[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by BBQMan

GG, I applaud your support of Physicians you believe to be capable. Unfortunately, in my experience, they are not. We draw the physicians who cannot make a living in anything other than a Medicare environment. In my case, I had a heart problem that required a pacemaker. The pacemaker was installed, (put in place) by a surgeon in a large cardiac practice, with a Villages office. The procedure was done at LRMC. Nothing got better. I had a series of tests over the next few months. Action resulting - zero. Choosing to try to live, I went to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. The initial office exam showed that my pacemaker was not working correctly. The Medtronic rep confirmed this.

Initial surgery was done to repair the pacemaker. Surgery showed that (1) one of the two leads was never attached; (2) the other lead had very high impedance; and (3) it was not the right pacemaker to start with. The surgeon, at a subsequent operation put in place a three lead, biventricular pacemaker. I'm doing well now, thanks to Mayo and in no way thanks to to the local cardiologists. If it were up to them, I'd be dead.

I had a similar experienced with my wife. She fell and broke her hip. I interrupted the surgery to discover that after 45 minutes, they did not have an IV capable of providing the need meds to her. If this is not incompetence, please define it for me.

My encouragement to my fellow Villagers is (1) if you need a flu shot go to you local doctor; (2) if you have any reason to believe your may seriously ill – get out of town! The physicians in the Villages settled here either to retire or because they were not accepted as competent by their peers. No one came here to blaze new trails or be a leader in their specialty.

I don't think I said anything in support of any local medical institution. I haven't consulted anyone here for cancer or heart, we return to Cincinnati for those continued medical evaluations. I have no experience with local hospitals. We see a GP here.