The Surgery Handbook: A Guide to Understanding Your Operation
Ruggieri, a surgeon, has listened to the complaints and questions raised by his patients; hence, this aid to patients and potential patients seeking understanding of what can be a frightening and even devastating situation. Ruggieri introduces the patient and the patient's family to the basics of what surgeons and surgery do. He advises on how to choose a surgeon, how to get a second opinion, and what the anesthesiologist and other health-care workers do; and he discusses risks and the meaning of that much abused term. Leaving the details of specific operations to be learned in the actual event of surgical preparation, he guides prospective patients through a hospital's surgical routine, the hospital discharge procedure, and recovery at home. He isn't all rosy reassurance, though, for he maintains that 50 percent of surgical patients' pain is undertreated. Throughout, he emphasizes that a patient consulting with physicians and hospital staff should have another person at hand to help take notes and ask questions.William Beatty