Be Your Own Advocate
More than ever before, in this era of managed care and HMOs, patients need to be well informed and ready to ask questions. It is especially important to ask questions and obtain as much information as possible when surgery is needed to take care of a gynecologic problem. One of the responsibilities of any patient who must undergo surgery is to determine the exact reason for the surgical procedure, how the surgery will be performed, what the recovery will be, and what specialist can perform the surgery with the least possible complications.
In recent years, patients have become better at being their own advocates – they are asking questions and obtaining second opinions when faced with major surgery. Unfortunately, they are not doing nearly enough to find out all the facts. As a health care provider and surgeon, I see too many patients that have undergone open abdominal procedures resulting in increased pain and complications, long hospitalizations, and extended recovery times. Open procedures require a large abdominal incision, and most patients with large uterine fibroids, ovarian masses, extensive endometriosis, and gynecologic malignancy undergo open procedures for treatment. Patients that had these procedures did not know that an alternative was available, or assumed that this was the only way they could be treated because their doctor did not discuss any alternatives. These patients could have undergone minimally invasive surgery – or laparoscopy – with far better results. Patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery have much less pain than with open surgery, and also can be discharged from the hospital the same day or the following day. Laparoscopy allows patients to go back to work and to resume normal activities within days compared to six or eight weeks for comparable procedures performed through large incisions.
View our patient guide for more information.
Please don’t hesitate to call me if you have questions,
Paul MacKoul, MD, FACOG