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First, I'd like to second ducky's call for civility. Please, everyone, stop the personal attacks.

Second, I'd like to clarify my first message and perhaps provide an explanation for the reaction you received here.

The issue I attempted to highlight has nothing to do with tv advertising or differing ways health care is metered out around the world. I was simply highlighting the fact that 99+% of the websites on the internet present the surgery with a highly redacted list of side effects, dubious statistics and a dishonest accounting of how it affects the body. It's true today, it was true five years ago and it was true ten years ago when I was researching the surgery. It's not a recent phenomena.

Therefore, there's virtually no chance that someone researching this surgery on the internet would find only negative information and a high probability they may find only positive promotional material that is deceptive. Given that many studies have shown that 15% - 30% regret the surgery due to severe side effects, one can only conclude that the downsides of the surgery are horribly under represented on internet.

Invariably, when someone posts a happy outcome on this forum they say the felt compelled to do so because they feared if they didn't, prospective ETS patients would only hear "one side of the story". They claim they post their story to offer some "balance". Yet it is quite clear that that fear is entirely unwarranted given the facts I've outlined above. Even if this forum had 100% negative stories, it would not properly "balance" the overwhelming number of promotional websites with glowing testimonials.

Furthermore, patients with happy outcomes have many ways of spreading the joy that are unavailable to those with unhappy outcomes.. Surgeons routinely collect testimonials and phone numbers from their happiest patients and use them to recruit new patients. Patients with bad outcomes are marginalized and swept under the rug. The only way we can be heard is through forums like this one. This is it. This is all we've got and we're up against millions of dollars in advertising money.

So, I guess I'm saying perhaps you should not be too surprised by the response here. You came to a forum dedicated to (and paid for by) folks who were lied to and then marginalized by their physicians. We are justifiably angry and not particularly interested in hearing the "upside" of the surgery. We've already heard the "upside" -- exclusively -- on the internet and in our pre-op consultations -- which is why we got the surgery in the first place.

Personally, I consider presenting "both sides of the story" through competing testimonials a waste of time and dangerous. There are people who are happy with the outcome and those whose lives have been badly damaged by the surgery. Done. Testimonials lead to emotional decisions, not rational ones. All medical ethical societies oppose the use of testimonials because they are unscientific and don't provide the prospective patient a clear and complete understanding of the risks.

It's far more important that prospective patients be given an exhaustive list of the side effects and a description of how those side effects can negatively affect quality of life and health. Further, they deserve to know the the true odds of contracting those side effects as elucidated by objective research.

Finally, I'd like to say that the biggest issue has not been addressed here. That is, there would be no need for this forum, no need for your happy testimonial or my unhappy one if the physicians offering this surgery provided full and honest disclosure. It is a crime that you, I or anyone else should have to rely on internet searches and forums to get all the facts regarding a destructive nerve surgery.

Hopefully, that will give you a different perspective on this debate.