Pre-Surgical Complications (Part 5)

Matthew Holt Aug 14, 2026 By MATTHEW HOLT Strap in for the tale of why your hero is spending most of his life down YouTube rabbit holes of cardiology videos while blundering his way around many many medical centers and exposing many problems with American health care even before he gets close to the operating table. Yes it’s Matthew Holt’s pre-surgical complications – the complications that have arisen before he even gets his failing aortic valve fixed. And yes this is a multi-parter! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Claude told me that Dr Amy Fiedler at UCSF was an expert in RAMT (right anterior minithoracotomy–the non endoscopic rib entry technique). I sent a note to my original Cardiology group on the UCSF MyChart system saying that I understood she did this surgery and could I have an appointment with her? You can see from my messages with them below that the appointment was set up. It should not have been. I had a very brief conversation with Dr Fiedler and almost immediately it became apparent I was wasting her time. She told me she does not do that RAMT surgery for valve replacement and she specializes in heart transplants, and some other specialized heart surgery. I think tha...