other side that is painful, so I will have both fixed at the same time.

I think it was JAMA that did a comprehensive study on this issue and advised watchful waiting if no symptoms.

[notanewbeeok]

Hi Watchful.
Do you have a link for your assertion that Canada does not require poison injection for entrance? Last I read even Canadian CItizens could not even travel on airlines or leave the Country w/out “vaccination”.

Did you see the recent video by Dr. Towfigh and Sbayi posted on this board and commented extensively here? Sounded great until I started researching them. I wonder how many patients and prospective patients are waiting for a response from either of them?

BTW, I visited Kang’s website. Apparently he does not speak English well enough to communicate with his English only patients or prospective patients? All communications have to go through his “Chaplain” who is listed as the “English interpreter”. Judging from his patient’s post here who could not get him or his Chaplain to reply, it’s difficult tor reach and ask questions of Dr. Kang.

I have just finished research on the issue of cognitive decline and found a consortium study with specific recommendations on how to avoid cognitive decline. My conclusion from all the research is that it is a common complication but one that is not fully addressed by anesthesiologists. It is less likely with local anesthesia, but there are problems with the “sedative” drugs they are using as well. I will give a copy of the study to the attending anesthesiologist for my surgery.

[notanewbeeok]

Thanks to Mark especially for the link to Kang’s website.

Sure, there could be many good reasons for sbayi to have left Stony Brook, if that is what happened. But there is no good reason not to notify this board of which he has been an active participant and to not even have his secretary respond except with an “on vacation” auto reply. Similarly if a surgeon like Towfigh says she is going to notify us of his whereabouts and does not, there is no good reason for that either. It’s irresponsible, not something you look for in a surgeon whose life you are entrusting to their hands.

Also I notice you did not address the post here that claims you have to be injected with an experimental gene altering “vaccine” (it’s not a vaccine) in order to enter Canada. No way in hell I would do that and imo, it’s crazy to do that.

Re: Shouldice There is at least one report online of chronic pain due to stainless steel sutures being a problem and a personal experience reported that WAS a serious problem by a poster, I believe it was recently on this board. About the training at shouldice. A trainee with a certain amount of surgeries under his belt does not equal years of surgery by a surgeon actively engaged in hernia surgery through the years.

Re: Lawsuits Surgeons are keenly aware of the possibility of lawsuits. Not only can this be of benefit to a wronged patient, but it is also a caution to any surgeon to be certain of what he/she is doing and doing it correctly. Without lawsuits I would wager there would be a lot more mistakes and carelessness.
I am not going into surgery to sue anyone and I fervently hope the outcome is
good so we can all go home as happy campers. But the REAL risk is for the patient, not the surgeon.

When I decide on a guy to cut me open under anesthesia for a procedure that has MANY complaints from patients online, I check their training, if they have had lawsuits or settlements against them and how many. I will even go so far as to read the transcripts of their testimony at similar lawsuits in court. You did not mention where in the USA Sbayi did his further training or the length and other details of that, so I remain in the dark about that. May I know the source of that information? I do know that his surgery specialty was previously not listed as hernia surgery but other kinds of surgery, so it would be good to know this.

I think your main point is valid that a hernia center may have more experienced surgeons, but even that is not certain. I recently found a list of hernia centers in the USA with their prices online and I will be contacting them for further information.

[notanewbeeok]

This is my second attempt to reply to you Mark, the first being blocked by that infamous net censor cloudflare run by admins who don’t know what they are doing. They cannot tell the difference between users and bots. They’re bot phobic and incompetent.

Ok I forgot type this on notepad so I will have to repeat type it here.

What you’re saying is correct a surgeon who does thousands of repairs will eventually make mistakes and that might be a reason to avoid hernia center mills. Also in the 15 years I have been studying these issues I find many complaints of surgeons who made mistakes or had complications who would not take responsibility for those, including chronic pain which they try to excuse as “psychological”.

Yeah experience helps but you have to be a good surgeon first like Desarda for example.

Re: Sbayi and Towfigh. What can you say about 2 surgeons who come on this board essentially soliciting patients and then one drops out of sight without a word leaving patients and prospective patients in limbo. Even Sbayi’s secretary doesn’t answer her emails. Towfigh publically stated here she would let us know his whereabouts and has not. Not the most professional duo imnsho.

Also I am not enamoured about having a surgeon who went to medical school in the Dominican Republic as did Sbayi. In the past he has not even been listed as a hernia repair surgeon but other types of surgery. The departure of Sbayi hints of being fired or quiting.

If you have a contact method that Kang answers, please let me know. There is a post here about one of his patients that had a great deal of difficulty communicating with him post-op and with his chaplain
contact.

The reason I won’t got to Canada is obvious-the Gov’t and Turdoh (sic). Also if a surgeon screws up in Canada it is hard to sue him there. Also there are reports here, not sure if they are correct or not that they are using trainees at Shouldice and if memory service stainless steel sutures?

Thanks for your reply. Honestly I am not impressed with the surgeons mentioned on this platform so far. But I’m still trying to keep and open mind and looking. And I agree with Chuck there are way too many complications from Hernia surgery and it is not routine.

[notanewbeeok]

Chuck the bulk of the review research on this is on the side of cognitive decline. There are a few studies that say it does not happen but most say it does. Elderly are particularly at risk especially from gen. anesthesia. But my original question remains unanswered.

To Watchful, you are not alone, without giving personal identifiable info on the internet I can tell you that yes, it does in some cases accelerate dementia. There were many studies showing cog decline in the elderly especially in the first month post op but who knows what the long term effects are.

The “sedation” with local anesthesia seems to be varied from sleep to mostly awake. As I said previously I remember the Desarda video of an 80+ patient being asked to cough to test the integrity of the repair.

[notanewbeeok]

Thank you Mark for your reply and I agree. Problem is I have researched all USA surgeons mentioned here and ALL had credible serious complaints by supposed patients at healthgrades. Gross mistakes. I think the one that had the least number of complaints if you ignore complaints about her being money hungry was Dr. Towfigh. Just the fact that she is in Beverly Hills suggests that MONEY is her main motivation? What is the motivation of a surgeon who restricts himself to hernia repairs? At a center that he has a financial interest in? Many of them ask for money up front as well. Some of these guys won’t even accept insurance. I agree that practice makes perfect, you’re right about that. So why do these guys all have serious credible sounding complaints against them? Jealous competitors? Aggrieved ex employees? Hard to say really, but why would a surgeon do only hernia repairs? That in itself is kind of suspicious, don’t you think? Must get boring after a while? I would go to Shouldice but I won’t go to Canada.

[notanewbeeok]

“jump up at my beck and call”? what a crock.
Well then MAYBE they should not put up webpages soliciting new patients. Kinda like a used car salesman. But used car salesmen are a lot more responsive than these “too busy to be bothered” ‘physicians/surgeons’.
Little to no regard for prospective patients and a GOOD indication what they will do if you have complications. No thanks, I’ll look elsewhere to professionals who know how to be professional.

[notanewbeeok]

Interesting, thanks for that input. The problem I have experienced with these specialy centers is they act like they could care less if you go to them or not. I guess there must a ton more hernia repair patients waiting to be served. I think they have unprofessional low wage workers attending their webpages.

[notanewbeeok]

Thanks much for the heads-up warning about teaching hospitals and “trainees” Duely noted.

[notanewbeeok]

In studying this issue ovver the last 15 years and having worked with surgeons I have concluded that most surgeons are egotisical ignoramuses who think they know a lot more than they do. They frequently will NOT take responsbility for their mistakes. I have in just a month or so of searching found two patients who have DIED as a result of surg. center surgeons negligence and lack of care. These hernia centers are assembly line profit making clinics, most of them. I am beginning to think much better, even if more expensive to go to a hospital with a good reputation for abdominal surgery. And, of course, finding a surgeon who has not been sued multiple times and actually cares about patients. This is not as easy as some would think. You might start thinking of these surgery centers like MIDAS Muffler shops, except that even muffler shops don’t ask for all the money up front. Kinda shows how much confidence even THEY have in doing a good job.

[notanewbeeok]

agree with Wm Bryant. They put up websites inviting emails and then they don’t have the staff and time to reply. Many of these websites are spammed all over the net under different names for the same website. It is quite clear that their intention is to solicit as much biz as possible, but they can’t do the followup.

[notanewbeeok]

Amazing the number of people on this forum that need a remedial course in reading comprehension. What part of polite letter were you unable to fanthom? The truth is these hernia centers care more about getting your $$ then they do anything else. I just finished a review of the differences between ambulatory surgical centers and hospital repairs. Very illuminating, but I still need to find out if ALL the “hernia centers” demand their money up front (just like a street prostitute). Doctors and facilities who emphasize the hippocratic oath as it was intended accept Medicare. They don’t treat you like your buying drugs on the street.

[notanewbeeok]

Pinto:

Bull. English is the world dominant language. And China recognizes that. You don’t find USA people recruiting for chinese teachers. I think you’re the ignorant one.

IF Kang as you CLAIM (doubtful) speaks good English, why is he places “translators” (his word) between him and his prospective English speaking patients?

[notanewbeeok]

It’s a little different for a surgeon practicing in India.
Different currency, different costs, different way of doing things, so that is a valid reason to publish pricing information. I have no quarrel with stating prices, in fact, they should be ITEMIZED, not just ballpark or range. What I don’t like is the ali baba, coupon, discount 2_4one and other bs marketing techniques.

[notanewbeeok]

yeah you just NOW Oct 7 posted it. Last time I was online it was not here.

If you’re having trouble locating the video chatmates Towfigh
and Sbayi, maybe try here?

12 pm#32676

drtowfigh
Keymaster
HerniaTalk LIVE is a weekly Q&A hosted by Dr Shirin Towfigh, hernia surgeon expert at the Beverly Hills Hernia Center, with invited special Guests to answer your hernia-related questions.

Topic: Incisional Hernias: What, Why, How & When

Join us this Tuesday 10/04/2022 at 4:30pm Pacific time (GMT -7) as a Facebook Live (@Dr.Towfigh). You can also register to join via Zoom here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89619162243

If you do leave a message for her, ask her again why she has not told us the secret fate of her video chatmate Sbayi.