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I want to agree with you, but what I am interested in knowing is why the boston doctor was insisting on a mobility test prior to surgery and why the small town

by param 17y ago

I want to agree with you, but what I am interested in knowing is why the boston doctor was insisting on a mobility test prior to surgery and why the small town folks were insisting on surgery first. The same thing happens in small town India as well where doctors are more interested in keeping you admitted above and beyond the needed duration and doctors in large cities are just better because they have a greater patient load to be well versed with complex surgeries if needed.

rdouble 17y ago
Watching her in the hospital and knowing that she swam to shore and stood up would have made a mobility test irrelevant. Being 40+ with a shattered T12, she made the riskier decision by opting out of the surgery. If you remove the hyperbolic language from her story, it reads like the hospital was being relatively conservative and trying to take the approach with the least risk of paralysis or other spinal cord injury. That said, It's awesome that she's able to recover without surgery. Even "successful" back surgeries usually have many complications. Surgery or not, back injuries suck and require tons of PT, exercise and lifestyle changes to get back to normal.
- btilly 17y ago
  She made the riskier decision? What qualifications do you have to claim that? According to the Harvard neurosurgeon she made the less risky decision. Given the choice between believing a random poster to hacker news and someone with those qualifications, I'm going with the known expert every time. It is just icing on the cake that the expert's opinion fits with what I've been told about the risks of back surgery by multiple doctors, physical therapists, and even a panel appointed by the US government. (Admittedly the last is somewhat out of date.)
  - rdouble 17y ago
    I read it in the article I linked to in my previous post. But you're obviously more up to date on the facts, so you win.
yummyfajitas 17y ago
The article suggests the small town folks were following outdated procedures, while the boston team was following modern procedures.

by param 17y ago

rdouble 17y ago

Watching her in the hospital and knowing that she swam to shore and stood up would have made a mobility test irrelevant. Being 40+ with a shattered T12, she made the riskier decision by opting out of the surgery. If you remove the hyperbolic language from her story, it reads like the hospital was being relatively conservative and trying to take the approach with the least risk of paralysis or other spinal cord injury. That said, It's awesome that she's able to recover without surgery. Even "successful" back surgeries usually have many complications. Surgery or not, back injuries suck and require tons of PT, exercise and lifestyle changes to get back to normal.

btilly 17y ago
She made the riskier decision? What qualifications do you have to claim that? According to the Harvard neurosurgeon she made the less risky decision. Given the choice between believing a random poster to hacker news and someone with those qualifications, I'm going with the known expert every time. It is just icing on the cake that the expert's opinion fits with what I've been told about the risks of back surgery by multiple doctors, physical therapists, and even a panel appointed by the US government. (Admittedly the last is somewhat out of date.)
- rdouble 17y ago
  I read it in the article I linked to in my previous post. But you're obviously more up to date on the facts, so you win.

yummyfajitas 17y ago

The article suggests the small town folks were following outdated procedures, while the boston team was following modern procedures.