Posted by Carl Plaskett on February 03, 2002 at 22:59:21:
In Reply to: Re: 18 Week Update - Mini-Maze III at Cleveland Clinic posted by Harley Gilmore on February 03, 2002 at 18:02:29:
As I believe I have posted before, it is MY opinion, that the Cleveland Clinic (and perhaps other facilities) does not follow up on maze patients who have been referred by a patient's own EP or cardiologist. Surely we should recognize the difficulties that would present to the surgical center, if they tried to treat (through follow-up) their surgical patients. First, they cannot know what is "going on" from afar, and, practicing medicine via "long-distance" is guess work at best (besides probably being against the law).
While it is easy to be critical of the last person who had anything to do with treating you, try to realize the position they are in, relative to the referring physician, who (hopefully) has enough experience to handle the "follow-up" or is not too proud to call the CC (or other surgical center) for some consultation.
My EP had no problems with contacting the CC, and I got a couple of personal calls from Dr. Hammer myself, which were very helpful and timely for me.