[PA Engineer]

Fiorino makes her move on Carson.

I like Dr. Carson, however I am not a supporter for his campaign. This is a disgusting hit piece. The bad outcome is usually prior to the patients arrival for surgery. I'll bounce this one around a few Neurosurgery friends.

[kaila]

I am not a neurosurgeon, and am not an expert, but this is a hit piece. The surgeon is the captain of the ship, so if the sponge count is wrong, that is considered a complication against the surgeon. However, the description of a shunt being place in the wrong direction sounds fishy. Shunts are placed in hydrocephalus children all the time, and in my career I have seen a few go back into surgery a few days after the shunt is placed because of malfunction. Highly doubtful that it was placed in the wrong direction with a skilled pediatric neurosurgeon.. What really frosts me is when patients say “he only spent 14 minutes with me!” They have no idea of the time spent prior to the face to face exam- in which the physician reviews the medical records and the imaging studies. That can add another half hour of time. Not to mention the time spent with paperwork after the exam.
If Dr. Carson was a hack, there would be no way he would have attained chief of neurosurgery at John Hopkins. Also, brain surgery for tumors is a risky procedure, and neuro effects can occur after surgery. I've never heard a patient say “ Doctor, just remove part of the tumor.” That makes no sense at all.
Neurosurgeons have the highest malpractice insurance rates of any specialty because of situations like this.