I found an interested article at that may interest other members. The full article can be found at www.theheart.org/article/962057.do 

Here are some excerts.

In an analysis of data from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Registry, investigators showed that ICD implantations by nonelectrophysiologists (non-EPs) are associated with a higher rate of procedural complications and that patients are less likely to receive cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillation (CRT-D), when compared with board-certified electrophysiologists (EPs)...

"As far as I know, there are no nationally recognized criteria for determining what a physician can and can’t do," said Curtis. "It really falls to the hospitals where these devices are being implanted to determine who should be doing them and to monitor the quality of those implantations. There are lots of physicians implanting these, and it’s all perfectly legal and allowed, but the question is whether the outcomes are the same across these groups."...

"I wouldn’t take this to say that all nonelectrophysiologist implanters are bad and that all electrophysiologists are the best implanters, but, on average, there are differences," said Curtis.

 

 

I had my pacemaker inserted by a vascular surgeon. It took a cardiac surgeon to fix the mess that was made.

Personally, I will NEVER let a vascular surgeon touch me again. I'm sure plenty of people have had good results, but I didn't...perhaps it was just my luck.

I just wish the "rules" were standard for every hospital.

Pookie

 

I'm really astounded at the difference in the statistics! Nearly double. All of my surgeries have been done by a cardiac surgeon. I've always felt good and I love my cardiologist so I've never gone to an EP, but my next replacement is going to be more complicated so I've been considering an EP. I think this just tipped the scales!