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He suggested operating b/c that is what he was trained to do...neurosurgery is what neurosurgeons do for hydrocephaly. Would you prefer that, instead of leaving the decision with the patient, doctors or maybe bureaucrats decide who gets offered medical procedures? Then everyone would be yelling and screaming that money is the bottom line and the poor get the short stick. Can't win. The doctor did the right thing; he explained all options and avenues and allowed you to decide.

More personal responsibility is needed in medicine....and in life.

He was a very hard seller. He came back to me many times with this. Did he have my Mom’s best interest in mind? I don’t know. Like you said, he’s a doctor, and that’s his job..and that’s how he makes money. By the way, this is not what we were in the hospital for. If you take tests of an elderly person, you’re going to come up with many things that may, or may not be fixable. This is my point. Because the government pays, the decisions AND THE OPTIONS are much different. If we want a system where every option is on the table and the cost doesn’t matter, than let’s just do it and get it over with, and we’ll be ok with giving 70% of our taxes to health care. This is the decision we’re going to have to decide as a country. I don’t know the answer but I’m going to keep asking the questions, even if I’m shot down on this site.