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My mother got a staph infection a few years back after having surgery on her ankle for scar tissue removal. The problem was that the doctor had overcauterized the area, and that helped the infection to grow.
She had to be on antibiotics for quite a while after that, and got a free surgery for her other ankle out of it.
I'd say probably the best defense one can take is to look at the hospital's record of infection post-op/post-treatment and decide from there, if you have more than one hospital to choose from.
As for medical literacy--I am highly medical literate. My mother comes from that "you just do what the doctor tells you" mindset. Unfortunately this has caused her some problems, as she doesn't notice sometimes when her medications cause side effects. She just thinks it's something new.
My childhood doctor tried to convince me to go into medicine. I said I was majoring in English. She said that was fine--but to complete my pre-med classes just in case. Kinda wish I'd taken her advice if I'd known I was going to be in school this long anyways.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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