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  • researching surg complications for hospital

    Hey All!

    My daughter seems to have a curve progressing about 5 - 6 degrees per year post-bracing and after she stopped growing, so the team (her, parents, doctors) are all leaning toward surgery at this point - posterior fusion for 8 vertebrae, 1 lumbar and 7 thoracic. We live in the Bay Area (CA) and my daughter's highly respected doctor is at Children's Hospital Oakland. I'm doing my research now, pulmonary specialist, second opinion at Stanford, talking to the school (she's a sophmore in high school) and here's my scary thought:

    Complications at this hospital for this surgery (our surgeon is the only doc performing fusions here, he does between 40 and 50 a year) are all lower than the state average and the four area hospitals that have this surgery performed, until you get to the 2 categories of miscellaneous complications and unexpected events. At that point, this hospital gets 5 - 8 times as many complications. Supposedly they take into account that many of his surgical load is the much more serious and challenging cases, but.....it's a little scary. Tried to find out what falls into this category and it can include: UXE (infection, rupture of stiches, internal bleeding, etc) and MISC (post-op bleeding, post-op fistula, unhealed wounds, and other possible poor post op care complications).

    Spinal fusion for my 15 1/2 girl, who is doing amazing in a hard as hell school, runs competitively and has a pretty decent life is scary enough, but what happens when you hear from all these doctors all over the area how great your doc is, you have a three year relationship with him and you find out that the hospital may not have great post-op care??? He does not operate any where else that I know of, but this hospital may have some post-op infection issues...

    Any thoughts?

    - Martha K
    Fremont, CA

  • #2
    I suggest talking to a professional who works there. See if you can find an RN who works in orthopedics or an anesthesiologist.

    Remember, some hospitals see a lot of severe trauma and bizarre diseases. This will tip the statistics in the best of facilities.
    There are various sites on-line which give info but they charge a fee.

    I also suggest talking to parents whose children had surgery by the surgeon of your choice. This way you get a "feel' for things.
    Original scoliosis surgery 1956 T-4 to L-2 ~100 degree thoracic (triple)curves at age 14. NO hardware-lost correction.
    Anterior/posterior revision T-4 to Sacrum in 2002, age 60, by Dr. Boachie-Adjei @Hospital for Special Surgery, NY = 50% correction

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    • #3
      Very good thought. It would be so cool to talk to nurses who work there.

      The scheduling nurse gave me some information about a patient they have now who did pick up a post op infection and whose pain levels are off the chart. She and the doctor feel so much for the kids, and they are scrupulously honest, so whether she should have told me or not, she did. He will be getting the rods out in the next couple months, as soon as the fusion is cooked (12 months?). He's had that infection almost this entire year, and the pain is killer. But you have no disc material so the treatment options are limited to tons of antibiotics, pain killers and just "doing it". It is a complication, but it would really be horrible to be healthy, go in for surgery and come out slammed. But you have to make choices based on your best info at the time. Our insurance company is also helping be sharing their information on complication rates for the doctor and the hospital, which is very nice of them.

      Our doctor is James Policy and he is a great guy, has a great reputation and a good bedside manner. If anybody know anything, let me know, LOL.

      - Martha

      Daughter: 15.5, s curve, thoracic 46 degrees, lumber something like 34 degrees (mind gone lol), proposed posterior surgery fusion L1 to T6.
      Last edited by marthak; 04-25-2007, 09:04 PM. Reason: adding

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