Posted on 02/24/2017 2:34:09 AM PST by markomalley
An irate man contacted me recently to complain he’d been turned down for back surgery because he’s a smoker.
“It’s just not right,” said the Charlotte man, who suffers from chronic hip and leg pain. “I need this surgery. It’s to the point where I can’t walk around the block with my dogs.”
He acknowledged smoking is a “bad habit,” but after 35 years, he’s not sure he can quit. And he doesn’t think he should have to.
(snip)
Spector said it’s part of a national trend for doctors to run down a checklist of behaviors in preparation for elective surgery. Before spinal fusion, Spector said he might tell a patient: “Listen, I want you to stop smoking, but if you can’t stop smoking, at least cut it in half. A two-pack-a-day smoker is going to have a higher risk (of complications) than a two-cigarette-a-day smoker.”
(snip)
At OrthoCarolina, Spector said doctors agree that all patients who register for the bundled payment plan must go through “surgical optimization” so they’re as healthy as possible before surgery. At some point, insurance companies may even begin to refuse to pay for elective surgeries on smokers.
(Excerpt) Read more at macon.com ...
This is true. I know lots of surgeons, including oral surgeons and plastic surgeons who won’t work on you if you have smoked within a week of the surgery. It is possible to reduce the risks if you use a nicotine patch prior to surgery and don’t smoke. Look at that woman in France who had the face transplant! She couldn’t refrain from smoking, and her surgery failed.
The headline seems to be misleading.
Doctors want you to stop smoking before surgery so you don’t pop stitches.
My dad had heart valeant replacement in Feb 2014. His surgeon told him he would need to quit smoking before the surgery, because he could get an infection from popped stitches dye to coughing fits and die from it.
He didn’t listen and smoked up till the day of his surgery. The surgery was a success. But a few days later, after he was released, his lungs started clearing out which resulted in brutal coughing fits. He popped stitches and got an infection into his chest and into his heart. He was induced in a coma after it almost killed him. He got out of it but never recovered. He died thar November.
Take it from me. If a doctor is telling you to stop smoking before surgery, he’s not on a power trip.
This has been true for a long long long time. And it’s only now being reported?
all the while soaking up our tax dollars while eventually dying of an even costlier disease.
a salient point...
...”How about none of that? Tobacco has been consumed since the dawn of man.
Only now has it been vilified. It’s turning out that their studies, and research is about as valid as global warming research.”...
This is left wing hypocrisy on steroids. What about those addicted to cocaine, pain pills, meth, marijuana? I would rather be a smoker than to be addicted to any of those things. I come from the Midwest and I believe that the whole anti-smoking campaign came from the la-la land cocaine users to deflect from their much loved cultural substance. Smokers, you know, are to be found mostly in conservative America and they must be persecuted and pointed to so that the sins of the coastal big cities can remain in the shadows. The other thing is that today’s doctors are being trained in a way to persecute folks who do not live by the left-wing, facist, tyrannical cultural rules. How long will it be before you will not be able to have an operation if you are white or Christian, because white lives do not matter and Christians are hated because they do not believe government is God. We are in a serious cultural war. It is evil on every hand and I really think that REAL war is coming. Even uneducated human beings cannot stand this level of cultural hypocrisy.
Nope.
Tobacco was a discovery of the New World Injuns, circa 1400-1000 BC. A long time ago, but way after the "dawn of man".
The infernal weed did not come to the attention of Western Man until the conquistadores brought the Injuns' discovery back to Europe in about 1528.
Because EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) requires that anyone coming to the emergency room will be treated regardless of ability to pay, citizenship, or any condition or face federal fines of 50,000 per incident to both on call providers and hospitals and termination of participation in Medicare. Since Medicare is over 50% of the medical business no one can afford to say no.
How long will it be before you will not be able to have an operation if you are white or Christian,
as lucrative as practices such as surgery and chemotherapy infusion are, probably never...
A long time ago, but way after the “dawn of man”.
time to check the batteries on your hyperbole meter...
Lying about smoking is a bit tougher than owning a gun especially to a DR.
For starters,smokers stink and the stains on there fingers aint powder residue
I believe smoking restrict capillaries and all blood vessel so it would have and adverse affect on healing
The guy needs to tell his doc he’s now a former smoker. How would the doctor know the difference?
I think Sir Walter Raleigh made tobacco popular in England. Queen Elizabeth was able to build the English Navy with the coupons she saved.
I have relatives who would disagree with you. I hope you never see someone with COPD. Not being able to breath is a terrible thing.
With help of Wyoming Quit- net,I q uit after 63 years six
years ago.
LOL. Yeah and people used to die in their 30’s.
When will doctors add homosexuality to their list of risky health behavior?
A doctor told me that they worry about smokers having surgery due to the fact that they are prone to blood clots.
They want smokers to quit for a week before surgery.
Unintended consequences of VBP - Value Based Payment that was imposed by your health boss Slavitt before leaving.
Unless Tom Price gets a handle on CMS quickly, it will only get worse as the bureaucrats really believe that all they need is more control of our lives and they can greatly improve our lives for us.
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