[jpmattia]

> I guess I'm just shocked that the surgeon could offer that level of assurance about something like that

I'm not. That's been my experience with pretty much every surgeon, and even a fair amount of the non-surgical doctors. Letting patients see uncertainty and indecision is not part of the medical school culture, as near as I can tell.

It behooves anyone with serious medical issues to do independent research. (God help you if you don't already know how to deep learn on literature not in your field.)