{"id":20709,"date":"2023-01-03T08:21:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T13:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/?p=20709"},"modified":"2023-01-03T08:21:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T13:21:10","slug":"weighing-risks-of-a-major-surgery-7-questions-older-americans-should-ask-their-surgeon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/?p=20709","title":{"rendered":"Weighing Risks of a Major Surgery: 7 Questions Older Americans Should Ask Their Surgeon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>(By Judith Graham for Kaiser Health News)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Larry McMahon, who turns 80 this month, is weighing whether to undergo a major surgery. Over the past five years, his back pain has intensified. Physical therapy, muscle relaxants, and injections aren\u2019t offering relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Should McMahon, a retired Virginia state trooper who now lives in Southport, North Carolina, try spinal fusion surgery, a procedure that can take up to six hours? (Eight years ago, he had a lumbar laminectomy, another arduous back surgery.)  Continue reading <a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/weighing-risks-of-a-major-surgery-7-questions-older-americans-should-ask-their-surgeon\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/weighing-risks-of-a-major-surgery-7-questions-older-americans-should-ask-their-surgeon\/\">here&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"78\" class=\"wp-image-899\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/khn-logo1.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/khn-logo1.png 1600w, https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/khn-logo1-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/khn-logo1-1024x533.png 1024w, https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/khn-logo1-390x205.png 390w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Notice:<\/strong>&nbsp;The link provided above connects readers to the full content of the posted article. The URL (internet address) for this link is valid on the posted date; medicarereport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the link\u2019s validity. Also, the opinions expressed in these postings are the viewpoints of the original source and are not explicitly endorsed by AMAC, Inc.; the AMAC Foundation, Inc.; or medicarereport.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(By Judith Graham for Kaiser Health News) Larry McMahon, who turns 80 this month, is weighing whether to undergo a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12,48],"tags":[91,372,94,373],"class_list":["post-20709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-health-care-general","category-mental-healthbehavioral-health","tag-mental-health","tag-navigating-aging","tag-older-adults","tag-surgery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20710,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions\/20710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicarereport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}