Larry Young, Dr. Husted & Choosing Your Surgeon

[Guest guest]

Hi all:

I am quite disappointed by the reaction of the membership of this

list to the death of Larry Young. It's all well and fine to offer

our condolences and wring our collective hands with sadness, but that

doesn't do Larry a bit of good, does it? At this point, you may well

be thinking, " Obviously it doesn't do Larry any good Tom, (you

A$$HOLE), the man is DEAD -- show some respect! "

Go ahead and label me the a$$hole of the century if you want, but my

reaction to Larry's death is not so much sadness as ANGER and a

desire to know WHY.

WHY DID THIS FORTY-YEAR OLD MAN DIE?

Here are the facts I have been able to collect:

1. Regarding Larry

Age: 40

Weight: 686 pounds

BMI: 88.1

Co-Morbidities: sleep apnea, joint pain, mobility limited

Spouse: Diane

2. Surgeon: Dr. Husted, Nashville, TN

Experience:

-- Doctor's website mentions only Fobi Pouch

<http://yp.bellsouth.com/sites/hustedmd/>

-- According to Obesityhelp.com, Dr. Husted has performed more than

400 open RNY's, and cranks them out at a rate of 30 per month.

<http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/mdcomments.phtml?

N=941980556>

-- According to Theresa's notice about Larry's death, this was Dr.

Husted's FIRST BPD/DS.

3. Larry's comments about Dr. Husted

" When we got into see Dr. Husted, we are immeadetly

at ease with him. He really seems to love helping

people with this surgery. We talked about my sleep

apnea, and that he wants me to see Dr. Peacock, a

pulmonary doctor that has an office in Nashville.

Then he said I was the ideal cadidate for this surgery. "

<http://www.geocities.com/conwaysdaddy/>

" I was impressed with Dr Husted imedeatly when we

got to the seminar. His Nurse was also very

helpful. Dr Husted spent almost an hour with me

during my first visit....He was very informative and

I really am comfortable with him and his whole staff. "

<http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=Y987203084>

4. What Happened?

-- " He was in the ICU after surgery for awhile and developed > a

wound infection. " (Theresa)

-- " He was having some breathing difficulties and we called Dr.husted

in to see us at 1 am.... he ordered blood gasses which came out

fine...shortly there after Larry started turning blue...the staff on

the 5th floor worked on him for nearly an hour but he was allready

gone. " (Diane, Larry's widow)

WHY DID LARRY DIE, I.E., WHO FAILED HIM?

(WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS. IF YOU ARE ONE OF

THE MANY PEOPLE ON THIS LIST WHO ARE RENDERED APOPLECTIC BY THE

PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF OPINIONS CONTRARY TO YOUR OWN, PLEASE STOP

READING NOW.)

To repeat:

WHO FAILED LARRY?

1. Dr. Husted failed him

What the HELL was this man thinking, taking on a 686 pound patient

with a BMI of 88.1 for his very FIRST BPD/DS procedure?

2. WE FAILED HIM!

Who we? Yes WE!

How? By being so EFFING scared of hurting someone's feelings that we

almost never discuss the hard truths about this surgery, (or if we

do, the conversation is quickly shouted down).

Here are some of those hard truths we don't talk about:

1. This surgery is technically difficult and, in inexperienced

hands, extremely dangerous;

2. The DS has a steep learning curve, i.e., if you choose a surgeon

who has not performed many of the procedures, you GREATLY increase

your chances of serious complications and/or death;

3. All DS surgeons are not equal. Some have performed the surgery

so many times they could probably do it in their sleep, while others

are so wet behind the ears they probably need an instruction manual

in the operating room;

4. Being a good surgeon requires much, much more than memorizing the

human anatomy and learning how to cut and stitch tissues and organs.

It takes, more than anything else, GOOD JUDGMENT -- which I define as

the ability to make decisions PRIOR to surgery such as to minimize

the risk of that surgery, as well as the ability to make the right

decision quickly when faced with a crisis in the operating room.

5. There is no correlation between how much a surgeon's patients

like that surgeon and how capable that surgeon is. Nor is there any

correlation between how nice a surgeon is at the consult, or how much

time s/he spends with you, and how capable a surgeon s/he is.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead, I'll leave you with a

question.

Do we care about our fellow MO folks? Do we care enough to caution

them against doing something we know in our hearts is foolish or

dangerous?

Will we care enough about the next Larry to tell him DON'T GO TO AN

INEXPERIENCED SURGEON -- DON'T BE FIRST -- DON'T BE A GUINEA PIG!

Or will we just sit on our hands until s/he's dead or maimed, and

then wring them in sadness?

Think about it.

Tom

Panniculectomy, Dr. Anthone, 11/10/2000

Open DS, Dr. Anthone, 03/30/2001

11/10/2000 . . . . . . 386 (Panniculectomy)

03/30/2001 . . . . . . 360 (DS)

04/19/2001 . . . . . . 338

05/03/2001 . . . . . . 328

05/18/2001 . . . . . . 316

06/03/2001 . . . . . . 301

06/15/2001 . . . . . . 299

06/25/2001 . . . . . . 293

07/03/2001 . . . . . . 286

07/16/2001 . . . . . . 278

07/23/2001 . . . . . . 276

07/30/2001 . . . . . . 275

08/06/2001 . . . . . . 272

Goal Weight. . . . . . 185

Lost So Far. . . . . . 114 Ugly Pounds

Remainder to Goal. . . 87

USC DS Support Group: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ds_usc>