Re: Dr. Hutchins Musings on UAE

[Guest guest]

Thanks Jean! I found it ironic that Dr. Hutchins' musings were just below Dr. Toaff's story. Early on (last summer) when I was first considering UAE I emailed Dr. Toaff (and a great many other online gyns) and asked his opinion about this procedure. Since Dr. Toaff is a fairly progressive gyn who performs a great many myomectomies and is a pioneer in pelvic reconstructive surgery, I was surprised to receive the following:

" If you had a headache you would not dream of killing the brain bycutting the blood supply to it... Let me tell you that the long termeffects of this procedure are not known. I personally have seen a lotof cases with severe pelvic pain after this procedure. I do not supportthis procedure as treatment for bleeding fibroids. "

I wonder if his opinion has changed any over time? . . .Also, I found it interesting that he " equated " the brain with fibroids. IRs do embolize brain tumors. . .Also, I was curious after receiving this email whether or not his practice has picked up women who have been dissatisfied or had errant side effects from UAE who have avoided returning to either Dr. Hutchins or Dr. Kirsch (as he is on the East coast). I emailed him with that question but never received a response. His wife, BTW, is an Associate Professor of Radiology at Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Consequently, I did take his response to me quite seriously.

I would be curious to know whether or not anyone else contacted prominent gyns pre-UAE and what their response(s) were.

carla

mailto:cdionne@...

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musinings on UAE

http://www.obgyn.net/ah/ah.htm

Scroll down to Dr. Jutchins and his article

THE REAL SCOOP ON UTERINE ARTERY EMBOLIZATION

Hi, Group. Thought those subscribing to this may like to read Dr. Hutchins' musings on UAE. This was shared on another list.

[Guest guest]

Hi, Carla and group. Carla, I found your comments by Dr. Toaff with reference to UAE quite interesting. I assume the " severe pelvic pain " he was referring to is the typical pain many experience

for several hours after UAE. I, too, wonder if he has revised his opinion of UAE. Also, I would like to know his wife's opinion. I did not contact any online gynecologists pre or post UAE. However, when reading the oby-gyn list, I did read the comments of one doctor who said he has two UAE patients

and that he is not impressed with the results. He did not go into any further detail.

Jean

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musinings on UAE

http://www.obgyn.net/ah/ah.htm

Scroll down to Dr. Jutchins and his article

THE REAL SCOOP ON UTERINE ARTERY EMBOLIZATION

Hi, Group. Thought those subscribing to this may like to read Dr. Hutchins' musings on UAE. This was shared on another list.

[Guest guest]

hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of e-mail,

and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking posts

of this group.

i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and his

response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you know,

author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae ...

dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

" kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more benign,

but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility were

not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names, but

leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some gyns

have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they keep

up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and true. "

toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be a

very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with him

for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but close-

minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of e-mail,

and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking posts

of this group.

i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and his

response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you know,

author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae ...

dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

" kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more benign,

but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility were

not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names, but

leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some gyns

have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they keep

up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and true. "

toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be a

very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with him

for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but close-

minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hey Johanna! Where have you been???

Your response re: dr. Toaff reminds me of my conversation with dr. Vicki

Hufnagel. No longer practicing medicine in the U.S. because her license was

yanked here in CA and denied when she applied in other states (like NY).

She was performing what she called " female reconstructive surgery (FRS) " --

basically an enhanced version of a myomectomy plus a few other things using

mostly laser technology. Dr. Toaff is basically practicing the same " frs "

as Dr. Hufnagel was, as far as I can tell. Here's the kicker: she lost her

license in CA because she failed to duly inform a patient of her right to a

hysterectomy. Lots of background medical politics went on and (according to

Dr. Hufnagel) Dr. McLucas played a part in her losing her license. Today,

she comes off sounding a " little nutsy " from where she practices in Mexico

??? (This may have changed by now.) I guess I might be nutsy too if my

whole practice was yanked out from under me and I had to recreate my life in

another country. . .but, I just don't know. She, too, has nothing kind to

say about UAE.

Here's a link to her if you want to know more:

http://www.drhufnagel.com/

I just went to her website and found 2 MAJOR things have changed in the last

6 months:

1. I couldn't find any information about her licensure (or lack thereof) on

her site anywhere. It used to be clearly defined in terms of what happened

to her license in CA--all of that information is gone (or possibly buried?)

from the website.

2. Her " forum " -- email postings -- are now moderated and closely guarded.

Previously you could freely read and respond to any of the posts. Some of

her responses to posts re: McLucas, myomectomy, UAE, hysterectomy, etc.,

clearly went off the " deep end " and did not leave me with a good impression

of her mental stability. Those emails are now only accessible to " screened "

members of the forum and the email postings are closely moderated.

If I was going to her website today with no prior knowledge of this woman, I

might be extremely interested in what she has to say about FRS. It all

sounds so good. But 6 months ago her website along with her email responses

painted a picture of a total nutcase. . .Clearly, one must be very cautious

of the information that professionals present on the internet in an effort

to generate business. . .

carla

mailto:cdionne@...

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musings on UAE

>hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of

e-mail,

>and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking

posts

>of this group.

>

>i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and

his

>response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you

know,

>author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae

....

>

>dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

> " kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more

benign,

>but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility

were

>not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

>

>in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names,

but

>leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some

gyns

>have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

>

>myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

>comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they

keep

>up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and

true. "

>

>toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be

a

>very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with

him

>for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but

close-

>minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

>

>johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hey Johanna! Where have you been???

Your response re: dr. Toaff reminds me of my conversation with dr. Vicki

Hufnagel. No longer practicing medicine in the U.S. because her license was

yanked here in CA and denied when she applied in other states (like NY).

She was performing what she called " female reconstructive surgery (FRS) " --

basically an enhanced version of a myomectomy plus a few other things using

mostly laser technology. Dr. Toaff is basically practicing the same " frs "

as Dr. Hufnagel was, as far as I can tell. Here's the kicker: she lost her

license in CA because she failed to duly inform a patient of her right to a

hysterectomy. Lots of background medical politics went on and (according to

Dr. Hufnagel) Dr. McLucas played a part in her losing her license. Today,

she comes off sounding a " little nutsy " from where she practices in Mexico

??? (This may have changed by now.) I guess I might be nutsy too if my

whole practice was yanked out from under me and I had to recreate my life in

another country. . .but, I just don't know. She, too, has nothing kind to

say about UAE.

Here's a link to her if you want to know more:

http://www.drhufnagel.com/

I just went to her website and found 2 MAJOR things have changed in the last

6 months:

1. I couldn't find any information about her licensure (or lack thereof) on

her site anywhere. It used to be clearly defined in terms of what happened

to her license in CA--all of that information is gone (or possibly buried?)

from the website.

2. Her " forum " -- email postings -- are now moderated and closely guarded.

Previously you could freely read and respond to any of the posts. Some of

her responses to posts re: McLucas, myomectomy, UAE, hysterectomy, etc.,

clearly went off the " deep end " and did not leave me with a good impression

of her mental stability. Those emails are now only accessible to " screened "

members of the forum and the email postings are closely moderated.

If I was going to her website today with no prior knowledge of this woman, I

might be extremely interested in what she has to say about FRS. It all

sounds so good. But 6 months ago her website along with her email responses

painted a picture of a total nutcase. . .Clearly, one must be very cautious

of the information that professionals present on the internet in an effort

to generate business. . .

carla

mailto:cdionne@...

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musings on UAE

>hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of

e-mail,

>and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking

posts

>of this group.

>

>i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and

his

>response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you

know,

>author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae

....

>

>dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

> " kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more

benign,

>but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility

were

>not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

>

>in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names,

but

>leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some

gyns

>have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

>

>myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

>comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they

keep

>up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and

true. "

>

>toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be

a

>very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with

him

>for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but

close-

>minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

>

>johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

hi -- been buried, is where i;ve been ...

hufnagel lost her license in ny due to numerous complaints of malpractice.

the first time i read her book, i was enthralled, breathless, etc ... thought

she wa on to something special, as did/do many women (of course, her book is

still easily available).

reading it more recently, i saw something new. i should add that for the last

15 years i've worked in advertising .. and her book is written like a

marketing brochure. check it out: there are NO MERITS in her book for any

other option, even " watchful waiting. " everything is an argument crafted to

get you clamouring for frs. she cleverly markets herself as giving women a

new option, when in fact she is simply pushing her own option.

for what it's worth, dr west told me her operations lasted 8 hours, 4 times as

long as most myos, which led him to believe she is not a competent surgeon.

and just to end off with a word from my soapbox, so much of what we get fed is

about marketing: OPERA, frs, even laparoscopy ... we always need to consider

the source of our info, and who stands to profit.

okay, end of *my* little commercial!!!

j.

<<Hey Johanna! Where have you been???

Your response re: dr. Toaff reminds me of my conversation with dr. Vicki

Hufnagel. No longer practicing medicine in the U.S. because her license was

yanked here in CA and denied when she applied in other states (like NY).

She was performing what she called " female reconstructive surgery (FRS) " --

basically an enhanced version of a myomectomy plus a few other things using

mostly laser technology. Dr. Toaff is basically practicing the same " frs "

as Dr. Hufnagel was, as far as I can tell. Here's the kicker: she lost her

license in CA because she failed to duly inform a patient of her right to a

hysterectomy. Lots of background medical politics went on and (according to

Dr. Hufnagel) Dr. McLucas played a part in her losing her license. Today,

she comes off sounding a " little nutsy " from where she practices in Mexico

??? (This may have changed by now.) I guess I might be nutsy too if my

whole practice was yanked out from under me and I had to recreate my life in

another country. . .but, I just don't know. She, too, has nothing kind to

say about UAE.

Here's a link to her if you want to know more:

http://www.drhufnagel.com/

I just went to her website and found 2 MAJOR things have changed in the last

6 months:

1. I couldn't find any information about her licensure (or lack thereof) on

her site anywhere. It used to be clearly defined in terms of what happened

to her license in CA--all of that information is gone (or possibly buried?)

from the website.

2. Her " forum " -- email postings -- are now moderated and closely guarded.

Previously you could freely read and respond to any of the posts. Some of

her responses to posts re: McLucas, myomectomy, UAE, hysterectomy, etc.,

clearly went off the " deep end " and did not leave me with a good impression

of her mental stability. Those emails are now only accessible to " screened "

members of the forum and the email postings are closely moderated.

If I was going to her website today with no prior knowledge of this woman, I

might be extremely interested in what she has to say about FRS. It all

sounds so good. But 6 months ago her website along with her email responses

painted a picture of a total nutcase. . .Clearly, one must be very cautious

of the information that professionals present on the internet in an effort

to generate business. . .

carla

mailto:cdionne@...

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musings on UAE

>hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of

e-mail,

>and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking

posts

>of this group.

>

>i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and

his

>response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you

know,

>author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae

....

>

>dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

> " kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more

benign,

>but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility

were

>not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

>

>in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names,

but

>leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some

gyns

>have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

>

>myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

>comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they

keep

>up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and

true. "

>

>toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be

a

>very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with

him

>for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but

close-

>minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

>

>johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backing up has never been easier. Here's an automatic,

Hassle free way to protect your valuable data without

Extra hardware. Download, install and try @Backup.

http://offers./click/215/1

[Guest guest]

hi -- been buried, is where i;ve been ...

hufnagel lost her license in ny due to numerous complaints of malpractice.

the first time i read her book, i was enthralled, breathless, etc ... thought

she wa on to something special, as did/do many women (of course, her book is

still easily available).

reading it more recently, i saw something new. i should add that for the last

15 years i've worked in advertising .. and her book is written like a

marketing brochure. check it out: there are NO MERITS in her book for any

other option, even " watchful waiting. " everything is an argument crafted to

get you clamouring for frs. she cleverly markets herself as giving women a

new option, when in fact she is simply pushing her own option.

for what it's worth, dr west told me her operations lasted 8 hours, 4 times as

long as most myos, which led him to believe she is not a competent surgeon.

and just to end off with a word from my soapbox, so much of what we get fed is

about marketing: OPERA, frs, even laparoscopy ... we always need to consider

the source of our info, and who stands to profit.

okay, end of *my* little commercial!!!

j.

<<Hey Johanna! Where have you been???

Your response re: dr. Toaff reminds me of my conversation with dr. Vicki

Hufnagel. No longer practicing medicine in the U.S. because her license was

yanked here in CA and denied when she applied in other states (like NY).

She was performing what she called " female reconstructive surgery (FRS) " --

basically an enhanced version of a myomectomy plus a few other things using

mostly laser technology. Dr. Toaff is basically practicing the same " frs "

as Dr. Hufnagel was, as far as I can tell. Here's the kicker: she lost her

license in CA because she failed to duly inform a patient of her right to a

hysterectomy. Lots of background medical politics went on and (according to

Dr. Hufnagel) Dr. McLucas played a part in her losing her license. Today,

she comes off sounding a " little nutsy " from where she practices in Mexico

??? (This may have changed by now.) I guess I might be nutsy too if my

whole practice was yanked out from under me and I had to recreate my life in

another country. . .but, I just don't know. She, too, has nothing kind to

say about UAE.

Here's a link to her if you want to know more:

http://www.drhufnagel.com/

I just went to her website and found 2 MAJOR things have changed in the last

6 months:

1. I couldn't find any information about her licensure (or lack thereof) on

her site anywhere. It used to be clearly defined in terms of what happened

to her license in CA--all of that information is gone (or possibly buried?)

from the website.

2. Her " forum " -- email postings -- are now moderated and closely guarded.

Previously you could freely read and respond to any of the posts. Some of

her responses to posts re: McLucas, myomectomy, UAE, hysterectomy, etc.,

clearly went off the " deep end " and did not leave me with a good impression

of her mental stability. Those emails are now only accessible to " screened "

members of the forum and the email postings are closely moderated.

If I was going to her website today with no prior knowledge of this woman, I

might be extremely interested in what she has to say about FRS. It all

sounds so good. But 6 months ago her website along with her email responses

painted a picture of a total nutcase. . .Clearly, one must be very cautious

of the information that professionals present on the internet in an effort

to generate business. . .

carla

mailto:cdionne@...

Re: Dr. Hutchins Musings on UAE

>hello all -- i am catching up (finally) with about a month's worth of

e-mail,

>and have spent the morning reading the thoughtful and thought-provoking

posts

>of this group.

>

>i'm responding specifically in this note to carla's post about toaff and

his

>response to uae. i can tell you that i spoke to stanley west in ny (you

know,

>author of the hysterectomy hoax) and victor reyniak, also in ny, about uae

....

>

>dr west was adamantly, adamently against it. reason why: he said it would

> " kill off " the uterus, or words to that effect. dr reyniak was more

benign,

>but said he would only recommend it as an option if continued fertility

were

>not a consideration, since that aspect hasn;t been studied for uae.

>

>in speaking to drs. at lenox hill who do uae (can;t remember their names,

but

>leonie, you know who i mean!), they discussed the bias they believe some

gyns

>have against a process that deprives them of surgical income.

>

>myself? i believe docs are comfortable with what they know, and not

>comfortable with what they don;t -- and it's a question of how much they

keep

>up with the literature, or stick with what they feel is the " tried and

true. "

>

>toaff, for what it's worth, struck me personally as a nutcase -- he may be

a

>very very competent doctor, but i couldn;t manage to be on the phone with

him

>for more than 5 minutes. he sounds like an extremely intelligent but

close-

>minded man, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

>

>johanna

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backing up has never been easier. Here's an automatic,

Hassle free way to protect your valuable data without

Extra hardware. Download, install and try @Backup.

http://offers./click/215/1