To reduce health costs, everyone needs to be on the same page

“Mr. Jones’ chest x-ray looks normal,” the intern said to me on morning rounds.

Mr. Jones just had a transhiatal esophagectomy (THE).  The esophagus is the muscular tube that connects the back of one’s throat to their stomach.  It can develop cancer or become completely dysfunctional because of benign processes, and therefore need to be removed.

A THE involves cutting out the patient’s esophagus, in Mr. Jones’ case for cancer, bringing the stomach up …

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