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The internet is a wonderful thing but it is also a deluge of information, some real and some fake. MicroSpine never pays people to pretend to be patients on the internet but we do know that it occurs and thus you the patient should take information found on the internet with a "grain of salt". When on a blog, be wary of people who just rave extensively about a particular doctor or center. Make sure that they are a real patient and not someone pretending to be a patient. Also, be wary if the reverse is true and the person is aggressively negative towards an individual doctor or center. Try to get multiple sources of information and ask multiple people.

Be very suspicious of people who pay to set up websites or advertise against particular doctors or centers. Making a website or advertising it can be very expensive and there is usually some ulterior motive behind such actions. These motives may include another doctor or center trying to veer patients away from a competing center for there own personal gain. You should ask, who is paying for this website or its advertising? Generally, unhappy patients seek legal action when they feel they have been wronged, they don't don't spend their own money to slander people.

Any doctor who actively "badmouths' another physician of the same specialty that they do not actually know should be considered suspect. Doctors are egomaniacs and they belittle other doctors because they are either jealous of them or feel threatened by them. Usually, a doctor who isn't fond of the quality of work of another physician will generally refer the patient to someone they admire or tell a patient that they would prefer they consider someone else. 

Question everything! Sometimes if it sounds too good to be true then it is too good to be true, but sometimes not. Where do they get those success rates from? Did they just make them up or did they actually perform research? 95% success rate for spinal problems are just plain ridiculous and not proven. If they claim this then ask for the research. Do they answer your questions (within reason).

What are their credentials? Are they vague about them? It is important to realize that physicians are not supposed to advertise that they are Board Certified unless they truly are so. Only certain boards are recognized as being Board Certified. Be cautious of  phony boards. check out the ABMS website (www.abms.org) since almost every board is a member except the ABPM  (www.abpm.org). Anyone can create a fake board so check your doctor credential?. Is he a M.D. or not. Was he American trained? Where did he go to school? This guy is going to operate on you and you should know these things.

Do they have Malpractice Insurance? Good doctors have it, bad doctors don't. It's totally acceptable that a doctor has had a malpractice suit or two out of the thousands of patients they have treated but be very wary of the doctor who doesn't carry malpractice insurance because they have had dozens of suits. Generally, if they don't have malpractice insurance then I would walk away because something isn't quite right.

Do they have Hospital Privileges? If not, then why don't they. Who will take care of you if there is a complication? What will happen and where would you go? It isn't acceptable that your surgeon doesn't have some type of access to a hospital so that they personally can take care of you if there is a complication.

If they're so wonderful, then why do they advertise so much? All doctors advertise and occasionally do promotional seminars but be wary of excessive advertising or aggressive sales tactics.