M.D. Halit Altunköse

I'm a commercial fisherman from the Black Sea coast, admitted after a gruesome deck accident where a cable snapped and tore through my thigh. Blood everywhere. Dr. Altunköse worked like a battlefield surgeon—direct, commanding, yet utterly focused. He didn't flinch at the mangled tissue. What impressed me was his 'trauma mapping' approach: while stabilizing me, he verbally catalogued injuries in layers for his team ('vascular first, then musculature, then contamination control'). He made rapid-fire decisions about irrigation, debridement, and delayed closure. In follow-up, he sketched the repair process on a napkin, showing how the tissue would regenerate. His knowledge of crush injuries and seawater contamination felt encyclopedic. This wasn't just ER patchwork; this was strategic surgical trauma management.

My 82-year-old father, Ahmet, fell in our Istanbul apartment and fractured his hip. The pain was unbearable. We rushed him to Acibadem Atasehir, where Dr. Halit Altunköse took charge. What struck me wasn't just his rapid assessment—it was how he knelt beside the gurney, speaking directly to my disoriented father in a calm, steady voice, explaining each step in simple Turkish. He coordinated with orthopedics seamlessly, but more importantly, he recognized my father's underlying dehydration and mild confusion, treating the whole patient, not just the fracture. During the three-day observation, he visited twice daily, always with a respectful 'Merhaba, Ahmet Amca.' His holistic approach in emergency care turned a traumatic event into manageable recovery.

Our 7-year-old daughter, Elif, swallowed a small lithium battery from a toy remote. Pure panic. At Acibadem Atasehir's ER, Dr. Altunköse met us with startling calmness. He didn't just look at the X-ray; he asked Elif about her favorite cartoon character while palpating her abdomen. His team moved with choreographed precision—no shouting, just quiet efficiency. He explained the endoscopic retrieval to us in vivid but non-terrifying metaphors ('We'll use a tiny grabber like in arcade games'). Post-procedure, he sat on the edge of her bed showing her the retrieved battery on his phone screen, making her giggle. He turned our nightmare into a story she now proudly tells. This man handles pediatric emergencies with both expert hands and a gentle heart.

As a German tourist with severe abdominal pain, I found myself alone and terrified at Acibadem Atasehir. Dr. Altunköse diagnosed a ruptured ovarian cyst with concerning bleeding. His English was flawless, but he also used a translation app to ensure I understood every nuance. He created a 'visual timeline' on his tablet, showing possible intervention paths. When conservative management failed, he personally escorted me to IR for embolization, explaining the radiologist's technique beforehand. Post-procedure, he provided a handwritten note in both English and Turkish for hotel staff regarding my limitations. His follow-up call to my Berlin home a week later—checking on my recovery across time zones—demonstrated care transcending hospital walls. He treats foreign patients not as cases, but as displaced humans needing anchor points.