SECRETS SURGEONS WON'T TELL YOU

Recently I was in a doctors office and picked up an issue of Readers Digest. First think that I spotted on the cover was 50 Secrets Surgeons Won't Tell You. This was a must read for me. Not having much faith in doctors and always asking to many questions, I started to read. Needless to say, I was shocked and horrified as I read. Here is some of what I saw that I was learning for the first time . These are direct quotes from the Readers Digest, word for word.

"Surgeons are control freaks. When things don't go our way in the operating room, we can have outburst. Some of us curse, some throw instruments, other have tantrums"
*Paul Ruggieri, MD
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"I always ask at national conferences of doctors, "How many of you know of another doctor who should not be practicing medicine because he is too dangerous?' Every hand goes up."
*Marty Makary, MD
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61% of doctors over the age of 55 have been sued at least once.
*Source: American Medical Association
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15% of Surgeons may suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence
*Source: Archives of Surgery
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"Rules that restrict residents hours mean doctors come out of training with a lot less experience.  When I was training, I was almost always in the hospital. Now it's more like shift work."Hey, it's 7 p.m. I'm out of here. He's your problem now.'"
*Sid Schwab, MD
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"About 25% of operations are unnecessary, but administrators e-mail doctors telling them to do more.  This is not an insurance company putting pressure on doctors; this is not a government regulation. This is private hospitals pushing doctors to generate more money by doing more procedures.  It goes on at America's top hospitals.  The Cleveland Clinic has said this system of paying doctors is so ethically immoral that it started paying its doctors a flat salary no matter how many operations they do."
*Marty Makary, MD
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"If you need a medical device, ask if your doctor has a financial relationship with the vendor--if so, chances are your're going to get that type of joint or screw, even if it's more expensive or not the most appropriate"
*James Rickert, MD
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40% of surgeons have said they felt burned-out.
*Source: Annals of Surgery
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$265,000
The mean average income of a U.S. Surgeon in 2011
*Source: Medscape Surgeon Compensation Report
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"Fatigue and impatience have undoubtedly contributed to some mistakes I've made in the operating room.  But unless you ask, your surgeon is not going to tell you that he was up all night on call before your procedure and that he may not be in tip-top form."
*Paul Ruggieri, MD
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Want to read more? This is all from the October 2012 issue of Readers Digest.  Most important information I picked up from all this was this. Ask questions. How, why, when, what, you should walk away nothing everything. Doctors don't like questions? To bad. If I am to have surgery, I will know everything that will happen and what I am to expect right down to the smallest detail. ASK ASK ASK. Get a second opinion. Don't have surgery till you know you really need it. Educate yourself. Doctors are not God, they make mistakes. Do everything you can to help avoid one.