Which surgeon?

I am struggling with a decision and need your input. I am scheduled for DaVinci on 11/29/07 with a surgeon that has done 900+ DaVinci's. He does not accept insurance. I have today been "penciled in" for surgery on 12/14 by a different surgeon that does accept insurance. He has done 300-350 DaVinci's and was trained by the first surgeon. They both belong to the same office. If I have done the math right, I believe that surgery by the more experienced surgeon will end up costing an additional $4000+. Although the extra cost will hurt our budget, we could get by without any major changes in lifestyle.

I have until tomorrow morning to decide, as I am scheduled for pre-op tomorrow. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

I had my da Vinci surgery with Dr. Vipul Patel at the OSU medical center and had to travel out-of-state to see him. I was near his 2000th procedure. I am extremely pleased with the results. Although the outcome was very good, I had an inflamed prostate discovered during surgery even though I had waited the prescribed 8+ weeks since the biopsy. I don't know if this was simply due to my particular prostate needing more time to recover or from some underlying condition like prostititis. Dr. Patel stated that my visit to OSU was, to paraphrase, "well worth your trip", and that the outcome might not have been as good "500 or 1000 surgeries ago". This implies that experience beyond the "few hundred" robotic procedures, often used and a guideline for adequate robotic experience, could be important in some cases. Although I had no expectation of a difficult surgery going into it, the added experience could have made a difference in my particular case.

Thanks for the input. I decided to go with the more experienced surgeon and not worry about the cost difference. I feel good about my decision and have confidence in the surgeon that I chose. Just sixteen more days until the big day.