Hi, Sandy ~
Wading through the yellow pages to try to find a competent physician
can be daunting, especially if you're looking for a plastic surgeon.
To help you wade through the maze, I have found the following online
resources with which to start:
Let me remind you that not all physicians (MDs, surgeons, etc.) belong
to the AMA, and there is a rift which is deepening between physicians
and some of the practices of the AMA. Whether or not they belong or
have chosen to withdraw membership is not always the best criteria for
determining who might be the best in any field of medicine you may
choose. The rift has to do with the rising costs of malpractice
insurance than with ethics, in case you are wondering.
The first place I started was with a general search for
"reconstructive plastic surgery" + Seattle, which listed way too many
plastic surgeons, most of those at the front specializing in facial
cosmetic surgery. Since that is not what you wanted, I changed tactics
and looked for the Washington State Medical Association. Their locator
site is below:
http://64.45.163.41/wsma/phylocator.html
Washington State Medical Association - use these search choices:
Seattle > Plastic Surgeons
http://64.45.163.41/wsma/findmatchnew.asp?lastname=&firstname=&city=Seattle&zip=&Specialty=Plastic+Surgery&B1=Find
I also looked at the American Medical Association (AMA) at:
http://64.45.163.41/wsma/phylocator.html
Search criteria results ...
American Medical Association
Choose > Plastic Surgeons > Seattle Washington
http://www.ama-assn.org/iwcf/iwcfmgr206/SESSION_ID=1063855/SESSION_AR=0/frm_name=aps_specialty
You can then match those choices against a Health Care rating site
online, the Health Care Grades site.
http://www.healthgrades.com/
The Health Care Grades free search listed 86 surgeons using this
criteria:
Click on > Search By City/State
Select > Washington
Select > Seattle
Select > Plastic Surgery
Read the agreement which explains their rating service and their
criteria
If you agree to the terms of service, click on "I Agree"
And you will get the list of 86 surgeons from which to choose
===============
Finally, after you have used any and/or all of the above criteria, it
doesn't hurt to call the hospital where your client would prefer to
have the surgery performed and ask to speak to the charge nurse on
that unit (usually surgery).
While nurses may be reluctant to come right out and recommend a
physician for many reasons, including ethical and fear of some sort of
problem, carefully wording your inquiry can often get you the
information you are seeking.
Asking questions like "I think I need to have surgery on my leg, and I
am considering Dr. White, Dr. Brown and Dr. Black, but I don't know
which would be the best", which do you recommend?
Or checking with a rehab clinic that is not connected with a
particular clinical specialty group (for rehabilitation post-surgery)
and asking them who they recommend is another way.
One enterprising young lady just came out and asked "If you were going
to have your leg operated on, who would you choose?" and got the
answer she was looking for.
You can also ask your own physician who he might recommend, it may be
a lot easier than wading through all the information above.
But what you have is some information and a way to start.
I hope this helps, and good luck.
Serenata |
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