Is your surgeon Board Certified?
If not - why not?
Why is that so important to know?
How can you find out about your surgeon's Board status?

What does it mean if your surgeon is Board Certified? Certification of medical specialists is the function of the American Board of Medical Specialties. About 90% of all U.S. doctors are board certified. A board certified physician has completed an approved educational training program and an evaluation process including an examination designed to assess the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to provide quality patient care in that specialty.

Logo of the American Board of Medical Specialties

A fully board certified colon and rectal surgeon is certified by the American Board of Surgery and by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.

To be certified by the American Board of Surgery the surgeon has to complete an approved residency in General Surgery and then pass a written and later, an oral exam. To be certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, the surgeon has to complete an approved fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery and then pass another written and oral exam. Board certified colon and rectal surgeons are committed to the highest standards of care for patients with diseases affecting the intestinal system.

This is a tedious four-step process, but these steps are in place to ensure that your surgeon has passed rigorous standards of safety, proficiency and ethics. The majority of surgeons pass the exams within 1 to 2 years of completing residency and fellowship training.

In Canada it is impossible for a surgeon to operate without passing this set of certifying exams.
Alas that is not so in the U.S.
Surgeons in the U.S. who are unable to pass the exams can continue to operate and treat patients. These surgeons are considered board eligible.

The standards of Board Certification are given lip service by hospitals, insurance companies and your state medical board. They loudly proclaim the importance of Board Certification and yet allow non-certified specialists to continue to practice medicine. Many hospitals will not exclude a surgeon from operating just because he or she is unable to pass the board exams. The U.S. is the land of opportunity and Americans are proud of the fact that anyone can make a make a living. These board eligible surgeons would howl in protest or seek legal advice should a hospital or the state try to impose a requirement of board certification upon them. So they are allowed to continue to operate freely. Why should the American public continue to blindly accept this?

Instead of protecting the non-certified surgeons right to make a living, hospitals, insurance companies and state medical boards should protect patients from less qualified medical specialists.

Let us not forget the American Board of Medical Specialists exists for the protection of the American public.

To find out if your Colon and Rectal Surgeon is Board Certified you can refer to the following sites:

American Board of Medical Specialties

American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

I looked up several "colorectal" surgeons in Ocean and Atlantic Counties and discovered that most of them were not certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. Click on the link above and check for yourself.

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