FIR ST L O O K The American Society of Breast Surgeons Virtual Meeting: Page 3
GENERAL SURGERY NEWS The Independent Monthly Newspaper for the General Surgeon
GeneralSurgeryNews.com
August 2020 • Volume 47 • Number 8
Cancel? Postpone? Go Virtual?
Hindsight: If Only We Knew Then
Behind the Tough Decisions Societies Are Making About Meetings During COVID-19
Surgeons Reminisce About Lessons Learned on Life, Surgical Careers
By MONICA J. SMITH
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n early spring, as the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic sank in, membership organizations had some hard decisions to make about their annual meetings: Postpone to a later date? Cut your losses and cancel? Or switch to a virtual format? “We considered all of those,” said Jill Dietz, MD, the director of breast operations at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and president of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS). Initially, they discussed moving the early May meeting to November, but that would have complicated their financial obligation with the Las Vegas meeting site. It would have resulted in planning for two meetings at once, and would have rendered null the research selected for presentation in 2020. “We receive at least 300 abstracts every year and accept
By MONICA J. SMITH
New Orleans—Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, and few of us pass through life without wondering how things might have been different if we’d known then what we know now. But as Laura Witherspoon, MD, observed, reflecting on the panel topic, “Things I Wish I Had Known,” “that’s kind of like wishing your life away, because everything you didn’t know at the beginning and learn along the way is your life’s story.” She and three other surgeons shared their memories, advice and encouragement at the 2020 Southeastern Surgical Congress.
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THE RESIDENT CORNER
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MONEY MATTERS
Stories of Surgery
Surprise Medical Bills: An Overview
By BARRET HALGAS, MD
Unexpected Out-of-Network Charges
M
ost will recall that in the he Greek epic poem, “The he Odyssey,” the warrior Odysseus eus is desperately trying to return n home after war. As the gods on Mount Olympus argue over his fate, the warrior fights to be reunited with his wife and son, a very familiar narrative in ancient Greek literature (nostos). In the 17th century, nostos became medical terminology when the suffix “–algia” was added and homesick soldiers at war were diagnosed with nostalgia. Historians have always hesitated to assign authorship to a single writer named Homer. Rather, the collection of poems is more
By VICTORIA STERN
M
ore than $28,000 to remove an appendix, almost $94,000 for spinal surgery, over $500,000 for lifesaving dialysis treatment—these figures represent just a few of the unexpected medical bills patients have received, according to Kaiser Health News’ “Bill of the Month” column. Concerns about surprise bills continue to mount as more people share their stories and as researchers dig into the extent of the problem. “Surprise medical bills can be financially devastating,” said Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH,
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S URGEONS’ LOU N G E
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Bariatric Surgery Complications
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EXTENDED HERNIA COVERAGE
OP IN ION
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The ‘Holy Grail’ of Lap Chole
ON THE SPOT
19 The Art of Herniology, Part 2 facebook.com/generalsurgerynews
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@gensurgnews
OPINION
A Tribute to Health Care’s First Responders By HENRY BUCHWALD, MD, PhD
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n my June 2020 column, I briefly reviewed 14 prior major pandemics and epidemics. In the recorded his-tories of these events, doctors and other er health care personnel were always “first responders,” often at great personal peril. COVID-19 has been no exception; it has been our time to be first responders. This article reviews health care responses from both coasts and from the heartland, as well as the leadership provided by the American College of Surgeons. I would like to stress that these few examples are drawn from the excellent Continued on page 30
