But the government's oversight is far from perfect. According to a 2002 Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's report, ASC data do not exist in electronic form, and there is no agreed-upon method for evaluating the data. Further, there is no set system for informing ASCs of what the data show or for offering recommendations. Finally, survey results are not readily available to the public.
Last Person Out
The day Betsy Shapiro finally went for her operation, she was "extremely nervous," she said. Despite all the reassurances, she went to the ASC feeling "the fact that it was at a mall didn't help much."
The River Road Surgery Center sits in a strip mall in Bethesda, below a tailor shop and an Asian market.
(Jonathan Ernst - For The Washington Post)
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Her husband, however, found the circumstances oddly convenient. While she went under the knife, he strolled over to the Starbucks a few doors down for a cappuccino and took care of a few errands, including a visit to the pharmacy to pick up the medications she'd need.
Shapiro remembers that when she came to after the operation, the first thing she heard was the voice of a nurse saying: "Okay, time to go." It was close to 5 p.m. closing time. "It was like being the last customer in a store after they've locked the door," Shapiro explained, "and then they have to unlock it to let you out."
Though she "couldn't stand up on my own," Shapiro left with three titanium plates holding the bones of her face together. Her husband helped her into a wheelchair and out to the car. In less than half an hour, she was home.
In hindsight, Shapiro said there were some pluses to going under the knife that way: "I wasn't vying for people's attention. I pretty much had a contingent of staff all to myself."
Six weeks after her surgery, she was back on the ball field. Tough as ever, but also cautious. She left the pitching to a teammate, and settled in at second base -- her new position, at least until the bones healed.•
Ranit Mishori, a family practice resident at Georgetown University/Providence Hospital, recently wrote for the Health section about Prader-Willi syndrome.
