The loss of one Dr. Miller can not be replaced by 10 younger. poorly trained "surgeons." (i.e. "robotic surgeons). For 2 years I scrubbed and 1st Assisted in the Operating Room. them for 32 Years I administered Anesthesia in hospitals of all size. I first met Dr. Marik at Norfolk General Hospital when he was in Medical School. I had the privilege of working with surgeons who's skill in the operating room was akin to watching a skilled dancer preform a waltz, every movement was like perfection and the patient's tissue was handled, softly, almost lovingly and those patients did extremely well and had minimal if any complications. I also worked with some surgeons who made it a practice to see how "fast' they could do surgery. There was a definite lack of finesse and skill in their technique that showed up in a greater number of post operative complications in their patients.
At the age of 48 I graduated from Law School and spent several years helping defend Physicians in Mal-Practice Cases.
I have noticed that people I know who now have surgeries, seem to have more and more serious complications post surgery than I ever saw in well over 35 years of full time operating room experience.
In the German Language they do not refer to a Physician with the term "Herr Doktor" but with the special term "Der Artz". I believe there is a reason for that definite terminology. The practice of Medicine is not "science" it is a very special kind of "art". A competent surgeon is a special kind of "artist." The competent surgeon had the skill and dedication to know by "feel" what is happening in a patient and to be able to "feel" when he/she has given each patient the best chance of recovery and life.
To depend on a "robotic system" instead of on "skill and touch" is to denigrate the very "so called" Surgeon who is as deficient in his/her surgical ability and is a danger to the very patients who have (mis)placed their trust in that less skilled Surgeon, who's only fall back position is to use a robotic system.
Those who have the responsibility to monitor medical ethics of medical personnel as well as hospitals rules, should not be on the payroll. They should be independent and charged with protecting the rights of the patient. The fact that Fauci's wife was in charge of medical ethics of the CDC agency speaks volumes of what is wrong in DC.
I closed my practice as a general and trauma surgeon in February 2020, two weeks before the politicians shut the world down. I agree with everything Dr. Miller wrote. Many hospitals will buy the > $1 million robot and incur the > $100,000 dollar/year maintenance plan simply because the hospital across town has one. I call it the Medical Arms Race.
What would have happened if all the physicians fought as hard as Drs. Marik and Kory? The medical community would have protected us from the skullduggery of the CDC, FDA, NIH, ACIP, and DHS and whatever GOV agencies are trying to kill us. You left us unprotected and I have no respect for most physicians now. My physician grimaced when I mentioned IVM and wanted me to have the modRNA vaccines, which I rejected. He is worthless to me now as many in medicine are.
Sadly, this “decoupling” is not limited to medicine. My late husband was a commercial pilot for a major airline and also instructed for them on the Airbus. He was deeply dismayed at the young guns who had no love for the machine. In his words, they didn’t have ‘good hands’, depending instead on new, computerized, fly-by-wire systems.
I pray daily I never need to visit a hospital. My primary care doctor has not once, in eight years, touched me, except to place her stethoscope on my heart. Beautiful essay and thoughts from Dr. Miller. Thank you both.
I was planning on finishing up my new Covid book (almost) tonight ("SANCTIONED: The COVID Murders") but I read your article instead. I guess with the passing years, I have become one of the "old surgeons" referred to in the article. Actually, I was in the sweet spot where we learned the old way for a couple years and the new way, which for us was laparoscopic surgery for all sorts of procedures for the remaining 4. When I later did plastic and reconstructive, there were no robotic or laparoscopic techniques superior to hands on so we never used them. Many years later when I went back to do hearts on babies and small children, we did them all the old way. Divide the sternum with scissors and away you go. 12 years in residency total with the last 2 in my 50s. I don't recommend it to anyone.
Instead of I'll let you judge me on the merits. Here are a couple videos from my days doing plastic and reconstructive cases rebuilding faces of two badly burned women through my charity work in Cambodia. Don't worry: there are no gory or bloody scenes. They are much more mathematical in nature than you might think. I hope you like them. Then I'll tell the story when someone asked me on Quora , "As a surgeon, what's the scariest thing you've seen in the operating room?" It was when I had to deliver a preemie from a mother who had been stabbed in her 7th month, I think, and then after I delivered the little girl, I had to do surgery on her on a separate table because the knife thrusts got her too.
The story: I don’t know about “scary” but it was a watershed moment in the career of an about-to-graduate general surgery resident. Had I learned anything in five years of walking around here in a daze, utterly exhausted, cramming for in-service exams, stealing a quick nap in the middle of Morbidity and Mortality conference, eating out of vending machines in the middle of the night because the cafeteria closed while I was in the OR, never combing my hair because it cut into my morning sleep time?
In the early morning hours of a warm summer night in inner-city Cleveland many years ago, a deranged man repeatedly stabbed his 7 1/2 months pregnant girlfriend in her abdomen. She came in and was taken to the operating room immediately, bypassing the E.R.. An abdominal stab wound can be a serious injury depending on which internal organs are affected but in this case, the injury was compounded to the nth degree by the certainty that the fetus would abort from the trauma of whatever procedure we needed to perform on the mother. We had to deliver that baby and then address the injuries in the mother. Luckily, I had performed countless C-Sections as an intern 4 years before. In I went… Meanwhile, our circulating nurse was fast at work calling the neonatal team on call from nearby Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. By the time they arrived, I had delivered the preemie and set up another operating table next to her mother’s because, sadly, one of the the knife thrusts had pierced the uterus and opened a long through-and-through gash in the little baby’s right thigh. Upon exploring the wound, I was relieved to discover that her femoral artery was NOT severed by the knife blade. Still, the blood loss was extensive and I feared losing that little baby. Ordinarily, you would open up IV fluids to keep the pressure up in a case like this but I feared she would get pulmonary edema due to the lack of lung maturation we see in preemies . It was a delicate balancing act between just enough fluid to keep her perfused but not so much as to flood her lungs. As soon as I was finished repairing the little girl’s wounds, we handed her off to the Rainbow Babies team and off she went.. out the door of the operating room and down to the ambulance for the short trip to their most excellent neonatal intensive care unit. The other team wrapped up the bowel repair in her mother shortly after her baby had left in the ambulance. I’ll never forget that little helpless baby and her translucent skin, so delicate that I had to tie her knots gently so as not to have them tear through… Update: The mother and her beautiful little baby survived the tragedy. The little girl would be 24 years old this year… I wonder if she’s ever curious about the long and beautiful, parallel scars on her right inner thigh…
Great article! I had already decided on no vaccines ever again for anything. No surgery either if I can avoid it. I'm doing my best to taper off of and d/c most of what prescriptions I take. There really isn't any way to be sure you're getting the medication prescribed for you anyway! I had bilateral knee replacements in 2011 and the artificial joints will probably last longer and I could possibly avoid revisions if there isn't so much of me! I want to thank you very much for the time and space to figure that out for myself!!
Very compelling article especially 2 days after I had a total knee replacement assisted by robotics. I’d never even heard of electrocautery, I will ask the surgeon which was used. As a patient you don’t even know what questions to ask. Other than childbirth decades ago,I haven’t been to a western doctor. For 18 years I managed knee pain with acupuncture, Chi Gong and an anti-inflammatory diet. I’m strong and healthy but I think of my 93 year old mother and the multiple bad surgical results she has suffered. She’s always had complete trust in what any doctor tells her or prescribes for her.
I’m referring a friend, my husband, who is a very thoughtful surgeon. He was the first to tell me that vaccines are not necessary. He also went along with my decision not to vaccinate our children. I will always love him for marrying me, a crazy RN, who trusts very few physicians.
After a steady diet of noodles my partner formed two hernias. I did some research and found that in the entire country there was only one surgeon offering traditional hernia repair. Every other surgeon simply glues in the mesh fabric that has been the cause of so much misery in women, and now quite a few men. When I requested the referral my GP had never heard of just stitching the torn tissues back together, though there is a brisk trade in quick turnaround tourist hernia ops in India.
My partner crossed the country to Sydney for the procedure, and after examination the surgeon threw in a third hernia repair the GP and ultrasound technician had missed. We were provided with post surgery diet and supplement recommendations. None of my friends receiving treatment from general or even specialist surgeons locally had ever received post op diet and supplement advice. There was also an exercise regimen for athletes to get back up to peak performance. My partner healed well with only slight scars to show for it, and has never eaten noodles again. Not every surgeon who does a good job will be one who views patients holistically, but I'm willing to bet that every surgeon who does, does a good job.
Beautiful article. I am a surgeon, and some of the wisest words I heard in training were this: ‘Respect the tonsil’. It is so easy (and commonplace) to forget the respect that is owed each and every patient who places themselves in our care- either in the clinic or operating room. The ‘Surgeons are gods’ mentality is destructive- to both the surgeon and patient. The excellent surgeon is one who fully honors and respects the patient for whom he or she serves.
As a person who just only happens to "juggle" with steel, wood, plastics, etc. with his own hands (and various tools) on a daily basis, I'm moved by your deeply disturbing & compelling article !!
To read what havoc the "cool" but soulless robotics is creating in medicine and what pain it is inflicting on its "victims and cash-cows" (formerly called patients) makes me shudder.
Better not to spend a thought about what upcoming AGI will be causing in general society with outcomes on a scale magnitudes worse ...
Bleak times ahead ... let us detach from the madness and keep trying our best in an independent, human way.
In light of this excellent article, I have to ask, how does a patient, who knows the state of medical care, find a truly skilled physician, much less a surgeon?
The loss of one Dr. Miller can not be replaced by 10 younger. poorly trained "surgeons." (i.e. "robotic surgeons). For 2 years I scrubbed and 1st Assisted in the Operating Room. them for 32 Years I administered Anesthesia in hospitals of all size. I first met Dr. Marik at Norfolk General Hospital when he was in Medical School. I had the privilege of working with surgeons who's skill in the operating room was akin to watching a skilled dancer preform a waltz, every movement was like perfection and the patient's tissue was handled, softly, almost lovingly and those patients did extremely well and had minimal if any complications. I also worked with some surgeons who made it a practice to see how "fast' they could do surgery. There was a definite lack of finesse and skill in their technique that showed up in a greater number of post operative complications in their patients.
At the age of 48 I graduated from Law School and spent several years helping defend Physicians in Mal-Practice Cases.
I have noticed that people I know who now have surgeries, seem to have more and more serious complications post surgery than I ever saw in well over 35 years of full time operating room experience.
In the German Language they do not refer to a Physician with the term "Herr Doktor" but with the special term "Der Artz". I believe there is a reason for that definite terminology. The practice of Medicine is not "science" it is a very special kind of "art". A competent surgeon is a special kind of "artist." The competent surgeon had the skill and dedication to know by "feel" what is happening in a patient and to be able to "feel" when he/she has given each patient the best chance of recovery and life.
To depend on a "robotic system" instead of on "skill and touch" is to denigrate the very "so called" Surgeon who is as deficient in his/her surgical ability and is a danger to the very patients who have (mis)placed their trust in that less skilled Surgeon, who's only fall back position is to use a robotic system.
Those who have the responsibility to monitor medical ethics of medical personnel as well as hospitals rules, should not be on the payroll. They should be independent and charged with protecting the rights of the patient. The fact that Fauci's wife was in charge of medical ethics of the CDC agency speaks volumes of what is wrong in DC.
I closed my practice as a general and trauma surgeon in February 2020, two weeks before the politicians shut the world down. I agree with everything Dr. Miller wrote. Many hospitals will buy the > $1 million robot and incur the > $100,000 dollar/year maintenance plan simply because the hospital across town has one. I call it the Medical Arms Race.
What would have happened if all the physicians fought as hard as Drs. Marik and Kory? The medical community would have protected us from the skullduggery of the CDC, FDA, NIH, ACIP, and DHS and whatever GOV agencies are trying to kill us. You left us unprotected and I have no respect for most physicians now. My physician grimaced when I mentioned IVM and wanted me to have the modRNA vaccines, which I rejected. He is worthless to me now as many in medicine are.
Sadly, this “decoupling” is not limited to medicine. My late husband was a commercial pilot for a major airline and also instructed for them on the Airbus. He was deeply dismayed at the young guns who had no love for the machine. In his words, they didn’t have ‘good hands’, depending instead on new, computerized, fly-by-wire systems.
I pray daily I never need to visit a hospital. My primary care doctor has not once, in eight years, touched me, except to place her stethoscope on my heart. Beautiful essay and thoughts from Dr. Miller. Thank you both.
I was planning on finishing up my new Covid book (almost) tonight ("SANCTIONED: The COVID Murders") but I read your article instead. I guess with the passing years, I have become one of the "old surgeons" referred to in the article. Actually, I was in the sweet spot where we learned the old way for a couple years and the new way, which for us was laparoscopic surgery for all sorts of procedures for the remaining 4. When I later did plastic and reconstructive, there were no robotic or laparoscopic techniques superior to hands on so we never used them. Many years later when I went back to do hearts on babies and small children, we did them all the old way. Divide the sternum with scissors and away you go. 12 years in residency total with the last 2 in my 50s. I don't recommend it to anyone.
Instead of I'll let you judge me on the merits. Here are a couple videos from my days doing plastic and reconstructive cases rebuilding faces of two badly burned women through my charity work in Cambodia. Don't worry: there are no gory or bloody scenes. They are much more mathematical in nature than you might think. I hope you like them. Then I'll tell the story when someone asked me on Quora , "As a surgeon, what's the scariest thing you've seen in the operating room?" It was when I had to deliver a preemie from a mother who had been stabbed in her 7th month, I think, and then after I delivered the little girl, I had to do surgery on her on a separate table because the knife thrusts got her too.
The videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNkAhEe2SY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjr4Q3zgf6Y
The story: I don’t know about “scary” but it was a watershed moment in the career of an about-to-graduate general surgery resident. Had I learned anything in five years of walking around here in a daze, utterly exhausted, cramming for in-service exams, stealing a quick nap in the middle of Morbidity and Mortality conference, eating out of vending machines in the middle of the night because the cafeteria closed while I was in the OR, never combing my hair because it cut into my morning sleep time?
In the early morning hours of a warm summer night in inner-city Cleveland many years ago, a deranged man repeatedly stabbed his 7 1/2 months pregnant girlfriend in her abdomen. She came in and was taken to the operating room immediately, bypassing the E.R.. An abdominal stab wound can be a serious injury depending on which internal organs are affected but in this case, the injury was compounded to the nth degree by the certainty that the fetus would abort from the trauma of whatever procedure we needed to perform on the mother. We had to deliver that baby and then address the injuries in the mother. Luckily, I had performed countless C-Sections as an intern 4 years before. In I went… Meanwhile, our circulating nurse was fast at work calling the neonatal team on call from nearby Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. By the time they arrived, I had delivered the preemie and set up another operating table next to her mother’s because, sadly, one of the the knife thrusts had pierced the uterus and opened a long through-and-through gash in the little baby’s right thigh. Upon exploring the wound, I was relieved to discover that her femoral artery was NOT severed by the knife blade. Still, the blood loss was extensive and I feared losing that little baby. Ordinarily, you would open up IV fluids to keep the pressure up in a case like this but I feared she would get pulmonary edema due to the lack of lung maturation we see in preemies . It was a delicate balancing act between just enough fluid to keep her perfused but not so much as to flood her lungs. As soon as I was finished repairing the little girl’s wounds, we handed her off to the Rainbow Babies team and off she went.. out the door of the operating room and down to the ambulance for the short trip to their most excellent neonatal intensive care unit. The other team wrapped up the bowel repair in her mother shortly after her baby had left in the ambulance. I’ll never forget that little helpless baby and her translucent skin, so delicate that I had to tie her knots gently so as not to have them tear through… Update: The mother and her beautiful little baby survived the tragedy. The little girl would be 24 years old this year… I wonder if she’s ever curious about the long and beautiful, parallel scars on her right inner thigh…
Great article! I had already decided on no vaccines ever again for anything. No surgery either if I can avoid it. I'm doing my best to taper off of and d/c most of what prescriptions I take. There really isn't any way to be sure you're getting the medication prescribed for you anyway! I had bilateral knee replacements in 2011 and the artificial joints will probably last longer and I could possibly avoid revisions if there isn't so much of me! I want to thank you very much for the time and space to figure that out for myself!!
Very compelling article especially 2 days after I had a total knee replacement assisted by robotics. I’d never even heard of electrocautery, I will ask the surgeon which was used. As a patient you don’t even know what questions to ask. Other than childbirth decades ago,I haven’t been to a western doctor. For 18 years I managed knee pain with acupuncture, Chi Gong and an anti-inflammatory diet. I’m strong and healthy but I think of my 93 year old mother and the multiple bad surgical results she has suffered. She’s always had complete trust in what any doctor tells her or prescribes for her.
Thank you so much for this important information
I’m referring a friend, my husband, who is a very thoughtful surgeon. He was the first to tell me that vaccines are not necessary. He also went along with my decision not to vaccinate our children. I will always love him for marrying me, a crazy RN, who trusts very few physicians.
After a steady diet of noodles my partner formed two hernias. I did some research and found that in the entire country there was only one surgeon offering traditional hernia repair. Every other surgeon simply glues in the mesh fabric that has been the cause of so much misery in women, and now quite a few men. When I requested the referral my GP had never heard of just stitching the torn tissues back together, though there is a brisk trade in quick turnaround tourist hernia ops in India.
My partner crossed the country to Sydney for the procedure, and after examination the surgeon threw in a third hernia repair the GP and ultrasound technician had missed. We were provided with post surgery diet and supplement recommendations. None of my friends receiving treatment from general or even specialist surgeons locally had ever received post op diet and supplement advice. There was also an exercise regimen for athletes to get back up to peak performance. My partner healed well with only slight scars to show for it, and has never eaten noodles again. Not every surgeon who does a good job will be one who views patients holistically, but I'm willing to bet that every surgeon who does, does a good job.
Beautiful article. I am a surgeon, and some of the wisest words I heard in training were this: ‘Respect the tonsil’. It is so easy (and commonplace) to forget the respect that is owed each and every patient who places themselves in our care- either in the clinic or operating room. The ‘Surgeons are gods’ mentality is destructive- to both the surgeon and patient. The excellent surgeon is one who fully honors and respects the patient for whom he or she serves.
As a person who just only happens to "juggle" with steel, wood, plastics, etc. with his own hands (and various tools) on a daily basis, I'm moved by your deeply disturbing & compelling article !!
To read what havoc the "cool" but soulless robotics is creating in medicine and what pain it is inflicting on its "victims and cash-cows" (formerly called patients) makes me shudder.
Better not to spend a thought about what upcoming AGI will be causing in general society with outcomes on a scale magnitudes worse ...
Bleak times ahead ... let us detach from the madness and keep trying our best in an independent, human way.
Excellent article
The physical touching of the patient is what the Medicare “wellness” exam fails to do. This is Government-directed negligence.
In light of this excellent article, I have to ask, how does a patient, who knows the state of medical care, find a truly skilled physician, much less a surgeon?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386792/
This movie was great. The great esteemed doctor couldn't do the surgery correctly but his handyman could.
I'm one of those guys that's very good with small things.
But yet, I cannot memorize tons of words and charts to become a doctor. They pretty much turned medicine into how law became... A club.
And that leads to inventions that create bullshit, yet medicine thinks it's useful for their pseudoscience experiments.
https://robc137.substack.com/p/pcr-fails-logic-from-the-start-sorry