NOVEMER 2008 Volume 93, Number 11 FEATURES Stephen J. Regnier Editor Fahad’s journey 8 Linn Meyer Sylvia D. Campbell, MD, FACS Director of ACS Practice Patterns Survey, Part II: Communications Prescribing habits among surgical specialties 11 Karen Stein Charles M. Balch, MD, FACS; and Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS Associate Editor Into the theater: Perspectives from a civilian trauma surgeon’s Diane S. Schneidman visit to the Combat Support Hospital in Balad, Iraq 16 Contributing Editor M. Margaret Knudson, MD, FACS Tina Woelke 2008 state legislative activity 26 Graphic Design Specialist Melinda Baker Alden H. Harken, MD, FACS Charles D. Mabry, DEPARTMENTS MD, FACS Jack W. McAninch, MD, FACS From my perspective 4 Editorial Advisors Editorial by Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, ACS Executive Director Tina Woelke Dateline: Washington 7 Front cover design Division of Advocacy and Health Policy Socioeconomic tips 31 Future meetings ACS Coding Hotline: Cholecystectomy questions Linda Barney, MD, FACS; Albert Bothe, Jr., MD, FACS; Clinical Congress and Debra Mariani, CPC 2009 Chicago, IL, October 11-15 2010 Washington, DC, October 3-7 2011 San Francisco, CA, October 23-27 Letters to the Editor should be sent with the writer’s name, address, e-mail ad- dress, and daytime tele- phone number via e-mail to
[email protected], or via mail to Stephen J. Regnier, Editor, Bulletin, American College of Surgeons, 633 N. Saint Clair St., Chicago, IL 60611. Letters may be edited for length or On the cover: A Ugandan mother’s plea on behalf of her son, who suffered from clarity. Permission to publish letters is assumed unless the a heart complication, inspired dedicated surgeons and nonsurgeons in Tampa, author indicates otherwise.