Dr. John Husted???

I have been on this board for going on four years now, and during that time, Dr. Husted has always had a very good reputation as a surgeon.  However, over that same period of time, a disturbing pattern has emerged with regard to his frequent, abrupt changes in his practice and the impact this has had on some of his patients, who were left in the lurch right before they were supposed to have surgery.

Here are the facts that are known for certain (no speculation, accusations, or innuendo):

In the fall of 2006, Husted left Vanderbilt Univ. in Tennessee to join Rabkin's group (PacLap) in San Francisco.  He was only there for a couple of months when patients were having their surgeries canceled or "postponed" with no real explanation.  There were vague mentions of the reasons being "confidential", and none of those surgeries were ever rescheduled with Husted.  Instead, patients were given the option of having their DS done by Rabkin.  So obviously, things didn't work out at PacLap, and by March 2007, he had joined my surgeon, Jossart, at LapSF.  And that only lasted about 6 months, before he left to set up a solo practice in SF.  I believe that lasted about a year, or maybe a little longer, before he moved back across the country to Kentucky.  After only a year, the Kentucky practice went bad, and he has now moved to Arizona.

This adds up to five complete changes/relocations of his practice in less than four years.  I will not offer any speculation or discuss any rumors about why this has occurred.  However, it's extremely unusual for a doctor of his experience and reputation to go through so many changes in his practice in such a short period of time.

What is also fact is the devastating impact these moves have had on some of his patients who were left behind.  The real problem here hasn't been with follow-up for those who've had surgery, but rather the impact of these abrupt moves on patients who were about to have surgery.  Just prior of most of these moves, there have been at least 2 or 3 patients (per move) who have posted on OH, extremely distressed and confused.  They all describe very similar experiences - of being called at the last minute (some times just days before surgery) and being told that their surgery was being cancelled or postponed.  They were not given explanations of why this was happening, nor were they told if or when their surgeries would be rescheduled.  Repeated calls to Dr. Husted's office didn't bring them any answers to these questions.  These were people who had gone to great effort to arrange their lives in order to have the DS.  They had taken time off from work, made plans for childcare, had family members who'd purchased nonrefundable airline tickets to come and stay with them, etc.  And now, they're left in the lurch with no surgeon, no explanation, and no options.   Can they "locate" Dr. Husted?  Of course, but what good does that do if he's packed up his scalpel and moved to a different state?

Do other DS surgeons relocate or sometimes have to cancel surgeries at the last minute?  Yes.  The difference with Dr. Husted is that it has happened repeatedly - again, five relocations in less than four years.  That's a track record that causes a lot of concern to those of us who have been around here long enough to have seen this unfold.  And patients who are considering going to Dr. Husted deserve to know it so they can make an informed decision.