Really freaked out! Thoughts re Dr. Amanza

It is true about the number of surgeries they do a day. They were working until 3 am on the day I was scheduled to have surgery (Friday), and LUCKILY I got bumped to Saturday which made me the first and only surgery that day.

I had a good experience other than the overscheduling.

 Hi Mel,

Would you please help me? I had been up on your website http://www.weightlossforever.ca in December '09 and January '10. Both those times, I saw that you supported Almanza and the clinic's advertising and it also looked like that was your clinic of choice.

I went up on the website again today, and I see the same advertising and choice. Yet, your post says that you no longer support them.

Please help clear my confusion.

Thank you.

Oh Mel thank you for your honesty and im sure it was difficult to write that. I just read Stoongal's latest post and I am so sad that the place we liked has gone this way...I was there with runningmom3 and i hope she is well. My best to you!
KW

Thanks for your openness and caring!

Mel,
Thank you for your post.  That took a lot of courage.  People need all the information they can gather before making their decision.

I agree your post too a lot of courage. Some will flame privately or here but you did the right thing. I am glad you're doing well.

I have been a qualitative researcher for more than 10 years and I'm published -- book, book chapters, journal articles, encyclopedia of case study research, etc.

I don't wan't you to go to Almanza or anyone who will not serve your needs. I want you to be able to conduct a quality research process so that you can feel at ease with the decision only you can make because only you know all of your needs.

There have been some great posts in this thread and those are the ones that have the individual speaking only to her or his own experiences. That being said, I do not recommend using only OH as your only research source.

For instance, if you go to the thread "incision infection" you will see that infections can occur because patients may not take their antibiotics or they needed different antibiotics. Some people believe their experiences are due to the surgeon, others believe it's because of recovery. Still, other experiences are due to the individual's abilities to care for her/himself -- or not. Another on that thread projected an experience with a cat onto this forum about WLS. In another forum, VST.com, thread "how to find a good Mexican surgeon" (or similar) -- see Tell Your Story forum -- a poster says, basically: "I know everything because I have researched everything. Everything I say is credible because it is I who said it" -- yet this person has no first hand experience with the surgeon/centre she is promoting -- yikes!

There are three things I argue about using forums as research: 1) any assumption that it is not necessary to have had personal experience before you can fully recommend a surgeon/facility, is not correct and it is not supported by quality research processes; 2) no one is above having to back up their statements, and more than once or each time they post -- if they will not or cannot, there is something wrong; 3) the use of (daisy-) chain communication including but not limited to hearsay, is not effective.

On the detriments of hearsay, chain communication and quality of the research process, here are a few examples of published articles (two are by me and some by others).

The Encyclopedia of Case Study Research: "Storyselling" (2010) -- among other entries.

Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (1998)

The Journal of Organizational Change Management: "Coaching can be storyselling" (2007).

The Journal of Leadership Development: Understanding the charismatic leader-follower relationship: Promises and perils (1998).

Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries (1984).

The Crowd: A study of the popular mind (1974).

Principles of Management: "Communication" (2004). -- and pretty well every book on communication using the chain or "party-line" method.

Get the information you need from the horse's mouth -- the clinics themselves -- and get it in writing. Speak to the Mexican government about the surgeons/clinics. Go to the surgery site to see for yourself. By all means factor in previous patient's personal experiences -- but please, please remember, these are only a part of the research process.

Someone here has already said it and I agree: you must do your own independent research. You must quell your own fears.

I wish you only the very best while you determine what you need, when, and from whom you will get them.

I agree with your main point about having more than one source of information. However, I don't think anecdotal evidence is unreasonable in this situation. She's not writing a social sciences research report here (and yes, I've written plenty of those, among other types of research). I definitely agree it's good to look into things further, but part of the personal research process is to get anecdotal evidence by asking of others' experiences.

If she asks the surgeon for references of previous clients, she's only going to get the positive stories. No surgeon is going to willingly give out the names and contact information of dissatisfied patients, and it's not even within their rights to disclose who is/was a patient. And I doubt the surgeon's Web site or staff are going to disclose all of the nitty gritty details about dissatisfied patients. I don't know about Mexico's health disclosure laws, or if they have anything like the Better Business Bureau, or if out-of-country (i.e., not from Mexico) patients would even know where to report such instances. Really, it's kind of a crap shoot when it comes to researching surgeons unless you ask numerous patients of each surgeon about their experiences, taking some of the extremes with a grain of salt. 

This forum is not about writing reports. Here is it much more important to get it right because it is about conducting a quality research process that could save your own life, quality of life and everything that falls under those umbrellas.

Here, it is about finding quality primary/personal experiences that match the researcher's needs. If personal experiences are meaningful to the researcher, then the researcher will know what to ask the clinics. Consequently, not every anecdote is as relevant  or valid or reliable.

The way the clinics replies is perhaps more helpful than the answer itself. Yet, their answers are also important. When I asked them about infection rates and deaths among other complications, they gave me the numbers and the percentages. The percentage is extremely important because it takes into account both the complications and the successes. For every person that promotes her/his surgeon or denigrates another, one can give the clinic/hospital the thread content. From there it can be determined whether that person was actually a patient! or what the other side of the story could be. Your assumptions about disclosure are not necessarily correct. No one knows until they ask.

Of course, it is not the writing of reports that is crucial in research. What is crucial is being able to apply what is known (for now) from the social sciences (whi*****ludes but is not limited to internet communication) to help people become aware of components that if researched, will improve the trustworthiness of the research process as well as its results. If a person cannot find the data/information s/he needs to make what could be a life and death decision, then that is also crucial and as well, comes from the social sciences, and its theories and practise that have been obtained by studying social situations, such as forums.

I see your point, but it all seems a little too pedantic to me. I certainly agree that choice of surgeon is very important and not to be taken lightly, or based *only* on reports from a Web site forum. On the other points, we can simply agree to disagree.

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to engage me in a discussion about this! Your research articles sound interesting--I'd like to read them if you have e-copies you could e-mail me (if so, I'll send you a PM with my e-mail address). :-)