Posted April 22, 2021 in Uncategorized
Friends:
First, and most importantly, I thank you for the faith, trust, and confidence you have placed in me over the years. I mean it.
You may have seen my name and face recently on news and media outlets. It was a five-minute hiccup that has inspired unjustified conclusions and false innuendo. You deserve the facts. You deserve the truth.
On Thursday, February 25th, I had a busy operating schedule. Five cases were booked. Patients had cleared their schedules for this date. I was fully prepared to honor my commitments to these patients.
In the background, I had a date scheduled with the traffic court. Before COVID, I would have juggled this court appearance with the practice schedule. With COVID, we were forced to use Zoom. The court asked I be available within 3PM to 5PM window. I reasonably believed my five cases would be finished by then. And, for the most part, I was. I had finished the technical aspects of my last case. My fully trained plastic surgical fellow was performing the remaining part. He has nine years of training after graduating from medical school. He was fully competent to close the wound – with my presence or without. And he was doing that.
Shockingly, traffic court was on time. My staff brought the phone up to the surgical suite. I should have stepped into the hall for five minutes. The Zoom call kept cutting in and out. The judge did what judges do, assumed control of the courtroom. I’m comfortable in my domain – the operating room. Like 99% of everyone else, the courtroom is not my domain. I am not comfortable in a courtroom, much less a courtroom over Zoom. Who is?
At no point and no time was my patient in harm’s way. She did well. She is delighted with her outcome.
At no point and no time was confidentiality breached. The patient was never identifiable on the Zoom call. She is fully aware of the incident. She is fully supportive.
Across the country every day, thousands of surgeons take short breaks -only when it is fully safe for the patient. Surgeons may take a short bathroom break, eat a protein bar, meet with a pathologist to check on a biopsy, or see a radiologist to check an imaging study. It’s been that way for decades. No surgeon would ever leave a patient for even a second unless it was safe. My attention was diverted for less than five minutes on Zoom ONLY because it was safe and this patient was in excellent hands.
The aftermath has been difficult for me, my practice, and my family. The sole reason is because the media has painted a picture that I’m cavalier and more concerned with trivial pursuits than patient welfare. That picture is false.
Back to where we started. You already know me. You know my skill set. You know my practice philosophy. You know my unconditional love for all of my patients. If you’ve seen the news story, surely you’re scratching your head wondering who this edited person is. Since undoubtedly you’ve spent more than five minutes with me in the past, trust what you know – know that it is different from the image the media is feeding.
My interview with another surgeon can be heard on: https://medicaljustice.com/dr-scott-green-surgeon-traffic-court-real-story/
If you’ve read this far, thanks.