Other resources provide good, basic questions to ask before your surgery, such as risk vs benefit, what to expect before, during, and after the surgery, etc.
But many of us do not ask: how often do your perform this specific surgery? Research has shown that surgeons that perform few such operations in a year generally have higher risk of complications and a longer hospital stay.
A general surgeon may perform hundreds of surgeries a year, but only a handful of your specific kind of surgery. A hernia repair may be done laparoscopically, or by the more conventional open hernia surgery method. A laparoscopic surgery requires much more experience to do successfully.
Nicely ask about the surgeon’s success rate for your specific surgery, or if other patients have experienced major complications in the past. He/she may not give you the full picture, but it may be a good starting point.
