I work at a surgery center, for surgeons. My business cards say Director of Patient Services, which means I end up fielding most of the questions/concerns/complaints that make it “up the ladder.” (Fortunately, my clinic is pretty high-end, so those are relatively few.)
I don’t think any decent surgeon is going to be offended by any of your questions, even the last two, but in the case of the question about quality and standard of care, I don’t think the surgeon is the best person to be asking.
I do know that none of my surgeons would be comfortable with recording the conversation - it’s too easy to doctor/edit a recorded conversation (not that you would). Any of my surgeons would cheerfully give you an opinion and prognosis - or even a guarantee, in some cases - in writing rather than acceding to a recording.
Defining “success” is a good one. For some doctors, it’s “Hey, they survived!” and others may be considering reduction of radicular pain / restoration of function rather than complete pain relief in both your leg and back. What is *your *personal definition of a successful procedure?
You might ask if they think you may progress to needing a full diskectomy and fusion in the future, and if so, how long (in years) might that take. On the same thought - do they think you might as well skip the micro and go right to a fusion? There are newer laparoscopic procedures such as XLIF and TLIF that are making fusions almost outpatient surgery compared to the original methods that required going in from the front. If I knew in 2008 when I had the L5-S1 microdiskectomy that I’d end up needing an L4-L5-S1 fusion in 2013, I might have opted for the fusion from the start.
Something I passed over the first time - but what does the OP mean by the prospective surgeon being in the process of receiving additional “basic training”? Does this refer to the procedure itself, a new instrument, standard surgical technique, or what?
I think a balance can be found between “just out of training” and “old fogey who uses a less-optimal technique and whose physical skills may be in decline”.
One other point worth raising if the procedure is to be done in a teaching hospital: will the patient be seen by physicians in training (including med students pre- and post-procedure) and will any part of the surgery itself be performed by neurosurgical residents under the supervision of the attending surgeon?
Laudable as the goal is of providing experience to those in training, I personally would not want med students poking and prodding me*, or (for the most part) residents doing significant parts of surgery or major procedures on me. Which is why I am likely to do my best to avoid teaching hospitals.
*yes, I remember being on the other end of this equation and am grateful for tolerant patients who didn’t object to my lengthy history-taking and physical exams.
“Please point to my right hand.”
That’s five more years before you (may) need a fusion at the next level up, though.