The doctor is out to lunch!  Before you return, you might find the following articles informative and of help in your decision making.

From the Department of Medicine at Baylor University:

Study finds common knee surgery no better than placebo

Osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease, is the most common form of arthritis, and commonly occurs in the knee. Symptoms include pain, stiffness, and swelling. Treatment typically involves pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory drugs, along with heat-therapy and exercise. When these fail, surgery is often recommended. In the United States, it is estimated that more than 650,000 arthroscopic debridement or lavage procedures are performed each year, many of these for arthritis, at a cost of about $5,000 each.

"This study has important policy implications," Wray said. "We have shown that the entire driving force behind this billion dollar industry is the placebo effect. The health care industry should rethink how to test whether surgical procedures, done purely for the relief of subjective symptoms, are more efficacious than a placebo."

From The New Yorker

   Jerome Groopman, MD is a member of the teaching faculty at Harvard University's School of Medicine.

   Spinal fusions are performed at the rate of 150,000 per year at a cost of more than 30 billion dollars, yet are successful for only about 15 percent of those who get "a knife in the back."  Doctor Groopman was himself a victim of this form of surgery.  Read his story and what he has discovered/uncovered about this procedure at: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020408fa_FACT