Questions to Ask Your Surgeon Before Committing

Ask for Documents, Denominators, and Decision Rules

A useful consultation produces verifiable details about the exact operation and care pathway. Different surgeons can reasonably use different methods. The quality signal is whether the answer is specific, current, documented, and connected to what happens when the plan does not go as expected.

Credentials and Facility

• What is your current license, orthopedic specialty training, limb-reconstruction training, and hospital privilege for this procedure?
• Which legal medical entity and facility will provide surgery, anesthesia, admission, emergency care, and follow-up?
• What emergency, intensive-care, blood, microbiology, and transfer capability is available?
• How many comparable cases did you personally perform in the last 12 months, and how is that number documented?

Procedure and Device

• What exact indication, segment, approach, osteotomy, fixation method, and associated procedures are proposed?
• What is the manufacturer, model, diameter, stroke, catalog family, and source of each implant?
• What are the current regulator status, recall status, instructions for use, patient limits, load restrictions, and removal instruction?
• Why is this method preferable for my anatomy and goals, and what are the alternatives including no surgery?
• What starting target is proposed, and which findings cause a slower rate, pause, reversal, earlier stop, or another operation?

Outcomes and Complications

• Provide outcomes for the same indication, segment, device, unilateral or bilateral plan, and follow-up period.
• For every rate, what is the numerator, denominator, severity definition, and missing-follow-up count?
• How many patients required an unplanned operation, transfer, early stop, or persistent functional limitation?
• Who collects outcomes, are patient-reported and functional measures included, and are results independently audited or published?

Monitoring and Rehabilitation

• Who measures joint motion, strength, gait, nerve function, wounds, and safe loading, and how often?
• Which image views and cadence are required, who reviews them, and what is the guaranteed review time?
• What supervised and home therapy is required, and what happens when a target is missed?
• What caregiver, housing, equipment, and accessible-transport requirements must be met?

Remote and Emergency Care

• How long must I remain locally, and what clinical criteria permit travel?
• Which local clinician and therapist have accepted follow-up, and can you communicate directly with them?
• What is the routine, urgent, and after-hours contact route, including weekends and time zones?
• Which symptoms go directly to local emergency care rather than waiting for your reply?
• Who can perform revision or removal locally and who has the correct tools and implant records?

Costs and Contract

• Provide an itemized quote naming every clinician, facility service, implant, hospital night, therapy session, image, and follow-up period.
• Which removal, revision, complication, extended-stay, and return-travel costs are included or excluded?
• What are cancellation, refund, target-change, transfer-of-care, and dispute terms, and which entity receives payment?

Consent Quality

• Can I receive the consent form, implant information, and full plan before making a nonrefundable payment?
• How are psychological readiness, expectations, and voluntary decision-making assessed?
• Can I obtain an independent opinion and speak with my own clinician without a deadline or price pressure?

Answers That Need More Verification

• Guaranteed centimeters, guaranteed return dates, zero complications, or a device described without exact model and current recall status.
• Rates without denominator, severity definition, follow-up, or comparable patient group.
• Remote follow-up that depends only on messaging a coordinator or sending compressed image screenshots.
• Pressure to pay before receiving the facility identity, consent, itemized scope, and complication plan.
• Medication, distraction, or loading instructions that are verbal, generic, or delegated without clear clinical ownership.