Yes. There isn't much doubt about wanting the pump.
The problem here in southern New Hampshire is in
finding a low risk doctor to do it.
The complication rate for intrathecal pumps is
rather high --- maybe 40%, mostly involving the
catheter. Like a spinal tap, the catheter is
inserted at the usual safe place where the cord is
unbundled. Unlike a tap, the catheter then bends
upward for several inches to where the cord is more
vulnerable. I would like this to be performed by
someone who can do it in his/her sleep.
The first referal does something like three per year.
Not often enough for my confidence. The second chap
does a zillion. [Maybe dozens.]
However, I looked this doctor up in the Massachusetts
database. In his category, 89% of the Mass. doctors
had NO malpractice settlements in the past ten years.
This doctor has had TEN. That isn't definitive, but
it is unsettling. The first doctor is not listed in
the database.
It may be that the category, being a catch-all,
consists mostly of safe disciplines and that all
doctors doing what he does have malpractice records,
i.e., he could be the best. Maybe I should relax.
This is why I am less than totally confident.
Alton, who would like his new pump to be as worry
free as his new rear end suspension (hip prothesis)