What is the best way to find out exactly how many surgeries of a specific type a surgeon has performed?

Question

Please, well-informed answers only! She is behaving oddly, so I'm uncomfortable asking her.

Answer 1

Try asking the hospital's receptionist if there is an office or legal service you can consult with. Every surgeon should have records of his/her past surgeries, successes, and complications.

Answer 2

Although most surgeons won't keep a running tally of how many of a specific routine case they've performed in their career, they WILL be able to comment about their experience level for certain kinds of unusual or highly technically demanding cases.  For example, I can clearly recall each of the 9 pancreaticoduodenectomies that I've performed in my career.  If you asked me how many laparoscopic cholecystectomies I've performed, though, I'd be at a total loss.  I might do anywhere from 3 to 12 in an average week.  I've done a lot.

However, if I *HAD* to come up with an exhaustive list of each and every operation I've ever done, I'd be able to do so.  The reason is that I could search our billing system.  I could probably get it to spit out a list of everyone who's been billed, and the procedural code numbers that they've been billed for, and I could work backwards and come up with the types of operations I've done, along with the numbers of each.

However, I would not do that for a patient just because they asked.  If they wanted to know how many Whipple pancreaticoduodenectomies I've done, the answer is nine.  If they want to know how many cholecystectomies I've done, the answer is "many hundreds".

As a surgeon, I sometimes come across something that I've not yet had to do.  Sometimes it's not something I'm *WILLING* to do, and I refer the patient to someone else.  Other times, it looks like a reasonably natural extension of the types of things I already do, and I'm willing to take it on.  If I'm in that situation, I'm obligated to tell the patient.

Because of the fact that patient information is an issue of privacy, you're not likely to be able to get ahold of specific things like numbers of complications that a surgeon has had.  That's not information that's appropriate to share.  However, if a surgeon or any type of physician has gotten into trouble for lack of quality patient care, they will have been put under investigation and a disciplinary letter may have been sent out by the state medical board.  This *IS* public information that you are welcome to investigate.  You only have to check online with your state medical board in order to find a "doctor search" page.  This leads to a data screen about the doctor that you're searching about, and you can find out if they've had some problems.

You can also check with the AMA website about previous disciplinary actions against your physician, in any of the 50 states.

I suggest, however, that you get over these weird issues with your surgeon.   Consider talking about your concerns and asking directly about experience levels...  you may find it very stress relieving!

Answer 3

Not likely. If I were asked how many of this or that I'd performed, I'd have no clue, and no way to find out for myself! If it's a major surgery, and the surgeon has been practicing in the same locale her whole practice, it might be possible, but it's unlikely.