Ten years ago when I went to France to have surgery from Dr. Bautrant, I went with my eyes wide open, knowing that I might get worse. As an RN who had worked with numerous surgery patients and surgeons, I knew how important it was to choose a competent surgeon. But when you are in pain you get desperate and you don't always think clearly. Really, I had no idea what kind of a doctor Dr. Bautrant was. Incredible, right? That I would make a painful flight halfway around the world to allow a surgeon I knew very little about to cut me open. I was hoping against hope that I would get my life back but also knew and accepted the fact that I could get worse. So my thoughts on PNE surgery and PNE doctors is this: Please do not choose to have an invasive treatment, especially surgery, unless you are willing to take the risk that you might get worse. Not only can your pudendal neuralgia get worse, but you can have numerous other complications from surgery. Surgery is a last resort and personally, I would only go for surgery if I was in severe constant pain/discomfort with no quality of life and I had tried many conservative measures to get well first.
To be a surgeon, one has to have a bit of arrogance about them. (I know from family experience.
) To think you can cut someone open and make them better takes a special confidence. Medical school is not for the faint of heart. Neither is residency, especially surgical residencies. I was told by one surgeon that the only reason a person should choose a surgical specialty is because it is their calling, not for the money, because the liability is dreadful. I recently read an article on medscape stating that 99% of specialty surgeons will get sued. The stress is intense, the competition fierce. The work hours, the incredible responsibilities placed on you at all hours of the day and night, not knowing from one minute to the next what type of injury might be wheeled into the hospital that you are responsible for repairing and saving -- is not something most people can handle. To be that kind of person takes someone with unusual confidence. And so we routinely hear on this forum about this arrogant doctor or that arrogant doctor. Or, this doctor didn't tell me the risks, or that doctor said I would for sure get better. Remember, they are trained to try to make you better and that is their goal. They may be accustomed to good outcomes. They may not want to make you feel scared or hopeless by reciting all of the dangers of surgery. We don't know why a physician may present things in a certain light but I don't for one minute believe that any of them are purposely setting out to make a patient worse or even purposefully being negligent in their treatment of patients. I believe that they truly think they can make you better. I realize there are insensitive doctors and doctors with dreadful bedside manners. I realize that we as patients are hurting and we expect excellent care. We each can see our side of the story and our own hurt. But we have to keep in mind that doctors are not perfect and they are not God. They are just human beings trying to heal us. Most of them truly have our best interest at heart and are doing everything they can to help us and we are grateful for that.
Remember that HOPE has clearly stated that we do not endorse any of the physicians listed on our website. Any physician who is licensed can be listed. We reserve the right to exclude physicians who have medical board action taken against them. Otherwise, as a tax exempt organization, we cannot discriminate or play favorites. This leaves the responsibility on the patient to make wise choices and research their options.
The moderators of HOPE have tried to make a safe forum where patients can truthfully tell their experiences for the purposes of support and information. So the real questions is not, "why is this doctor or that doctor on the HOPE list of PN physicians". (This can apply to PT's too.) The real question is, should we post a list of docs/PT's? Since many of the PN docs have some sort of complaint against them by a former PN patient, we have to ask, would it be better if we did not post a list of physicians (or PT's) who specialize in treating PN? It would be easier for the directors of HOPE if we did not have this list. But would that be better for the patients? Feel free to post your comments.
Violet
