Many years ago my friend told me Russell did open-heart surgery on her husband. Her husband died on the surgical table unexpectedly. Nelson didn't come out to talk to her. A medical student was sent to do the job. My friend really wanted to talk to the surgeon but he refused. She later learned that Russell wasn't in the OR when medical problems arose--- Just two surgical interns.

The church said he was.

I guess he was good enough. I mean are any of us "good" at our jobs? I know at my job I'm adequate enough that I haven't got fired,... yet. But I've been run out of a few other places of employment in the past. I'm sure Rusty could be the same?

Being good at ones employment is hard especially when there are 60 people all running around doing the same job and who are just as talented if not more than the next guy. It's like the Olympics every GD day!

He performed heart bypass surgery on my grandfather back in the day when bypass surgery was in its infancy.

He stated that this procedure would extend my grandfathers life from 5 to 6 years.

My grandfather lived another 15 years.

With that being stated i am not convinced surgical skill is comparable to the leadership skills needed to manage a multi billion, multinational corporation or syndicate.

I think that was a phenomenal outcome. Good for your Grandfather.

I think that he was very skillful surgeon.

A leader or innovator in his field? No.

Good people skills with co-workers and patients? No

Does he have colleagues that are his close, personal friends?
Very unlikely.

I'm not hearing from members the perceived warmth or admiration that was openly heard from Monson, Hinckley and Hunter. Of course, I don't think there's anybody in the Q15 that is virtuous or well respected. They all seem to lack compassion for others.

They like their Kool Aid cold.

Dieter has shown compassion at times.

I liked Howard W Hunter. I had a nice conversation with him. he was a warm caring person.

I don't know much about Nelson. Met Hinkley a few times. Once in an elevator. He looked real tired.

Actually, he's credited with developing the equipment that made open-heart surgery possible and was the first surgeon to perform open-heart surgery in Utah.

"20 Most Innovative Surgeons Alive Today" (Nelson is number 2 on the list.)

https://www.healthcare-administration-degree.net/20-most-innovative-surgeons-alive-today/

https://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2018/06/russell-nelson-endowed-chair.php

Nelson graduated from the University of Utah in 1945, where he also earned his medical degree in 1947. He did post-doctoral study at the University of Minnesota, where he and fellow researchers developed a heart-lung machine that in 1951 supported the first-ever human open-heart surgery.

“That technological innovation was seminal, and really opened the door to modern heart surgery,” said A. Lorris Betz, MD, PhD, interim executive dean of the university’s School of Medicine, senior vice president for health sciences and CEO of University of Utah Health. “When President Nelson returned to our state, he continued to develop innovative new techniques and therapies, and established our university as a leader in this field.”

Returning to Utah, Nelson became the first surgeon to perform open-heart surgery in his home state using this innovative technology. Driven by a desire to pioneer health, he worked as a surgeon at LDS Hospital and served as a faculty member in surgery and director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency Program at the University of Utah School of Medicine for almost two decades, advancing the frontiers of cardiovascular surgery, training generations of cardiac surgeons, and saving countless lives.

His credentials in the field of medicine are as good as they come. He should have politely turned down the apostle job when it was offered to him. Now, his accomplishments in medicine are mostly forgotten and most people will remember him as that "Mormon Prophet who hated being called a Mormon." I guess it still gratifying to the ego if you care only about the opinions of Mormons. But outside of Mormonism, the whole "Mormon Prophet" thing is a joke.

Good to know, thanks for the info. Yes, too bad he became an apostle. I wonder if it pays better or not?

Wow. That is just really sad. He spent a number of years repairing people, saving lives, putting families back together. Then at 60 years old he does an about face and spends the next 35 years destroying lives, destroying families, driving people to suicide and seeking desperately for adulation and power. Very sad to think about the Real miraculous stuff he could have done. Stupid damn cult.

On the one hand, no matter how good you are as a surgeon, there are bound to be some patients who don’t make it. I’d like to think there is a process to follow to investigate whether there was medical incompetence involved in such cases -?

The fact he might not have been there at all, and that he refused to speak to the family, sounds suspicious and should have warranted an investigation, plus he acted like a d***

And, on the other hand, those working in the medical field do have to be held to a higher standard than in other professions. Because it is a matter of life and death. This is why health professionals get sued all the time. I’m surprised he got away without an investigation. Just today, I have to write a whole statement to my employer because I administered the recommended pain response to a patient who was unresponsive. I followed procedure exactly, yet I’m still under suspicion!
It goes too far - but - saying “I guess he was good enough” is a ridiculous perspective when we are discussing someone who has so much responsibility over someone’s health, who holds life and death in his hands, and who also gets paid extremely well for it.

The doctors who were doing the heart surgery were very unlikely interns, rather they were residents in training. They probably had a good deal of modern competence having just finished med school and in some cases they are much more skillful and know a lot more about state of the art techniques than the big name doctor who has the university hospital appointment. The name doctor supervises and the residents do the actual cutting, cauterizing, retubing, sewing etc. Interns do some surgery but it is usually tasks that are not going to be life threatening.

You are describing a current day surgical team. I don't know what or who the surgical "ghost doctors" were in my friend's case. Regardless, the Doctor would be the final one to take responsibility for the surgical outcome. The couple should have been informed of others who might be doing the actual surgery.
She and her husband had picked their surgeon carefully.

I was surprised to hear a TBM woman express her absolute dislike of one of God's chosen. That is why I ask the question--to see if others had similar experiences or if her experience was an outlier.

He now just has to be qualified to look at a sacred rock. wait.

Whether or not you accept him as a true prophet you must admit that he was a brilliant surgeon.
I vividly remember the reports of his surgical skills.

MY POINT!!!
Give credit where credit is due. We need to recognize both the good and the evil in humans.
My personal feelings about him as a prophet are for me alone as are yours for you.

I was looking for reliable reports of his surgical skills. I want to know if he was a brilliant surgeon or if he became a brilliant surgeon after being called as a general authority. His medical career was before my time and frankly the only thing I had heard was my friend's negative experience.

Well we can’t admit that he was a brilliant surgeon because some of us don’t have that information. If you are privy to such info then please feel free to share. If so, well, good for him!

He was already a GA when I worked for LDS Hospital. All the cardiothoracic surgeons I typed up seemed to be excellent doctors. The doctor who did the best dictations did surgery on a neighbor and he had complications and I was surprised. It happens. Every patient has different problems and they have a certain level of risk going in. I have actually typed patients who died on the operating table. One was having bypass surgery.

My dad had bypass surgery at LDS by a doctor I had typed many times. He had some complications, but he lived another 10 years and I thought he'd only make it 2 after seeing him after surgery. Later on, he needed heart surgery again, but they wouldn't touch him. He was too high of a risk.

The doctor isn't the only one who is liable when there is a surgery being done. AND, yes, residents do a lot of the surgeries. In the past 20 years or so, the doctor or resident will usually say at the end of the report, "Dr. So and So was present for the entire procedure."

cl2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The doctor [surgeon] isn't the only one who is liable when
> there is a surgery being done. AND, yes,
> residents do a lot of the surgeries. In the past
> 20 years or so, the doctor or resident will
> usually say at the end of the report, "Dr. So and
> So was present for the entire procedure."

Yes. The individual on the surgical team statistically most likely to be connected to a patient's death is the anesthesiologist, which is one reason anesthesiologists pay exorbitant malpractice premiums. (Joint liability plays a role as well. If a patient dies on the table or following surgery, an attorney typically goes after the institution as well as after everyone who came anywhere near the patient.)

Nelson was long past his medical career when I studied at U. of U. I believe he was sustained as an apostle around the time I was born. I've discussed him with med school professors whose tenure overlapped his. The consensus was that he was skilled, but I never once heard the word "brilliant" in any discussion of Nelson's level of competence. Then again, maybe I didn't talk to the right people about it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2019 04:53AM by scmd1.

I get the impression he was an extremely good surgeon. Of course, no surgeon has a completely unblemished record - there are always things that they feel they could have been done better or blame which is not apportioned. They will gradually improve with experience too.

The LDS probably exaggerate his skillset, but I still feel this is part of his life which is admirable, and which we should not be criticizing.

I haven’t seen anyone here criticising his skills as a surgeon?

LJ12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I haven’t seen anyone here criticising his
> skills as a surgeon?

Thread title: "was Russell Nelson a good doctor?"

He’s a good dictator.

My aunt worked with him for many years up at the UofU hospital. She has nothing good to say about him on a personal level. Apparently he was quite the arrogant prick. Although I guess many surgeons are. I work with a guy whose sister is a heart surgeon in Georgia. She invited him to observe a surgery one time, so he took her up on the offer. He was not in the actual OR, but in the adjacent observation room. He told her afterwards that she was a real bitch at work, and did not like the professional version of her. Apparently she had no idea that others saw her that way at work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2019 07:20AM by alsd.

I have often wondered that about Nelson. The church says he was brilliant, and even operated on Kimball, didn't he? I work with M.D's on my staff as consultants, etc. One friend of mine told me this once (an MD), "What is the difference between a doctor who scores the highest and lowest on the exams, whether MCAT, boards, or whatever? Answer is nothing...they are both called "Doctors" in the end. No one knows any better.

I once met a surgeon who did his surgical residency under Nelson. He echoed what has been said about his personality regarding arrogance. He said that Nelson was extremely demanding and hard to please and not very patient. But, he said that Nelson was a very accomplished surgeon.

He was as good of a doctor as Ben Carson.

He is as fine a doctor as I am an actor. Lots of fine corinthian leather.

I don’t think there is much evidence for that. If anything people are just debating it based on the facts presented, and there weren’t that many given. I tend not to trust Wikipedia, you never really know who wrote it. I would have nothing to lose by conceding that he could have been/was a brilliant surgeon; I don’t really care if he was or not. I think most of us don’t know, and we are just responding to the OP.