Two years ago, my then 81-yr old father, who had Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, was recommended to get back surgery to relieve chronic and debilitating pain. The neurosurgeon said it's routine surgery and he's done it on people much older. We ultimately decided against it and found that a simple wedge pillow to sleep on relieved his pain. A bloody $50 pillow. And this came from a recommendation from a physiotherapist.

What's particularly galling is the recovery from back surgery would've taken at least 6-9 months of rehab and my father's PSP was already sapping his motor skills and yet the surgeon was pushing ahead.

Even with my mom I've had to intervene on several occasions against the doctor's utterly idiotic ideas. Thank goodness for AI to at least make us conversant to ask the right questions of these doctors.