Surgery and surgeons

Reconstructive surgery after burns or trauma is gradual

Dr. Ali Adil

October 20, 2026Oct 20, 2026

When burns or traumatic injuries change the appearance or function of the body, patients often face decisions while they are still processing pain, fear, and uncertainty. Reconstructive surgery may help restore movement, protect damaged tissue, improve wound healing, or address changes in appearance. It is not a single procedure or a promise to return the body exactly to its previous state. A responsible decision begins with understanding the goals, timing, …

Why the surgical backlog starts with how surgeons are trained [PODCAST]

October 17, 2026Oct 17, 2026

Surgical training still runs on the model it did decades ago. Everything around it has changed. Danny Goel walks you through what that mismatch costs. He is an orthopedic surgeon, and this episode is based on his article "In 2026,…

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Prior authorization delays run on 3 clocks, not just 1

Comron Saifi, MD

October 13, 2026Oct 13, 2026

When a surgeon tells a patient, "You need surgery," the patient understandably hears that the next step is scheduling it. Inside the practice, however, an entirely different process is just beginning. The clinical decision must be converted into documentation. The…

When a surgeon tells a patient, “You need surgery,” the patient understandably hears that the next step is scheduling it. Inside the practice, however, an entirely different process is just beginning.

The clinical decision must be converted into documentation. The documentation must be translated into the language of a payer’s policy. The request must reach the organization that actually controls the decision. Only then does the formal review begin.

Prior authorization is …

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Organ procurement and the 1,784-day wait that changed me

John C. Springer, CST

October 12, 2026Oct 12, 2026

I used to believe that reverence required silence. Years ago, when I first stood at the table during an organ procurement, I carried an expectation that now feels almost childlike in its purity. I wanted the room to feel sacred.…

I used to believe that reverence required silence.

Years ago, when I first stood at the table during an organ procurement, I carried an expectation that now feels almost childlike in its purity. I wanted the room to feel sacred. I wanted the air itself to acknowledge that a human being, still warm, still perfused, still carrying the quiet dignity of a life recently lived, lay before us. I expected every …

Doctors on social media should ask this question first [PODCAST]

October 10, 2026Oct 10, 2026

Your patients can see everything you post. Tali Lando was posting funny videos from her office while two of her young patients lay in the hospital struggling to recover, and it left her torn. She is a pediatric otolaryngologist and…

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Health technology

AI deskilling in medicine: lessons from Air France 447

Colin G. Knight, MD

October 8, 2026Oct 8, 2026

In 2021, at four endoscopy centers in Poland, endoscopists got a new tool to aid in colonoscopies. A computer equipped with an artificial intelligence watched the video alongside them and highlighted anything that looked like a polyp. The centers were part of a trial, so, as part of the study, the doctors had access to the tool on some days and not on others. This variability allowed researchers a chance …

When can you have sex after hip replacement surgery?

Cory Calendine, MD

September 30, 2026Sep 30, 2026

Every joint replacement patient leaves my office with a plan. When to walk, how to ice, when to drive, when to come back. We talk about stairs, showers, sleep, and the first night home. What most of them do not leave with is an answer to a question they are thinking about and almost never ask: When can I have sex again?

They don’t ask, and too often we don’t offer. …

The real risk of medical tourism complications is distance

David Feldmar, MD

September 29, 2026Sep 29, 2026

A meaningful portion of my practice involves reconstructive work, not the kind that follows trauma or cancer, but the kind that follows cosmetic procedures that went wrong. Patients come to me after abdominoplasties that developed into sepsis, after injections administered by unlicensed individuals, after hair transplants that left permanent scarring. Much of what I do in the consultation room is assess what can be improved, what cannot be reversed, and …

Staying salaried may now be the riskier bet for doctors [PODCAST]

September 25, 2026Sep 25, 2026

An eye surgeon who used to see forty patients a day now sees one to three in a morning, and he has no staff. Oren Fass, a board-certified ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon, has been an employed physician, a practice owner,…

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Doctors’ kids miss them, and the family builds its own fixes [PODCAST]

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

A surgeon's kids FaceTime him from their iPads while he is in the operating room, and he cannot pick up. Alyssa Kressel, a strategic communications professional, has spent more than fifteen years alongside her husband's surgical training. This episode is…

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A surgeon’s kids FaceTime him from their iPads while he is in the operating room, and he cannot pick up. Alyssa Kressel, a strategic communications professional, has spent more than fifteen years alongside her husband’s surgical training. This episode is based on her article “What the children of physicians …

Pain score after surgery should not define recovery

Dr. Girishkumar Modi

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

After surgery, patients are often asked a familiar question: "How bad is your pain on a scale from zero to ten?" Naturally, most people want that number to be zero. As doctors, we want our patients to be comfortable too.…

After surgery, patients are often asked a familiar question: “How bad is your pain on a scale from zero to ten?” Naturally, most people want that number to be zero. As doctors, we want our patients to be comfortable too. But after many operations, completely removing every trace of pain may not be realistic. And sometimes, trying too hard to reach zero can create problems of its own.

A better question …

Surgical judgment: the skill no one sees from the gallery

Mustafa Kemal Çalık, MD

September 16, 2026Sep 16, 2026

When I was younger in surgery, I watched hands. I watched how senior surgeons held an instrument, how little unnecessary movement they made, how calmly they worked around a vessel that could turn an orderly operation into an emergency within…

I wanted that kind of control. Most young surgeons do.

In my first year of cardiovascular surgery …

Breast implant removal leaves patients paying 3 times

Martha Rosenberg

September 8, 2026Sep 8, 2026

Former cosmetic surgeon Robert Yoho, MD, after retiring from medical practice in 2019, became an author and health care whistleblower and recently addressed the "explant" trend in which breast implants are surgically removed. According to the American Society of Plastic…

Former cosmetic surgeon Robert Yoho, MD, after retiring from medical practice in 2019, became an author and health care whistleblower and recently addressed the “explant” trend in which breast implants are surgically removed. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 306,196 women bought breast augmentation in 2024. In 2021, the FDA added a boxed warning to implants cautioning that they are linked to breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma …

Mohamad A. Hussain, MD, PhD

Dialysis access and heart failure need one care plan

September 7, 2026Sep 7, 2026

For decades, vascular care has focused on solving problems within the circulatory system. When an artery narrows, we restore blood flow. When a patient requires dialysis, we create reliable vascular access. These interventions are critical, but they represent only part…

Today’s vascular patients rarely have disease confined to a single organ system. Many are living with chronic kidney disease, heart disease, and diabetes simultaneously. As these conditions become …

Patient voices

Cosmetic dentistry abroad is not about the lowest price

Anna Estrin

September 2, 2026Sep 2, 2026

I have spent years in front of cameras. Fashion events, interviews, photographs, social media, and meetings are part of my professional life, so I have always been conscious of my smile. I wanted it to look beautiful, modern, and natural, not like a row of extremely white, identical teeth. I wanted a smile that suited my face and made me feel confident whenever I laughed, spoke, or saw myself in …

Hospital peer review needs recusal rules, not assumptions

Babajide Ogunseinde, MD

August 27, 2026Aug 27, 2026

Hospital peer review is one of medicine's most important mechanisms for protecting patients and maintaining professional standards. Physicians possess the clinical expertise necessary to evaluate the work of other physicians, particularly when questions involve complex procedures, specialty-specific judgment, or unusual…

Hospital peer review is one of medicine’s most important mechanisms for protecting patients and maintaining professional standards. Physicians possess the clinical expertise necessary to evaluate the work of other physicians, particularly when questions involve complex procedures, specialty-specific judgment, or unusual complications.

But this structure creates an unavoidable tension. The physicians most qualified to evaluate a colleague may also be the physicians who compete with that colleague for patients, referrals, operating-room access, …

Finding purpose in patient care after a wartime injury

Joseph Rucker Jr., MD

August 18, 2026Aug 18, 2026

An excerpt from One Pocket. I reported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center on August 25, 1969. The complex was in Bethesda, Maryland, about thirty minutes from the White House. Founded in 1909, it had cared for every president of…

An excerpt from One Pocket.

I reported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center on August 25, 1969. The complex was in Bethesda, Maryland, about thirty minutes from the White House. Founded in 1909, it had cared for every president of the United States, along with members of Congress and the Supreme Court. It had 1,122 hospital beds and treated more than 750,000 patients a year.

I was assigned as a medical …

Reforming hospital peer review requires independence

Babajide Ogunseinde, MD

August 18, 2026Aug 18, 2026

An adverse peer-review determination is one of the most consequential events in a physician's professional life. When a hospital revokes clinical privileges or imposes a suspension exceeding thirty days, federal statute mandates a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank…

An adverse peer-review determination is one of the most consequential events in a physician’s professional life. When a hospital revokes clinical privileges or imposes a suspension exceeding thirty days, federal statute mandates a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).

In today’s consolidated health care landscape, an adverse NPDB report is an indelible mark with near-insurmountable consequences. It frequently triggers reciprocal investigations by state licensing boards, prompts malpractice carriers to …