In article ,
" wrote:

Kurt Ullman wrote:

For certain critical needs, there is often no choice (pharm., medical
or surgical devices)

Nonsense. Don't like Eli Lilly for some reason. You can stay away
from Prozac and take Paxil or many others. At least four Companies make
new hips okayed for use in the US. Etc., etc. Most places have many
hospitals and tons of docs to sort through. If there is no choice, it is
probably because your insurance company, even there many companies give
you a choice.

You have your stent and heart valve picked out?

My neighbor had a heart valve replaced recently, and they asked if he
wanted pig valve or mechanical and then a choice of 2-3 mechanical ones.
I have written multiple articles on orthopods giving choices of which
knee you want replaced (the distaff side can even get their choice of 3
companies making "gender specific knees". Docs should be talking about
the different kinds of stents available if possible since they all work
by a little different mechanisms and thus should be covered for that
pesky little Informed Consent issue.

--
The inevitable Godwinization of Usenet threads is a principle
as immutable as Newton's Third Law meaning that, for every action
there is an equally disproportionate overreaction.