Mr Emin Carapeti 2017-01-13 Person 1 5 0

Emin Carapeti is not interested in answering questions from patients, and if that is something that is of importance to you before considering surgery, then you may wish to look elsewhere. Dr Carapeti was going to treat my hernia. 4 days before my operation, he wrote to me via his assistant to say that he would not operate on me. In the two months between when I had booked my operation and when he cancelled, I had written two emails to his assistant that contained a total of 13 questions about things like my timeline to recovery etc. Examples were: "can you please confirm that I'm ok to book a ski trip at the end of March if I'm having my surgery mid-January?" and "Will I be able to lie on my side/stomach or just on my back for the first few days after surgery?". To be 100% frank I also wanted details on my rough recovery timeline so that I could refer to that while lying in bed recovering, rather than wondering whether I remembered properly whether after 7 days I could carry 5 kilos or 10. His email to me saying he wouldn't operate stated that he thought that he hadn't been able to sufficiently allay my concerns about the surgery. I requested a callback, and on the phone, despite my telling him that having questions means that I wanted to be well-informed rather than being "too scared", he still refused surgery. He also claimed that he was put off by my emailed questions (ie looking for responses by email) because he was afraid I'd hold him to his answers, as in if he told me 2 months to ski and it was really 3, then I'd have a problem with it. I told him that if he wanted I would put in writing that I was comfortable with him performing the procedure (which was of course odd since I had already signed a consent form in front of him the day prior), and that I understood that things can go wrong even though the odds are with you. He then changed focus and said that his hesitation was really because I had taken too much of his time with questions for "a simple hernia operation" (even though he acknowledged that it wasn't all that simple to me as the person being operated on). Fine. As a reminder, though, I had asked a total of 13 straightforward questions via email. I also asked questions at my initial consult and at my pre-op visit (when I signed the consent), but for total avoidance of doubt I also had requested that I not have to come into his office for the pre-op visit since I was prepared for surgery and was willing to sign the consent and send it in - so any time of his that that visit took was not because I needed (or even asked) to be there. I am not sure if there will be any way for readers of this review to contact me to verify this, but I have copies of all correspondence with his office and I would be happy to share if it comes to that. I will add that he could have withdrawn at any point if he really was tentative. I wouldn't even have been so annoyed by it if I had not already wasted two months waiting for this surgery, cleared my work and travel schedule, and also rescheduled a hiking trip I had had planned for the New Year to make sure I was available when Dr Carapeti could see me. At no point did he do so. Even at my pre-op session, I walked out with him telling me that he would see me in a few days. And yet 4 days before my operation, he inexplicably pulls out, leaving me in the lurch. Bottom line: Dr Carapeti may well be a fine surgeon. He seems experienced. But I wouldn't know. But is he the doctor for you? If you're a patient that wants to be able to ask questions and to be kept informed about issues related to a procedure where you will be cut open, then Dr Carapeti is not the doctor for you, simple as that. Even a first visit is (at least in my experience) apt to result in you having wasted your time. I wasted two months. I cannot recommend him - not even a little.