I must say that I don't get a good feeling about this guy. Even though I only know the Norwegian and European spinal surgery milieus I guess some things are the same in the USA (but please correct me if I'm wrong):
*His credentials: Some of the association and boards mentioned don't exist, some are associations where anybody with an medical exam can join, some are boards like the Arthroscopy Board of North America (ABNA) I don't know how respected ABNA is in the USA, but I can't find it on the list of associations recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialities, and I can't find a official homepage (maybe I'm just bad at googling, but it should be easy to find)
*He has not published any articles about spinal surgery. True, some links come up if you do a scholar google search, but there is only one article (which is about chondroplasty in the knee, some are quotations, and might just as well be a comment in a meeting or in a journal, the rest is patent applications). In spinal surgery, If you haven't published, especially if one claims to be a pioneer like he does, it is suspicious.
*According to the webpages of the Bonati Institute, they use Microinvasive Spinal Surgery (MISS). MISS per se is an acceptable operation technique, but it is well known and used in many places. I would prefer an open technique actually to most types of operation (maybe not diskectomy, and depending of the experience of the surgeon) because the incision is only marginally longer and the surgeon gets better view. Anyway, I can't find any evidence from the information on the homepages that his operation technique is revolutionary and better than other.
*He is, as far as I can find out, not certified by The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery or any other association recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialities. In Europe this would be highly suspicious, in fact, only those who are certified by the national association is allowed to do independent surgery.
*He claims a 93% success rate. This is just silly and unrealistic. He is either lying, or operating on people who does not need an operation.
*He seems to be a loner, at the least controversial. Ok, this is not a rational argument, but the surgeons I know who have been loners, are very often surgeons who are not very good at what they do. They tend to be the kind of surgeon who does bad preoperative judgements, takes far too many tests, mock up the operation and refuses to take responsibility when the operation is not successful. If you work at a large hospital the other surgeons keep you in check, so an unproportionate part of the loners and the controversial surgeons are just bad surgeons. (Not all, mind)
*On the other hand, the other physicians working at the Bonati Institue seems to have their credentials in order. That wouldn't necessarily mean that they are top people, but at least they don't seem so suspicious.
But, all in all, I personally would absolutely not contact dr Bonati to do surgery on my spine.
