An Open Letter to the American College of Surgeons: Residency Training in Gynecology Is Dangerously Deficient.
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by Hooman Noorchashm
October 1, 2017 - Medium
I’ve been accused of having an “axe to grind” with OB/GYNs.
I’ve been accused of stereotyping and of being offensive to a whole group of doctors.
I’ve been told to mind my own business and focus on my own specialty.
But why am I fully qualified to comment to you?
Because I do, as a matter of fact, have an “axe to grind”. And this axe is sharply directed at a group of surgeons I know harm women at a far higher rate than is acceptable because they are inadequately trained.
And, yes, my wife died from a negligent complication at the hands of reckless gynecologists, when they chose to mince up a tumor inside her belly as a negligent routine of theirs using a “power morcellator”.
So, I assure you, that I am more than qualified to comment to you and expect a correct response from you — not only as a colleague but as a patient-advocate.
To be clear, I know some very competent OB/GYNs — and I have some good friends who are Gynecologists. So, my critique is not about this group of doctors’ moral character or beneficent intent. It’s about the undeniable fact that their residency training programs are dangerously deficient and do not produce technically safe surgeons.
OB/GYNs, on the whole, are bad surgeons. Not because they deliberately choose to be so — rather, they are so by virtue of the extremely limited time they spend training as abdominal surgeons, as you well know.
Most OB/GYNs eventually settle into a practice pattern and are well protected from litigation by virtue of our laws and the legal defenses provided them by their professional societies, like ACOG and AAGL.
But, irrespective of legal defensibility, the deficient surgical training of gynecologists is a clear and present danger to the health of the women who trust these well-decorated surgeons.
Let me dissect what I mean — for the benefit of the public.
