November 5. 2002

Arizona State Board of Medical Examiners
9545 E. Doubletree Ranch Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
 
RE: Suspension of Surgery Privileges. Dr. Abe Saiz

Dear Board Members.

I am writing this letter to you protesting the suspension of Abe Saiz’ surgical privleges. In doing so you have done a grave injustice to our community.
 
I have enormous faith in Dr. Saiz and the highest regard for his surgical talent. It is an honor as an anesthesia provider to work as a teammate with him in surgery.
 
Dr. Saiz is a colleague whom I work with weekly at our hospital. He is the best general surgeon in our community hands down, and is one of the most technically skilled caregivers in medicine.  I have had the pleasure of working with him (in many occasions. taking care of extremely ill patients. I know him to possess excellent judgment, finesse, kindness, and ultimately surgical superiority to any surgeon in this community or in any other community I have worked in.
 
My interactions with Dr. Saiz have involved treating very ill vacationers and snowbirds as well as residents in our town. Because of his superior skills, he is often called upon to provide care for the most challenging cases, increasing his exposure to morbidity.
 
His absence from our hospital is a great loss, and our community is suffering. I respectfully submit that his surgical privileges he immediately reinstated. I would be more than happy to talk with any Board Member investigating his skills and judgment. I feel that as an anesthesiologist I would be one of the first to protest if l felt his patient's safety was an issue. He is one of the few surgeons who will call me prior to an extremely complex use to consult and provide information so we can effectively treat these multi-system pathologic patients. When time is of the essence this is far more beneficial to tote than voluminous medical records. While we as physicians recognize the need for documentation, it should not be more important to us than caring for sick patients.

I recommend Dr. Saiz to my family, friends, and peers without reservation. I would have Dr. Saiz operate on me without hesitation, and God forbid if I were injured in town. I would hope he would be available to head the team.

It is of the utmost importance that the Board realizes that Dr. Saiz cares for a disproportionate percentage of high risk patients. His complication rate should reflect that level of pathology. His record keeping may not reflect his surgical excellence, however, that fact should not prevent him
from operating

I trust that the Board will rapidly restore Dr. Said a privileges while this investigation continues. I believe it to be significantly more harmful to our population for him not to be operating.
 
Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Sincerely,
 
James A. Stansbury, M.D.
Anesthesiologist @ Havasu Regional Medical Center

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