Patient Experience
My 82-year-old father, Ahmet, fell in the garden and fractured his hip. The ambulance brought him to Acibadem Atasehir. From the moment Dr. Ferhat Topçu took over in the trauma bay, his calm authority was palpable. He didn't just see an elderly patient; he saw my father—asking about his daily walks, his beloved rose bushes. He explained the complex surgery (a partial hip replacement) in terms we could grasp, never talking down to us. The surgery was a success, but what truly moved us was his visit the next morning at 7 AM, before his shift officially started, just to check on Baba's pain levels. He treated him with such dignity. We are forever grateful.
It was every parent's nightmare. Our 5-year-old daughter, Elif, swallowed a small toy part and started choking at dinner. We rushed to the emergency room in sheer panic. Dr. Topçu met us at the door, his demeanor instantly switching to focused, gentle efficiency for our terrified little girl. He kept talking to her in a soft, story-telling voice about brave princesses while simultaneously orchestrating the team for a pediatric bronchoscopy. He had the foreign object out in minutes. Afterwards, he didn't just discharge us; he sat on the floor next to Elif's gurney and showed her the retrieved piece on a tray, explaining why it was 'not food for little warriors.' He turned a traumatic event into a lesson, and her fear into admiration. A true hero in a white coat.
I'm a long-distance runner, and what I thought was a routine follow-up for a recurrent ankle sprain turned into something far more critical. During the examination, Dr. Topçu noticed a subtle asymmetry in my pulse between my feet—something no other doctor had ever checked. His trauma-trained instincts kicked in. He ordered an immediate vascular ultrasound, which revealed a developing popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, a serious condition that could have led to limb loss if untreated during intense exercise. His vigilance during a simple checkup likely saved my leg and my running career. His ability to connect disparate signs is nothing short of remarkable.
My husband was brought in after a high-speed motorcycle accident—multiple blunt trauma, suspected internal bleeding. The chaos in the resuscitation room was controlled solely by Dr. Topçu's clear, concise commands. What stood out wasn't just the clinical skill during the emergency laparotomy to control the bleeding, but his communication. Every 20 minutes, a nurse would come update me in the waiting room with specific, non-sugarcoated information: 'We've found the source, we're repairing it now, his vitals are stabilizing.' This was Dr. Topçu's protocol. He managed the family's trauma as expertly as the patient's physical trauma. He saved my husband's life, and his humanity saved my sanity that night.