Surgery and Surgeons
She Was Told Surgery Would Cost About $1,300. Then the Bill Came: $229,000.
When Lisa Melody French needed back surgery after a car accident, she went to a hospital near her home outside Denver, which reviewed her insurance information and told her she would be personally responsible for paying about $1,337. But after the surgery, the hospital claimed that it had “misread” her insurance card and that she […]
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In Ukraine, Gruesome Injuries and Not Enough Doctors to Treat Them
Operating with skeleton crews, doctors and nurses race to save limbs, and lives. It’s a grim routine for medical personnel often working around the clock. And not all limbs can be saved. May 18, 2022 KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Days after Russian forces invaded, Yaroslav Bohak, a young cardiovascular surgeon, was at home with his family […]
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How Ben Got His Penis
When Bluebond-Langner started her rounds, she says, older surgeons warned, “Be careful what you’re known for.” Unheeding, she started assembling the training she would need to perform top surgery, vaginoplasty, phalloplasty and metoidioplasty (a less involved surgery that constructs a smaller penis using only the natal tissue of the clitoris). This training took her all […]
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My Daughter Is Having Sex With Her Best Friend. Must I Tell Her Mom?
I am an anesthesiologist at a busy multisurgeon plastic-surgery practice. One of the surgeons has started offering a “tongue bifurcation” procedure wherein the tongue is split down the middle, creating a lizardlike appearance for patients who are interested in body modification. I find I have a deep aversion to this surgery, to the point where […]
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Patient Who Recieved Groundbreaking Pig Heart Transplant Dies
The first person to have his failing heart replaced with that of a genetically altered pig in a groundbreaking operation died Tuesday afternoon at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two months after the transplant surgery. David Bennett Sr., who lived in Maryland, was 57. He had severe heart disease, and had agreed to receive […]
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Kidneys From a Genetically Altered Pig Are Implanted in a Brain-Dead Patient
According to the surgical team, the pig kidneys started functioning and making urine after about 23 minutes and continued to do so for three days, though one kidney made more urine than the other. The patients’s own kidneys were removed, and there were no signs indicating rejection of the pig organs. Dr. Jayme Locke, the […]
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In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig
“It was either die or do this transplant,” Mr. Bennett said before the surgery, according to officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.” Dr. Griffith said he first broached the experimental treatment in mid-December, a “memorable” and […]
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