Posted by SuLynn Mester on November 20, 2001 at 17:49:26:
In Reply to: Re: Cardiologists approval or disapproval of Maze posted by Jack Drum on November 20, 2001 at 13:15:30:
Thanks you both for your reply. I have to agree with both of you in your reasoning for the cardiologists not informing the patients. I have read of and communicated with so many who have had to change cardiologists after deciding to have the Maze. We did not change, but we did on two different occasions have a heart to heart talk with our cardiologist confronting him with the situation. Randy even asked him point blank if he decided to have the surgery should he find another cardio for followup. Because we felt we could be so entirely honest in out disagreements with the cardio, we worked out the problem. Later after the surgery, he did admit that he is not totally sold on the Maze (to tell you the truth I think he is not totally educated on the Maze) but that he was impressed with Randy's results. He did and continues to believe that the tricuspid problem would have never happened if we would not have had the surgery, so sometimes he tells us that we have traded one problem for another. If it is a trade, Randy and I both agree that we got the good end of the trade.
It is a sad thing that if we all knew the truth that the bottom line would probably be money. The cardio do not want to lose the revenue that a severe Afib patient brings to his pocketbook.
Our surgeon also told us that the large percentage of his patients were self referrals. I know that the web has so much trash on it and can be a problem for some, but on the other hand it has been a life saver for us by finding sites just like this. It was in my search to find out the success rates of pulmonary vein ablations, (as that was the next step they were talking to us about) that I found out about the Maze. Thank you again Jack for your contributions.
Happy Holidays to all.
SuLynn