misperceptions

Dr. Brian Lane moved his practice a year ago from a small community hospital in Bowling Green Ohio to the University of Toledo Medical Center a university based, research hospital.  the move was part of a continuing effort to provide the best possible care for our patients.

Recently we have had many questions regarding the University being a teaching hospital and the rumor that students do part of the surgery has been circulating.  this is absoutely false.  the university trains residents.  the SENIOR residents observe and may do a small part of the surgery.  this is elective surgery and Dr. Lane and I, his PA, do the surgeries.   Senior residents and a Physician Assistant are MUCH more skilled than a scrub technician at assisting in surgery as is the case in many smaller facilities.

please call 419-383-6932  if you need any clarification.

thank you,
Amy Biedenbach, MS, PA-C

I don't know your doctor and I don't care.  I'm not knocking him personally... I don't have the slightest idea if he is good or not.  But I have to comment on something here.

Many of us are self pay and the fees we are paying are enough that we should be getting two surgeons (sometimes three) for these procedures.  If I wanted a PA or a Sr. resident doing any part of my surgery I'd go to one of the clinics in Tijuana, Mexico for surgery.

I see no reason why two fully trained, board certified surgeons should not be doing the surgery but then it comes down to personal preference and what we are willing to pay for.

Me, I wanted it all done the right way so I went to someone who only uses board certified MDs for asst surgeons.

So how exactly is a bariatric surgeon supposed to become fully trained and board certified if people like you only want the most experienced surgeons working on them?

The truth of the matter is that even your fabulous surgeon was brand new to bariatric surgery at one point. Whether he learned it as a senior surgical resident, or whether he was a practicing general surgeon who choose to learn a specialty is irrelevent. He still had to learn it which means he had to "practice" on several people under the careful watch of more experienced bariatric surgeons.

I guess as a self pay you can ask for whatever you want. But if everyone was like you, your surgeon would never have gotten any practical experience and wouldn't be a bariatric surgeon today.

Wendy

Very true.  But I am self pay (x2) and I did want the best of the best.

It's just like building up credit.  You can't get credit to build credit, you have to find someone willing to take a chance.  When it comes to WLS, surgery is my last shot of staying thin and I'm not going to willingly offer up myself as a guinia pig.

I don't want a surgeon that will probably be good someday, I want a surgeon that is good today.  If someone else is okay playing guinea pig, all the power to them.  That's the beauty of a free market.  I don't have to go to someone and pay them a LOT of money just so they can use me for their learning curve.

There is a very sweet surgeon I'm thinking of right now, she's good in that she doesn't send people home with infections but I can point you to posts that show people who she sleeved that can eat an entire chicken breast 3 weeks post op.  I'm over a year post op and I can't eat that much dense protein.  Three of her other sleeve patients quit losing at 4 months because they can eat too much and she uses a 32F bougie.  It's technique, not bougie size that matters.  She is quite young and inexperienced.

Now, if you want to pay her so she can go through her learning curve ... great.  Go for it!  Do what you feel is best and then when you quit losing maybe she'll be experienced enough to do your revision so you can get to goal but I would have to turn your question around and ask you why I should self pay to an inexperienced surgeon so they can practice on me?  Why not you?  You go, not me.  I'm sticking with the experienced, board certified surgeons.

My sentiments exactly.  It is why I chose the surgeon I did, he and his partner also board certified were both in the operating room at the same time.  I didnt travel back to where I am from because of this reason.  The surgeon was the only one there, he had only done a few surgeries laproscopically, and a great percentage of them had to be reverted to open.

I realize they need practice, but I just soon it not be with me.  That is why research is very important.. all the way down to going to the medical board to ck his records.  I even went and hung out on the surgical floor and chit chatted with the nurses and patients who had surgery in both places.

The reason that I am no longer with the program that I started with was because these two highly talented surgeon's let their aftercare program fall thru the cracks by passing us on to inexperienced PA's who continually made mistakes in adjustments to meds and vitamins.

I was not a self pay, but I treat the bills that are sent to my Ins the same way as if I was.  If I am going to be charged for seeing a board certified dr then I want to see that board certified dr, not his inept PA's.

My PCP now does my aftercare, but I see my PCP every time I visit his practice.  That is the main reason that I have been with him for all these yrs.

Carlene

Carlene

I do believe we are to trust a PA in surgery when she can't even keep her various IDs straight.

Priceless.

Wow!!  My Mom was looking for a recipe and called and told me to read this line of comments and how shocked she was- I guess so!!  

PA's ....surgeons.....blah blah blah.  I don't know about what your lifestyles are like now....but you sure seem like you should all be out doing something other than this rediculous mess.

What a waste of time!  Yes I'm a first time poster and I will most likely NOT be back as this is a huge waste of time unless you are offering true good information like the other respectable people here are.  Not jokes and nasty comments- that does not make YOU look good- so who looks bad now- anyone that uses a message board to advertise their low standards.

My Mom and I have better things to do now- good luck with your lives- I hope they improve QUICKLY!!!  

Sue

If your mother and you have better things to do, why is she calling you asking you to read this thread?

You don't want to stick around?  Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Wouldn't it be interesting if OH did an IP check on these posts?

ha, especially with an ID that was just created TODAY.

Some things just take a special kind of stupid...

On July 17, 2009 at 11:32 AM Pacific Time, jillybean720 wrote: ha, especially with an ID that was just created TODAY.

Some things just take a special kind of stupid...




I guess we have 4 IDs.  Maybe even 5 considering the one that suggested it's okay to let newbies do your surgery since they have to learn on someone!

Now seriously, would you want this team doing your surgery?  This isn't like removing a toenail, this is serious surgery on high risk people.

Perhaps if they had more patients they wouldn't have time to sit on OH creating new IDs pretending to be patients.

I'm surprised LeaAnn hasn't seen this thread, she'd have fun with it. HA!

ETA:  Did you notice that Gunner and Thinmarie have the same exact spelling challenges?

Makes total sense to me.  If my Mom wanted to show me a recipe she would do the same, she would have me sign up for an OH account, dig through the massive threads on OH's main board, and then have me read this thread instead of giving me the damn recipe.  Yeah, makes total sense!