"Many [patients] have said they watched the webcast," Gammie said in a telephone interview. "So I find that probably 50 to 60 percent of people who come to us now . . . are much more prepared." Gammie provided commentary during the mitral valve operation while another doctor performed the surgery.
Some consumer health advocates question the webcasts' value to consumers. Arthur Levin, director of the nonprofit Center for Medical Consumers in New York, said he thinks a surgical webcast serves more as a public relations tool for hospitals than as education for consumers.
Hospitals nationwide are now recording surgical procedures for broadcast on the Web for patients, physicians and the just plain curious.
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"The important things that patients need to know about surgery are: What are the risks? What are the alternatives? That's the kind of information people need. They don't need to see someone else's stomach open," Levin said.
Scalpel, Sutures, Camera
Hospitals see the matter differently.
A surgical webcast "allows us to demonstrate our expertise, both the physician expertise as well as the expertise of our facility," said Dave Brond, UMMC's vice president of marketing and planning. "It also wasn't a traditionally used part of our marketing toolbox. . . . This is a way of funneling more people into our Web site who are searching for health care information online."
The webcasts cost about $35,000 each, according to Dan Aitchison, regional sales director for slp3D Inc., the Connecticut-based video production company that contracts with UMMC. Aitchison said his company has about 50 clients, including Georgetown University Hospital. All told, the company estimates it will air 100 surgeries by year's end; some of them can be accessed at www.or-live.com.
Even within the medical community, there are some qualms about surgical webcasts.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons issued guidelines in 1998 advising against live broadcasts of thoracic surgical procedures to the general public.
"The Society believes a possibility exists wherein participating surgeons might fail to follow proper medical procedures or might be distracted because of the media and, thereby, deprive the patient of the highest quality care," the guidelines say.
Sensitive to such concerns, surgeons at UMMC recorded the mitral valve surgery -- rather than showing it live -- and aired it later that day. They plan to do the same with the sympathectomy surgery.
