In our practice we have an open endoscopy system, as do most gastroenterologists. This means that other physicians – or patients themselves – can schedule a procedure with us without seeing us in advance for a consultation. Of course, we are always pleased to see any of these patients for an office visit in advance, but many patients prefer the convenience of accomplishing the mission in one stop. This is reasonable for patients who truly need our technical skill more than our medical advice. Our office screens these procedure requests in advance to verify that no office visit is necessary. While this process works very well, it is not infallible. There have been times when a patient arrives to our office poised for a colonoscopy with accompanying medical issues more complex than we had expected. No vetting procedure is failsafe. Have you seen the TSA statistics when they are tested in identifying dangerous items hidden in luggage? Even though our trained personnel vet the
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