The Doctors on the Cover of Seattle Magazine’s ‘2014 Top Doctors’ Issue Get Candid

By Mandolin Brassaw June 9, 2014

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This article originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.

!–paging_filter–pWe asked our cover doctors a number of questions, everything from how they knew they had chosen the right vocationstrong /strongto lessons they wish their patients would take to heart. Read on for more insight from these top-notch docs. brstrongbrMarquis Hart, M.D./strongbremSurgeon; Director, Organ Transplant Program, Swedish Medical Center/em/p
pstrongWhy did you pick your specialty?/strongbrThe care of patients with organ disease requiring transplantation requires you to integrate everything that I learned in Medical school including: physiology, anatomy pathology, microbiology and immunology./p
pstrongWhat experience or case convinced you that you made the right decision?/strongbrMy very first case as a fellow convinced me that this is what I wanted to do. The operation lasted 24 hours and required many units of blood to support due to what is called “primary graft non-function”. The next day we re-transplanted the patient and he lived. I had no idea that this was humanly possible./p
pstrongWhat is one lesson you wish your patients would take to heart?/strongbrTo have hope even when the odds are against your survival./p
pstrongWhat would make the biggest difference in their lives?/strongbrTo seek care from their primary care provider and get regular screening./p
pstrongIf you could change one thing about how we deliver health care, what would it be?/strongbrProvide the best care for all regardless of financial ability./p
pstrongWhat is the most important recent development in your field?/strongbrThere is now a cure for Hepatitis C./p
pstrongWhat have you learned by directing the Organ Transplant Program at Swedish Medical Center that you wouldn’t have learned had you not taken this administrative role?/strongbrI have learned that Swedish and Providence leadership are committed to caring for all patients/p
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pstrongbrKathleen C. Y. Sie, M.D./strongembrPediatric otolaryngologist, Pediatric, Seattle Children’s Hospital/embremDirector, Seattle Children’s Childhood Communication Center/em/p
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pstrongWhy did you pick your specialty?/strongbrI was drawn to pediatric otolaryngology because we deal with so many important functions including breathing, swallowing, communication, hearing and speech. Helping children with problems in any of these areas makes a huge difference for them. I focus on seeing patients with communication issues related to speech and hearing./p
pstrongWhat experience or case convinced you that you made the right decision?/strongbrWhen I was just starting my practice, I performed a surgery for a young girl (who had normal hearing) so that she could speak more clearly. Several months after the surgery, her mother wrote me a note to tell me that the surgery had changed the way her daughter interacted with her classmates on the playground—she had changed from a ‘shy’ girl to a talkative, confident and outgoing girl. The story made me realize that helping children communicate affects them in ways that are hard to capture with traditional medical metrics./p
pstrongWhat would make the biggest difference in the lives of the children you see? /strongbrOverall, eliminating poverty and improving maternal education makes the biggest difference for children. With regard to medical care, I think that educating children and families about health and eliminating barriers to health care will make the biggest difference for children./p
pstrongIf you could change one thing about how we deliver health care, what would it be? /strongbrI wish we could eliminate the unnecessary waste in medicine so that more children could receive the services they need./p
pstrongWhat motivated you to maintain both an academic and a clinical practice? /strongbrDeveloping a relationship with and taking care of patients and their families is incredibly gratifying. But I realized that it is so important to perform research and to teach young doctors so that treatments and interventions will continue to get better. I think being an active clinician helps inform my academic work and vice versa. Both are so valuable./p
pstrongWhat is the most important recent development in your field?/strongbrThe implementation of Early Hearing Detection Diagnosis and Intervention (newborn hearing screening) has decreased the average age of diagnosis of congenital hearing loss from 2.5 years to about 7 months of age. The earlier identification of childhood hearing loss gives families the opportunity to make language accessible to their children. The earlier identification opens the door for earlier interventions and improved outcomes./p
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pstrongbrAlison Lytle Perrin, M.D./strongbremSurgeon, Northwest Surgical Specialists, Proliance at Northwest Hospital and Medical Center/em/p
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pstrongWhy did you pick your specialty?/strongbrI picked General Surgery because I love the combination of time in clinic, time in the hospital, and especially time in the operating room working with a surgical team to make patients better, usually in a few hours or less./p
pstrongWhat experience or case convinced you that you made the right decision?/strongbrThere’s not one single case that made me realize surgery was right for me. It was a field I really hadn’t considered when entering medical school, but the enthusiasm and energy I felt during my surgical rotation at the Seattle VA hospital were incredible, and then I did another month rotation at Harborview. There’s nothing like seeing a patient whisked off an ambulance, into the Emergency Room for a rapid trauma workup, then rushing them down to the operating room, opening the belly from sternum to pubis, stopping massive bleeding and saving their life to give you a burst of adrenaline! Now I prefer slightly less life-or-death surgeries, but still gain immense satisfaction taking out a cancerous breast mass, a sick gallbladder, or fixing an abdominal wall hernia./p
pstrongWhat is one lesson you wish your patients would take to heart?/strongbrToo many patients still don’t take care of their bodies as well as they should. Maintaining a healthy weight and diet, regular exercise, and refraining from smoking will never go out of style in regards to health care. See a doctor regularly; don’t wait until you’re sick to establish care./p
pLife seems fast paced and stressful these days, and I would encourage patients to do their best to maintain strong family and friendship bonds. Coming to a new appointment with a friend to help take notes is extremely helpful. Do some research before you come so you have some idea of treatment options, and can better follow the conversation and participate in decision-making./p
pstrongIf you could change one thing about how we deliver health care, what would it be?/strongbrI have already seen the affordable care act provide more patients access to health care, which allows for better preventative health maintenance, and earlier treatment of medical and mental health issues before things get out of hand. If I could change something, I’d like to figure out how to make health care more affordable yet still have fewer hoops to jump through to get approval for tests I really want done./p
pstrongWhat is the most important recent development in your field?/strongbrAs a general surgeon, I treat a lot of different types of problems, so there are many new discoveries that are impacting me and my patients. For example, cancer vaccines and targeted therapies at the cellular level are already available and more are being developed for cancers of the breast, colon, and many others, offering better results and less toxicities. With hernia surgeries, lighter weight meshes, absorbable tacks, laparoscopic techniques and robotic suturing are making recovery less painful and less invasive./p
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pstrongbrDavid Y. Kim, M.D./strongbremAnesthesiologist, Evergreen Health Medical Center/em/p
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pstrongWhy did you pick your specialty?/strongbrI chose anesthesiology because I love working with a variety of people. In my field, I work with different people every day: a neurosurgeon yesterday, a plastic surgeon today, and maybe an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. During my 17 years, I’ve been blessed to work with great surgeons, staff, colleagues, and of course, many wonderful patients./p
pstrongWhat experience or case convinced you that you made the right decision?/strongbrI was reading the Bible one day and came upon a verse, “The Lord God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of Adam’s ribs.” And it dawned on me: God lovingly gave Adam an anesthetic to keep him comfortable. It inspired me to know that what I am doing is something that even God did, and I began to see my profession as a calling to serve and comfort and not just as a career./p
pstrongWhat is one lesson you wish your patients would take to heart?/strongbrFor many patients, they are more scared about their anesthesia than they are about their surgery. I try to assure them that I will always be with them not only to make sure they are asleep, but also to make sure that they do well. There are a few myths about anesthesia that scare patients: 1) Some think that anesthesiologist leave the operating room once they are asleep only to come back at the end of the case to wake them up. In fact, we are there with you all the time. 2) Some think that they won’t wake up from anesthesia. In fact, everyone wakes up. All we do is turn off the gas and you automatically wake up as the gas comes out of your system. 3) Some think that anesthesiologist have super high malpractice premiums because what we do is so dangerous. In fact, anesthesiologists have below average malpractice claims among the medical specialties./p
pstrongWhat would make the biggest difference in their lives?/strongbrMake your health be the top priority in your life. You need good health to do and to enjoy just about everything. Last year, I got married. And this year, I was blessed with my first child. As a husband and a father, I realize that being healthy is one of the most loving and responsible thing I can do for my wife and my daughter. That way I will always be there for them./p
pIf you could change one thing about how we deliver healthcare, what would it be? We should see patients as more than disease entities (“the appendectomy”) or work (“the 2:30 p.m. appointment”) or chance (“evolution made you that way”) but as people wonderfully and uniquely created by God. If that’s true, then we have an incredible privilege as well as a responsibility to treat each patient with compassion and respect. How we view each other affects how we respond to them./p
pstrongWhat is the most important recent development in your field?/strongbrThere has been an emphasis and an expansion in the role of the anesthesiologists as perioperative physicians. Peri-means around or surrounding. So, anesthesiologists are becoming more involved in the care of the patient before and as well as after surgery in order to help patients obtain the best possible outcome. It’s what we call patient-centered continuity of care./p

 

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