Interview: Phillip Hornbostle,MD Bariatric Surgeon

This is the first in a series of  interviews I plan on publishing.  Dr Phillip M. Hornbostel, M.D., FACS, FASMBS is an accomplished bariatric surgeon in Missouri who has performed thousands of weight loss procedures over the years.  He is also the resident dean of the commentariat at the physician-only social media website Sermo.  The following represents a series of email exchanges he and I had over the holidays: Dr Hornbostel, tell me about your professional journey from general surgeon to an exclusively bariatric practice.  I finished general surgery residency in 1984 and immediately went into private practice in a rural area of MO. This involved the typical "bread and butter" of general surgery in that era, including some peripheral vascular, pacemakers, carpal tunnel releases, etc., and I realized about 3-4 years out from residency that the infrequency of some of these procedures was making it too challenging to maintain currency, and began dropping the rare and complex stuff. But the summer of 1990 was the "rude awakening" for general surgeons across America. The coming of laparoscopic cholecystectomy mandated one of two choices for general surgeons: 1) learn laparoscopy or 2) retire. Of the four surgeons in my facility, three retired, within 18 months of one another. This left me the sole general surgeon for about 40,000 patients. I obviously had to trim back dramatically, but at the same time I learned that I really loved laparoscopy a...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - Category: Surgeons Authors: Source Type: blogs