The modern general surgeon is a dying breed. There is also a grave shortage of surgeons which places added pressure on surgeons to try to do operations with which they may have litlte experience. At a time when the combination of traditional open (incision) operations and 'band-aid' or 'keyhole' laparoscopic operations have exploded in number, you, the patient have no way of knowing the skill level of the particular surgeon to whom you have been refrerred. This book explains how laparosopcic surgery began, as well as the terrible complications that occurred, for example, doing keyhole gallbladder removals: catastrophic common bile duct injuries (the tube to which the gallbladder is attached) rose three to five times that of open gallbladder surgery. Now, there is a way to do almost every traditional operation using a laparoscope. No single general surgeon can perform all of the operations listed as part of our profession. There are answers to these dilemmas regarding how to choose the surgeon you need. I spell them out in the book. Also, informed consent must now be more rigorous and patients need to ask about their surgeons actual experience and training. The book covers topics such as surgical innovation, where you may be on your surgeon's 'learning curve', the surgical personality and the difficult workplace for surgeons.