Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Giddyup5, post: 2456013, member: 804"] This entire thread has been interesting as an orthopedic surgeon. 1). Dr. James Andrews has been fantastic for the field of orthopedics. The reason he gets so many consults is because he has made a business taking care of athletes. And in a society where these athletes are paid millions and millions of dollars, no medical staff/agent/organization wants to be held accountable (or be the scapegoat) for not getting the "bests" opinion. Don't get me wrong, he has done a lot for the field, and also produces great results, but the aura of Andrews today (in our profession) is not exactly what is portrayed in the media. Case in point: [URL="http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3658987"]Brady has more surgery, return to Pats unknown[/URL] Tom Brady had his ACL/MCL surgery be Dr. Neel ElAttrache out of Kerlan Jobe in LA in 2008. He is a excellent surgeon--world renown. As we all know, Brady ended up having multiple infections, requiring multiple surgeries that threatened his career. At that time, Neel was under tremendous public scrutiny regarding something that is a unfortunate risk for all patients undergoing ACL/MCL surgery (infection). The risk exists for everyone. Neel told a story at one of the conferences I attended where he was genuinely concerned about his career because of the public backlash he was receiving (1 public complication compared to the 1200+ successful operations he does a year). He even received death threats. Now Jimmy Andrews comes to his aid and makes a public statement endorsing ElAttrache and all of a sudden all the scrutiny and angst dies. If Jimmy says Neel is a good doctor, it must have just been bad luck... There are prob 10-15 surgeons in this country who operate on high level athletes. But none have the public support and teflon armor that Andrews has. Therefore, even if ElAttrach, Dave Altcheck, Dan Cooper, Laprade, Bradley are planning on operating on a athlete, they will almost always consult Dr. Andrews so they have his endorsement and part of his clout. In fact, its the agents who before the professional athlete even finishes the game has already directed their care for a consult by Dr. Andrews. Dr. Andrews is 75 years old. Interestingly, he is well known for ACL injuries and Tommy John Surgery. Shoulder instability (AG's issue) is actually something he is not renowned for. The surgeon who did AG surgery at UConn IS actually internationally recognized for his expertise in shoulder instability for whatever that is worth. Personally, there are numerous surgeons I would go to before going to Andrews...but hey thats just me. Just like any other trade, when you work in the field, you know what is over and under-rated. 2). Fascination with NYC and Boston hospitals I would urge you to consider more than US News week rankings on where to get your personal orthopedic care. Many of those rankings are based on research/NIH grants $$ that inflate their stats. For example, The Andrews Institute is not even in the top 50. 3). There are some posters with accurate factual information regarding shoulder injuries. And some that are completely off. Please be careful regarding what you believe. Anyways, I do not have any more inside info on the current status of AG shoulder but am hoping for the best. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach