EP 48: Treating Catastrophic Injuries with Dr. Erik Bendiks (Part 1)

Welcome to the catastrophic comeback podcast with American Injury Lawyer Clark speaks, helping you find hope, purpose and joy after a catastrophic injury.

Hi, welcome to catastrophic comeback. I'm here with my guest, Dr. Eric Beck. Bendix. Dr. Bennett thank you for being here. Appreciate you coming.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

So you're, you're, you're a doctor, what kind of doctor are you? And what what kinds of people? Do you see what kind of what under what circumstances would you see someone?

Sure. I'm an orthopedic surgeon. So orthopedic surgeon is a medical specialist who focuses on diseases injuries, conditions of the musculoskeletal system. So that means bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons, joints, discs, nerves. Interesting. Within orthopedics, there's several different sub specialty areas. So there's probably at least a good 10 different areas. One is hip and knee reconstruction. So that deals with replacing damaged or worn out hips and knees and other areas hand and as it says, it's really just dealing with conditions of the hand injuries of the hand, and another area is spine, that's my area of interest. So I focus on injuries, infections, cancers of the neck, mid and low back, and we treat that with conservative care. And with surgical care, it just depends on the patient. And by conservative care, that would mean time rest pills, therapies, injections, if those things aren't working, and they continue to have pain and they have tests, or X rays, or MRIs or CT scans that show an area that's injured, that could be helped with surgery, then surgery may be an option.

What are some of the things that might cause someone to need to come to you,

for us, really, it's the vast majority of what we tend to see tends to be injuries. So weekend warriors, they're lifting the lawnmower, out of the tool shed and they wrench their back, or they're out in the backyard playing with their kids and throwing the football around and hurt their shoulder. We tend to see a fair amount of that one of the biggest mechanisms of injury is car accidents. That's just everybody has a car and everyone's driving around. And they often get into accidents, especially now, with people are having smartphones, there's a little bit more distracted driving and people bump into each other and they'll get banged up knee or back or shoulder. And we'll see folks that have been injured that way. And also people that can be injured on the job, you lift up a heavy bucket of bolts or something like that, or you're a roofer and you slip and fall off a roof that can cause injuries. Interestingly enough, that's actually what got me into orthopedics. As my dad and I when were when I was a lot younger, we had a cedar shake roof. And every spring, you'd have to go up and replace the shingles that got broken from the hail storms. And we'd go up there and do that. And my dad one year, slipped and fell off the roof broke his ankle. And the doctor who put him back together ended up kind of taking me under his wing. And over the years, I'd go back and visit him. And I was just absolutely amazed orthopedics he was just carpentry. It's just putting putting broken things back together. And that ultimately is what led me into orthopedics. And now I'm seeing those same people falling off the roofs and fixing them. Oh, that's cool.

So So where did you grow up? I

grew up in a little bit all over. When I was I was born in Rome, Italy, lived there for four years. So that was my first language along with English. Then we moved to London, lived in London for a couple of years and then moved in 76 to Dallas, Texas, and we're there for the next 20 or so years. And did undergrad college, started off at Johns Hopkins up in Baltimore and then transferred back to Texas and finished out the University of Texas, the real UT. And then after that, went to medical school, also University of Texas Southwestern, which is in Dallas, and then finished up there in 96. And at that time, you know I lived most of my life inland and so I wanted to move somewhere in the Southeast Conference somewhere by the water to do my residency and I was lucky enough to be able to match with the program in Miami. And so I did my five year orthopedic surgery residency program in Miami. So for folks that don't know residency program is your training here. You're already a doctor you know when you graduate from med school, but you don't really know a whole lot you know the basics, but you don't know how to operate. You don't know how to, you know, be a cardiologist or any of that stuff. So you have to do more training. And that's what residency on the job training. Exactly. So you're you're an MD, you just don't have really a whole lot of knowledge in anything not to be a family practice, Doc Not to be a dermatologist not to be a brain surgeon, you just have the basic skill set. And so that's what a residency is.

Law is similar in the sense that you get out and you have a degree and you're legally capable of representing people. But you know, you don't necessarily know exactly what to do. So mostly we have the school of hard knocks and, and so, so I think that your approach your way sounds better,

yeah, better, quite frankly, even after you've done your residency, which residencies within medicine tend to be three to five or so years long, even then you're still there's, there's still a learning curve, there's still a lot to learn when you get out, you know, and one of my, when you're in your fellowship, your residency, sorry, you have your residency and for orthopedics is five years, and then you finish that you can even do more, you can do more training. On top of that, it's called a fellowship. And within orthopedics, there's all those 10 different areas, you can do a fellowship in pediatric so that would be specializing in musculoskeletal issues and kids, mine was in spine, so I did an extra year up in Rochester, University of Rochester, an additional year, just focusing on just spine surgery and learned a heck of a lot up there is a great program. But even then, when you get out, it's still quite nerve racking, you're starting off, you know, doing your first case, your first surgery, and there's nobody around to hold your hand, you're doing it yourself. But you know, if you've had good training, you should be able to get through it and be just fine. And

so that window when you got out of when you finished your trek, so so just to recap you, you grew up in Europe, come to Dallas, go to college, go to graduate school, go to medical school, do your residency, do your fellowship, and then and then what do you open your own practice? Do you go work for another practice? Or how does that work?

Um, you know, during during my lifetime here, that's changed. When I came out, when I finished all of my training, my fellowship, that was a period of time when most people still went into what's called private practice, you hung a shingle, you did your own thing, or you joined a group in town, you know, an Orthopedic Group or dermatology group or a cardiology group. But and that was back in 2002. Since then, from 2002 to now we're already in 2024. Back then joining or becoming an employed doctor is what it was really was it was Kaiser, that was one of the big employers back then, but not much else.

So it was a big HMO that was Yeah, big old health

company. They're out in California and has since branched across the country. They were one of the few that was an employer of physicians back then. And so you came out, you went into private practice, that's probably like 95% of people came out and they did private practice, 5% became employed. Now that ratio is probably just the opposite. Now, hospitals now basically, own doctor groups. Other Doctor groups have kind of coalesced into really supergroups or whatever. And so you're mostly an employed doctor, you're no longer really just an independent physician. And there's pluses minuses to that. There's there's always the good and the bad. But that certainly has changed in the timeframe now and 2024. Going into private practice is very rare.

And have you did you? Did you you were you worked, you went into private practice,

you did your own? Yes, I started, I started my own shop. And that was definitely the school of hard knocks started my own group with two other buddies. And that was 2002. We got a hospital local hospital in our area, recruited us to come work in that in that county. And we started there, but we were decent doctors, but horrible businessmen. So unfortunately, that business folded. And then from there, I joined another group, I was with them for a couple of years. And then I went from the small group that I own. That was great, but we didn't run it well to a very large group where it really didn't have much say, and that wasn't really for me. And so then I left that second group and join this much smaller group, which is much better fit for me and still learned was not in not my own. It wasn't my own shop or my own group. But I got to practice quite a bit independently, and learn quite a bit and then ultimately branched out from there and then started my own practice in 2015. It was and it was to name your own rank. Our practice here in North Carolina is Apex orthopedics, spine in neurology,

and you have offices in different places. But yes, we originally

started in Georgia and that was Georgia spine and orthopedics and still is. And we've grown to have about eight offices throughout North and Central Georgia. And then when COVID came along, there was the licence requirements for medical doctors was relaxed during that period of time, in anticipation for there being a need for doctors to be able to practice across state lines in case there was a significant health care need for that. And so the federal government and the local agencies were really thinking way ahead, they're anticipating if there's any issues, we need to be ahead of the curve, but rather than behind and so they relaxed the licensing requirements during that time. And so it was I viewed it as an opportunity to see okay, let's, let's let's set up shop in another area and see if perhaps, things can work. So, during that time, telemedicine was also taking off, back before 2019, telemedicine was around. So the concept of telemedicine is being able to speak via some sort of web enabled platform or digital platform to be able to speak with your healthcare provider but not be in the same room. So they can be somewhere else your city or

your nurse or your or your PA or something on a zoom call as opposed to face to face correct

and still be able to do a health interview and examination of the patient and then come up with a treatment plan. That is the basic essence of telemedicine that was already around before before COVID. But people really didn't latch on to it much. And in fact, we already had our own we had a telemedicine platform that we used. Occasionally, just because some folks that are out in the country are far away or don't have access to transportation, that was the only way to be able to give them care that they needed. But it really wasn't something that the the local population really latched on to once COVID hit, it was an immediate switch, everybody immediately latched on to it. And now you know, now it's here to stay. And it's a great to me, I think it's been a massive boost for technology and for the delivery of health care to be able to access people that wouldn't otherwise get access to care. And to do it so efficiently. You can see, you know, imagine going to your doctor, you got to get in the car, you got to drive 15 minutes, if you're lucky 30 minutes if you're not or more sit in their waiting room. And as much as I would hope my waiting room goes quickly. The reality is you might be there 10 minutes, you might be there 30 minutes, who knows and some doctor's office and perhaps even more, then they bring you back, you wait in the room another 510 minutes, the doctor strobes in for two, three minutes, and then they're gone. You're like what they say I didn't even catch what they say and they're already gone. And then now you got to drive another 15 to 30 minutes home, you spent two, maybe three hours now with telemedicine, it's literally Oh, I have my appointment at 915 in the morning, they might be a couple minutes late. You see the doctor, they log in on their little HIPAA compliant computer telemedicine platform. You see him at 922. And it's just you and them talking with no interference from anybody buying 932 You're done. And you're still in your pajamas. And the doctor is on to the next patient. And I would say from the we're just speaking about is such a powerful technologic tool because now the doctor can see more patients in a shorter timeframe. And then from the patient's perspective, they don't have to miss so much time from work or from school. I'll see people literally at work, they'll they work in a warehouse or whatever. They'll just walk out the door and do my interview with them for five, six minutes, boom, and they're right back to work. And so I think that's a big benefit, just overall a societal benefit. Sure, yeah. The cost of all that lost time is is now can disappear. Thank you

for joining us, and we'll see you next time.

Welcome to the catastrophic comeback podcast with American Injury Lawyer Clark speaks, helping you find hope, purpose and joy after a catastrophic injury.

Hi, welcome to catastrophic comeback. I'm here with my guest, Dr. Eric Beck. Bendix. Dr. Bennett thank you for being here. Appreciate you coming.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

So you're, you're, you're a doctor, what kind of doctor are you? And what what kinds of people? Do you see what kind of what under what circumstances would you see someone?

Sure. I'm an orthopedic surgeon. So orthopedic surgeon is a medical specialist who focuses on diseases injuries, conditions of the musculoskeletal system. So that means bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons, joints, discs, nerves. Interesting. Within orthopedics, there's several different sub specialty areas. So there's probably at least a good 10 different areas. One is hip and knee reconstruction. So that deals with replacing damaged or worn out hips and knees and other areas hand and as it says, it's really just dealing with conditions of the hand injuries of the hand, and another area is spine, that's my area of interest. So I focus on injuries, infections, cancers of the neck, mid and low back, and we treat that with conservative care. And with surgical care, it just depends on the patient. And by conservative care, that would mean time rest pills, therapies, injections, if those things aren't working, and they continue to have pain and they have tests, or X rays, or MRIs or CT scans that show an area that's injured, that could be helped with surgery, then surgery may be an option.

What are some of the things that might cause someone to need to come to you,

for us, really, it's the vast majority of what we tend to see tends to be injuries. So weekend warriors, they're lifting the lawnmower, out of the tool shed and they wrench their back, or they're out in the backyard playing with their kids and throwing the football around and hurt their shoulder. We tend to see a fair amount of that one of the biggest mechanisms of injury is car accidents. That's just everybody has a car and everyone's driving around. And they often get into accidents, especially now, with people are having smartphones, there's a little bit more distracted driving and people bump into each other and they'll get banged up knee or back or shoulder. And we'll see folks that have been injured that way. And also people that can be injured on the job, you lift up a heavy bucket of bolts or something like that, or you're a roofer and you slip and fall off a roof that can cause injuries. Interestingly enough, that's actually what got me into orthopedics. As my dad and I when were when I was a lot younger, we had a cedar shake roof. And every spring, you'd have to go up and replace the shingles that got broken from the hail storms. And we'd go up there and do that. And my dad one year, slipped and fell off the roof broke his ankle. And the doctor who put him back together ended up kind of taking me under his wing. And over the years, I'd go back and visit him. And I was just absolutely amazed orthopedics he was just carpentry. It's just putting putting broken things back together. And that ultimately is what led me into orthopedics. And now I'm seeing those same people falling off the roofs and fixing them. Oh, that's cool.

So So where did you grow up? I

grew up in a little bit all over. When I was I was born in Rome, Italy, lived there for four years. So that was my first language along with English. Then we moved to London, lived in London for a couple of years and then moved in 76 to Dallas, Texas, and we're there for the next 20 or so years. And did undergrad college, started off at Johns Hopkins up in Baltimore and then transferred back to Texas and finished out the University of Texas, the real UT. And then after that, went to medical school, also University of Texas Southwestern, which is in Dallas, and then finished up there in 96. And at that time, you know I lived most of my life inland and so I wanted to move somewhere in the Southeast Conference somewhere by the water to do my residency and I was lucky enough to be able to match with the program in Miami. And so I did my five year orthopedic surgery residency program in Miami. So for folks that don't know residency program is your training here. You're already a doctor you know when you graduate from med school, but you don't really know a whole lot you know the basics, but you don't know how to operate. You don't know how to, you know, be a cardiologist or any of that stuff. So you have to do more training. And that's what residency on the job training. Exactly. So you're you're an MD, you just don't have really a whole lot of knowledge in anything not to be a family practice, Doc Not to be a dermatologist not to be a brain surgeon, you just have the basic skill set. And so that's what a residency is.

Law is similar in the sense that you get out and you have a degree and you're legally capable of representing people. But you know, you don't necessarily know exactly what to do. So mostly we have the school of hard knocks and, and so, so I think that your approach your way sounds better,

yeah, better, quite frankly, even after you've done your residency, which residencies within medicine tend to be three to five or so years long, even then you're still there's, there's still a learning curve, there's still a lot to learn when you get out, you know, and one of my, when you're in your fellowship, your residency, sorry, you have your residency and for orthopedics is five years, and then you finish that you can even do more, you can do more training. On top of that, it's called a fellowship. And within orthopedics, there's all those 10 different areas, you can do a fellowship in pediatric so that would be specializing in musculoskeletal issues and kids, mine was in spine, so I did an extra year up in Rochester, University of Rochester, an additional year, just focusing on just spine surgery and learned a heck of a lot up there is a great program. But even then, when you get out, it's still quite nerve racking, you're starting off, you know, doing your first case, your first surgery, and there's nobody around to hold your hand, you're doing it yourself. But you know, if you've had good training, you should be able to get through it and be just fine. And

so that window when you got out of when you finished your trek, so so just to recap you, you grew up in Europe, come to Dallas, go to college, go to graduate school, go to medical school, do your residency, do your fellowship, and then and then what do you open your own practice? Do you go work for another practice? Or how does that work?

Um, you know, during during my lifetime here, that's changed. When I came out, when I finished all of my training, my fellowship, that was a period of time when most people still went into what's called private practice, you hung a shingle, you did your own thing, or you joined a group in town, you know, an Orthopedic Group or dermatology group or a cardiology group. But and that was back in 2002. Since then, from 2002 to now we're already in 2024. Back then joining or becoming an employed doctor is what it was really was it was Kaiser, that was one of the big employers back then, but not much else.

So it was a big HMO that was Yeah, big old health

company. They're out in California and has since branched across the country. They were one of the few that was an employer of physicians back then. And so you came out, you went into private practice, that's probably like 95% of people came out and they did private practice, 5% became employed. Now that ratio is probably just the opposite. Now, hospitals now basically, own doctor groups. Other Doctor groups have kind of coalesced into really supergroups or whatever. And so you're mostly an employed doctor, you're no longer really just an independent physician. And there's pluses minuses to that. There's there's always the good and the bad. But that certainly has changed in the timeframe now and 2024. Going into private practice is very rare.

And have you did you? Did you you were you worked, you went into private practice,

you did your own? Yes, I started, I started my own shop. And that was definitely the school of hard knocks started my own group with two other buddies. And that was 2002. We got a hospital local hospital in our area, recruited us to come work in that in that county. And we started there, but we were decent doctors, but horrible businessmen. So unfortunately, that business folded. And then from there, I joined another group, I was with them for a couple of years. And then I went from the small group that I own. That was great, but we didn't run it well to a very large group where it really didn't have much say, and that wasn't really for me. And so then I left that second group and join this much smaller group, which is much better fit for me and still learned was not in not my own. It wasn't my own shop or my own group. But I got to practice quite a bit independently, and learn quite a bit and then ultimately branched out from there and then started my own practice in 2015. It was and it was to name your own rank. Our practice here in North Carolina is Apex orthopedics, spine in neurology,

and you have offices in different places. But yes, we originally

started in Georgia and that was Georgia spine and orthopedics and still is. And we've grown to have about eight offices throughout North and Central Georgia. And then when COVID came along, there was the licence requirements for medical doctors was relaxed during that period of time, in anticipation for there being a need for doctors to be able to practice across state lines in case there was a significant health care need for that. And so the federal government and the local agencies were really thinking way ahead, they're anticipating if there's any issues, we need to be ahead of the curve, but rather than behind and so they relaxed the licensing requirements during that time. And so it was I viewed it as an opportunity to see okay, let's, let's let's set up shop in another area and see if perhaps, things can work. So, during that time, telemedicine was also taking off, back before 2019, telemedicine was around. So the concept of telemedicine is being able to speak via some sort of web enabled platform or digital platform to be able to speak with your healthcare provider but not be in the same room. So they can be somewhere else your city or

your nurse or your or your PA or something on a zoom call as opposed to face to face correct

and still be able to do a health interview and examination of the patient and then come up with a treatment plan. That is the basic essence of telemedicine that was already around before before COVID. But people really didn't latch on to it much. And in fact, we already had our own we had a telemedicine platform that we used. Occasionally, just because some folks that are out in the country are far away or don't have access to transportation, that was the only way to be able to give them care that they needed. But it really wasn't something that the the local population really latched on to once COVID hit, it was an immediate switch, everybody immediately latched on to it. And now you know, now it's here to stay. And it's a great to me, I think it's been a massive boost for technology and for the delivery of health care to be able to access people that wouldn't otherwise get access to care. And to do it so efficiently. You can see, you know, imagine going to your doctor, you got to get in the car, you got to drive 15 minutes, if you're lucky 30 minutes if you're not or more sit in their waiting room. And as much as I would hope my waiting room goes quickly. The reality is you might be there 10 minutes, you might be there 30 minutes, who knows and some doctor's office and perhaps even more, then they bring you back, you wait in the room another 510 minutes, the doctor strobes in for two, three minutes, and then they're gone. You're like what they say I didn't even catch what they say and they're already gone. And then now you got to drive another 15 to 30 minutes home, you spent two, maybe three hours now with telemedicine, it's literally Oh, I have my appointment at 915 in the morning, they might be a couple minutes late. You see the doctor, they log in on their little HIPAA compliant computer telemedicine platform. You see him at 922. And it's just you and them talking with no interference from anybody buying 932 You're done. And you're still in your pajamas. And the doctor is on to the next patient. And I would say from the we're just speaking about is such a powerful technologic tool because now the doctor can see more patients in a shorter timeframe. And then from the patient's perspective, they don't have to miss so much time from work or from school. I'll see people literally at work, they'll they work in a warehouse or whatever. They'll just walk out the door and do my interview with them for five, six minutes, boom, and they're right back to work. And so I think that's a big benefit, just overall a societal benefit. Sure, yeah. The cost of all that lost time is is now can disappear. Thank you

for joining us, and we'll see you next time.