DEAR DR. GOTT:
You have no business dispensing medical advice in any field in which you are not a specialist. An 88-year-old man has absolutely no business having an abdominal aortic aneurysm repaired. Do you have any idea how extensive this surgery is? It will most likely kill this man, if not on the operating table then within a year from surgery even if he were in good physical condition. I wish I had access to your files and if I had this man’s name I would warn him. If he died I’d have you up for criminal prosecution. How the heck does someone like you ever get to write a column of this type? I have read your column in the past and seen the ludicrous medical advice you have given on other issues but this one takes the cake. Stop giving medical advice to people on the basis of their letters and suggest only that they see a real specialist in the field of their condition and symptoms. I am contacting my local paper and requesting your column be pulled from this and any other newspapers their parent company owns. I’ll also contact the Newspaper Enterprise Association. This stupidity has got to stop! Get it?

You are the “Dear Abby” of medical journalism and you should be ashamed of yourself.

I am, by profession, a consumer advocate so you had better take my words seriously.

For the purpose of this letter I will remain anonymous; however, you will know my name if this malpractice continues.

DEAR READER:
I’m sorry that you disagree with my column which I write to keep people informed about medical issues. Judging from the 2500 letters I receive each week, my readers are glad to have this information. I think this makes me a successful consumer advocate, unlike you. In all the years I have written this column, I have received only a handful of letters such as yours. I believe this is inevitable — but sad in a way because such people are missing the point. I recommend that you have some anger management therapy and perhaps a few typing, grammar and spelling lessons as well. (It took quite a while to correct your letter to make it passable for a syndicated column.) Doing a spell check and re-reading your letter for errors before sending it is always a good idea for those who wish to be taken seriously, so forgive me that I‘m not “shaking in my boots“ at your threats.

Now, to the article in question. If you had read the letter from this gentleman, you would have known that his vascular surgeon RECOMMENDED the surgery. He also had a friend (who happened to be a physician) recommend surgery if the aneurysm grew. So you see, I was simply a third party physician who recommended the surgery as well. I hope your next letter, which I am certain will be a response to this, will be more thought out. Thanks for writing. I needed a chuckle today!