surgeon - what would you do?

[bednobs]

Hiya, following giving birth 3 weeks ago, i got in touch with my orthopaedic surgeon to let him know i was now in a position to have the knee replacement that was scheduled to be done before i was pregnant. Because i am now on mat leave, i asked if he could do it quickly because i am off (it's actually been postponed from before i was pregnant in feb 2010, and in the meantime i had to have a hip replacement so it's well overdue and very deformed now (valgus deformity for anyone that cares))
Anyway, i recieved a letter this morning saying it had been scheduled for 24/june (Two weeks away!!) However, it is to be done by a surgeon i don't know. I really trust the surgeon who did my other knee. Not that i won't necessarily trust this one.
Anyway my question is should i wait till i can have the surgeon i trust, or just get it over and done with? Also, how do you find out about surgeons and what other people think of them - i put the name in google but couldn't find him

[Sqad]

philtaz..........post operative recovery, relief of pain, the ability of the patient to walk after the operation, the incidence of revision all depends upon the competence or otherwise of the surgeon...................and THIS varies.

[Sqad]

phitaz....your link was to a Private Healthcare organisation where one is operated on by the consultant, in the NHS a Consultant might not do the operation. Not only do results vary with the surgeon but also with the unit.

[Philtaz]

The incidence of revision in the UK is the lowest in Europe, that is a fact. Every operation has a risk factor to it. The factors you have introduced are the same for every surgeon performing a TKR. If you weigh up the possible complications of every operation, nobody would have surgery!
Whoever bednobs has to perform the operation the statistics show that there is a 90 percent chance it will be successful.
I don't know which hospital bednobs is going to, but TKR where I work is performed by consultants only.

http://www.alasdairsa...nee%20Replacement.htm


I'd take those odds, as do the general public on a daily basis.

[Sqad]

<<<Whoever bednobs has to perform the operation the statistics show that there is a 90 percent chance it will be successful.>>>

That 90% is an" average" for the UK..my figures an need checking but around 70,000 knee replacements are done and i agree with your figures of 10% need redoing after 2 years and that would mean 7,000 operations are redone each year. Let us look at those 7,000 and there are a variety of reasons for this, but amongst them would be surgeons who are not particularly good at them and surgeons who. for whatever reason, get poor results (as in any sphere of life).

Now bednobs had a surgeon that she knew and trusted and suddenly he was replaced by an unknown quantity, probably as capable as her original surgeon, but not known to bednobs..........and that was the point of her question and that was the point of my answer.

I agree with all you say, but in surgery probably more than any other profession it is important to have confidence in your surgeon and for this to be taken away is unsettling for the patient.

[Philtaz]

In that case, bednobs needs to clarify that she can have the same surgeon as this was not made clear in her post. What if the surgeon who did her other TKR is no longer available? He may have retired or moved elsewhere, so what then? She'll still have to have the knee replaced either way so I don't see your point.
Her OP doesn't make clear why he can't perform the second TKR.