Clifford Whiles C.R.N.A.
Mary Whiles R.N.
4029 Littlefinger Rd.
Lake Havasu City AZ. 86406

Arizona Medical Board
9545 East Doubletree Ranch Road
Scottsdale Az. 85258-5539
 
Re: Dr. Abedon Saiz M.D.

BOMEX,

I am prompted to write in regards to the withdrawal of operating privileges of Dr. Saiz.  I’ve only heard rumors about bad outcomes or documentation of necessity.  The facts ads I know them are whatever Dr. Saiz has been accused of, it could not possibly have anything to do with his abilities or his professionalism.
 
I have been providing Anesthesia in this part of Arizona for thirty three years, starting in Yuma in 1970 and working in hospitals in Blythe, Ca. Kingman, Bullhead City, Parker, and for the last thirty years based here in Lake Havasu City.
 
I have worked with, and observed, a very large and varied group of surgeons. Most of these surgeons were doing a good job and used good judgment in their procedures. Most being the key word in that sentence. I have seen surgeons who make rounds with a cigar in their mouth. I have seen surgeons who would use any small excuse to operate on a patient. I have worked with a surgeon who invariably would cut his assistance in nine out of ten procedures just because of his frantic and spasmodic hand movements. I have, worked with a surgeon who wanted to do a mediastinal biopsy on a very elderly patient who was not expected to live another seventy two hours because of the terminal cancer in the mediastinum. I refused to be involved with that procedure.

I have worked with one particular surgeon who has about a seventy percent infection rate.  Only one of this group of shining examples has ever had their privileges rescinded or limited.  Most of the surgeons I have had the pleasure to work with had at least some concern for the patients and their family’s feelings and concerns.  Certainly not all of them.   Approximately two years ago I had the opportunity to work with a new surgeon in my town.  I had never seen anything like him.  He had the slickest, most steady and sure hands of any one I had ever seen.  The steadiest, most consistent movements in every situation.  The range of procedures this sureon does is simply amazing.  From carotid endrterectomies to Femoral popliteal bypass and endoscopic procedures in the abdomen and chest.  No one I’ve ever worked with has come close to demonstrating his range of abilities.
 
A close friend of mine recently had need for a surgeon because he had been sick for several days when he finally had to give it up and go to the emergency room with what turned out to be a long ruptured appendix which by all rights should have killed him.  When he was operated on by Dr. Saiz he was found to have peritonitis of several days of duration.  He was extremely lucky to encounter possibly the only surgeon available who would not only bring him back to a healthy condition but would also take the time and effort in the post-op period to comfort him and his family members and explain to them exactly what had happened and what had to be done about it.  Due to the expertise of Dr. Saiz three years ago I was able to have my own gallbladder and appendix removed on a Saturday morning and was able to be back at work Monday morning. 

Finally, last Sunday, Oct 27 my wife Mary and I had gone to breakfast on our motorcycle with a group of riding friends at about 0800.  We returned home about an hour later.  At about 10:00 Mary called me in from the garage and told me she had been passing bloody stols and vomiting blood for the last half hour or so and felt she was in real troble and needed to go to the Emergency Room.  In the E.R. she was given fluids and had a naso-gastric tube inserted.  Her labs showed a hemoglobin of 7.8.  Dr. Saiz was called and responded promptly and set up for an emergency EGD.  During the exam Mary vomited about 2000 cc’s of blood and clots.  An ulcer was found in the pyloric region which had eroded through an artery.  It was cauterized and as simply as that she was on the road to recovery with two units of blood, fluids, and liquid diet for a couple of weeks. 
 
I can’t tell you how lucky we feel having this done the way it was handled on Sunday as opposed to Monday when Dr. Saiz had his license pulled and we would probably ended up having an exploratory laparotomy with all of it’s inherent possibilities of complications, infections, to say nothing of the extended recovery period and time away from work plus the added costs.  I’ve never heard of, seen, or w