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How To Interview Your Potential Heart Surgeon?

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: May 30, 2026

As you may be learning or have already learned...

Finding your heart surgeon or interventional cardiologist is a critical process that requires due diligence and, at times, tenacity. That said, there are many tactics you can use to locate and select the right heart valve surgeon for you.

In my opinion, one key ingredient in the surgeon selection process is the heart surgeon interview. Personally, I interviewed several heart valve surgeons prior to picking Dr. Vaughn Starnes for my heart valve replacement operation.

Heart surgery patient talking with doctor

Recently, I was reading the Wall Street Journal when I came across an interesting article about the challenges of asking surgeons tough questions. This article was appropriately titled, "Asking Your Surgeon The Tough Questions". It's a pretty good article that provides some interesting thoughts and references.

In one part of the article it notes, "To help patients be more pro-active, health-care groups, hospitals and medical specialty societies are offering new resources, including websites, books and checklists of questions to ask. The aim is to help patients select qualified surgeons, prepare for operations, and overcome the fear that often inhibits them from asking tough questions."

While the article referenced-above is good... There are some critical elements, specific to cardiac surgery, that were lacking. For this reason, here are several links to help guide your surgeon or interventional cardiologist interviews.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

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Written by Adam Pick
Patient & Website Founder

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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