Who Is the Best Cardiac Surgeon, Cardiologist or Heart Doctor?

People in the gulf are always after the ‘best’ specialist in any field of medicine. I get asked this question, in one form or the other, multiple times a week, “who is the best specialist in Kuwait?” In fact, I get the same question from people with heart disease reaching out to me on social media from neighboring countries including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman, and Qatar. I have even received this question from as far as Australia!

The drive behind this question is mainly because there is a general mistrust of the medical system. The reasons behind this might be multi-faceted. Firstly, some physicians are not entirely honest with their patients. They act in a paternalistic manner and think that patients are unable to handle the truth about their condition and hence give an embellished version of the truth to protect them. On the other hand, relatives sometimes ask doctors to lie to the patient by withholding bad news, or suffer their wrath.

Secondly, living in a Muslim country one is quickly introduced to the “in shaa allah” phenomenon. The term literally means “God willing”, and every time someone indicates the intent to do something in the future, the term “in shaa allah” should follow. Some doctors abuse this term and use it to instill false hope into patients’ lives when the prognosis is poor or if the risk of a procedure is excessive, “in shaa allah the patient will survive” is used instead of clearly stating that the situation is hopeless or the risks are high.

Thirdly, the market is filled with non-specialized or specialized but poorly trained doctors. Only one bad experience is needed for a person’s trust in medical professionals to be shaken. It does not help that some doctors criticize their colleagues’ decisions or recommendations in order to indicate superiority over others.

Moreover, the media is always reporting negative stories of “medical error” before all the facts are gathered to indicate whether an error has truly occurred or not. Combine that with a public who is foreign to the term ‘complications’ and thinks every deviation from the norm as a negligent error. The result is the spread of the false impression that lethal negligent medical acts are rampant and no physician is competent.

It might become clear that in an environment of mistrust patients are not really asking about the “best” or “number one” expert in any given specialty, but are looking for a competent, well trained and safe specialist from whom they will get good compassionate care. And in order to find such a specialist one has to ask the following 5 questions.

1. Where did the specialist do his training? I am not trying to promote one place over the other, however, there are some institutions that are known to be great training places and have produced excellent specialists. On the other hand, there are other places that are also known as bad training centers. It is imperative that patients do their homework.
2. Has the specialist attained specialty board certification? Attending a school for a few years is one thing, but acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to master what was taught is another. It is therefore important to make sure the specialist has taken and successfully passed his specialty board exam. For example, those trained in Canada will indicate the fact that they have attained certification by the designation FRCSC (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada) or FRCPC (Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada).
3. Has the specialist done this procedure before? and what is their personal results with this procedure? One needs to know how many times the surgeon or specialist has done the required procedure and the success rate of this procedure in this particular specialist’s hands.
4. Is the specialist licensed by the relevant regulatory body to do such procedure? Each specialty is licensed by the Ministry of Health to perform certain procedures. Performing procedures that a specialist is not licensed to do puts patients at risk.
5. Does the specialist have good bedside manners that appeal to you? Different doctors will have different bed side manners. Some will appeal to some patient and not others. Probably one of the best ways to learn about a doctor is word of mouth. If you happen to know one of this doctor’s patients, then they could tell you how they are. Alternatively, your family physician might be able to shed some light as to the specialist’s reputation. Finally, you could make up your mind after your first consultation whether you feel comfortable with this specialist or not.

Follow these steps and you will definitely find a specialist to take care of you. There are many great heart specialists in Kuwait and in all the neighboring countries. Once one finds a specialist to trust and feel comfortable with they should stick with them and follow their advice. But always remember the words of the famous Dr. Edward Rosenbaum “There is no such thing as an infallible doctor.”

Dr. Mohammad J. Albanna is a consultant cardiac surgeon at the Chest Diseases Hospital, in Kuwait. He has completed his medical training at the University of Leeds School of Medicine, his residency at the University of Toronto, Canada and a fellowship at McMaster University, Canada. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. For further information, visit www.DrMJAlbanna.com