I am writing to correct a serious error in the Survival Guide (Womanews, July 17). The article states that podiatrists are not able to do surgery. You have misinformed the public and may have harmed my professional practice as well as those of all podiatric surgeons in the area covered by the Chicago Tribune.
After I graduated from Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., with a bachelor of science degree, I attended the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine for four years and graduated with the degree of doctor of podiatric medicine (D.P.M.). This is most definitely a medical degree. I then served a three-year residency in podiatric surgery at a hospital in Chicago, where I performed surgery on hundreds of patients under the supervision of podiatric, general and orthopedic surgeons, and learned from other physicians in areas such as internal medicine, radiology, anesthesia, pathology and emergency medicine.
I am on the medical staffs of several hospitals and licensed surgical centers in the Chicago area where I commonly perform surgery on the foot and ankle. I also teach foot and ankle surgery to residents in several residency programs.
