Recommendation for neuro surgeon (Knoxville, Kingsport: home, to buy, school)

[kari95667]

Hi there,
Looking for any recommendations y'all might have for a neuro surgeon, in the tri-cities area or Knoxville area. Moving to tri-cities area this summer & will be in need of a surgeon.
Low back is fused & have further herniated discs.
Any info you have, I'd be so thankful for.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by kari95667

Hi there,
Looking for any recommendations y'all might have for a neuro surgeon, in the tri-cities area or Knoxville area. Moving to tri-cities area this summer & will be in need of a surgeon.
Low back is fused & have further herniated discs.
Any info you have, I'd be so thankful for.

There are some in Knoxville that are good. Also consider Atlanta or Nashville for even better.

Normally we don’t allow duplicate posts but this would be an exception if you want to post there also.

[Serious Conversation]

I also wouldn’t use the local health system for anything major. It has some glaring issues. Look up Dani Cook on Facebook, who is a semi-public figure leading protests against the system, for more info. She has a lot of live videos and other information.

I was initially in support of the changes, but as time goes on, I don’t see the purported benefits and we also have a lot of new problems that weren’t there before.

[rccrain]

I am the opposite of SC. I was initially against the merger because what the merger meant was so obvious, and now it's happening. But the thing is that now that the deal is done, there is no going back. So the only way forward is to buy in and make it the best we can.

For example, as I understand it, our area is currently recruiting multiple pediatric neurologists which has never happened before. In the past we've only had one. And for that reason we've been having trouble keeping/recruiting certain specialists as they prefer not to be the only one in a system because then they are always on-call. To me the main benefits of the new system will be more access to specialists and more/better research/treatments. Obviously, the downside will be higher prices and cost reductions in areas that were redundant. Kingsport and Bristol will lose "in-town" services and have to travel to JC. Everyone should have seen this coming.

[Ted Bear]

Long time unstable spine patient resulting from fracture and a couple of surgeries (none in the Tri Cities area).


I have tried to follow up with local spine specialists, but there really are none. Yes, some will do a fusion with screws or rods or a cage, but it is "one of one" sort of thing. There is no team of outstanding, highly experienced professionals working on you. Some, which I have seen, are down right dangerous. It just makes sense when you are dealing with a small population area and no major medical school. ETSU has a fine medical school, but they are not doing world class of anything. Again, it's the numbers.


If you are looking for world class surgeons who are up to speed on the latest techniques, doing in depth research and writing about it, get to a major regional center. U Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and maybe Duke (although I hear shaky things about them recently---reputation has gotten to them) would be the places to look.


Good luck. I would not avoid the Tri Cities area because of this challenge. It is like this across America when your home base is a rural community. You simply have to travel to get highly specialized services to deal with intricate medical requirements.

[GypsyBride]

Go to the best doctor you can afford anywhere int he country for what you need. Father just had local brain tumor surgery and lots of complications, now having to redo it with a better doctor eslwhere. It is worth the time and money and travel to get the best care possible.

[sprintuser2014]

Health care is pretty crappy in this area, I'd look at Knoxville or even a larger city like Atlanta. You don't want anything major done around here with the poor quality of health care in the area and lack of good surgeon's.

[tdatl]

https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/

Be informed. It's quite reasonable to question the objectivity of someone making $$$ per year from manufacturers.