To find a doctor, first read this book:
The Invisible Gorilla by Chabris and Simon. Pay particular attention to "The Illusion of Confidence" and the doctor-oriented material. If you need an extra excuse to read the book, there is material that is very germane to aviation as well.
Once you've completed your homework, start networking (as several have suggested). Also check docs' resumes on the internet. Someone who trained at Mayo or the Cleveland Clinic is probably a better bet than someone who trained at the East Nowhere Medical Center.
With apologies for the length, here is what a good internet resume looks like:
Dr. Example attended Cornell University as an undergraduate, graduating summa cum laude in mathematics with distinction in all subjects (top 5% of her class). She was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Mortar Board National Honor Societies. She was selected as a Presidential Scholar and received several research awards.
Dr. Example completed her doctor of medicine degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, graduating first in her class. She received a Dean’s Award and Lange Medical Student Award each year of medical school. She also received the Franklin Paine Mall Prize in anatomy, Hewlett-Packard Top Medical Graduate Award, and the Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Award. She was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and won research awards as well as the prestigious William Stewart Halsted Award in surgery. She completed four years of cardiac surgery residency at Johns Hopkins before changing specialties to ophthalmology. At Johns Hopkins, she also completed a two-year immunology research fellowship, being supported by an American Heart Association Fellowship Award and Stetler Research Award.
For her ophthalmology residency, Dr. Example attended Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School. She then received a HEED Ophthalmic Foundation Scholarship to complete subspecialty fellowship training in cornea, external disease, refractive surgery, and glaucoma. She ranked in the 99th percentile on her Ophthalmology Board examinations.
Said another way, all docs are not created equal. This is why rolling the dice at Urgent Care is A Bad Idea.
Remember that you are not looking for a friend. Network referrals that emphasize what a nice guy/gal the doc is are only marginally helpful. Yes, you want to be able to communicate with the doc, but do you really want to hire a friendly idiot instead of a harsh and gruff medical genius? For this reason, the online doctor ratings are IMHO a waste of time. They are popularity contests, not skill evaluations by competent evaluators.
If you can find specialists (cardiology, surgery, infectious diseases, ... ) through your network, try to get referrals from them. They will help you avoid the weak docs and point you to the good ones.
Yeah, from what I understand and watched my dad experience, I'd prefer to avoid them. Citrus juice is also effective. Hernias are a simple surgical procedure that pose no certification issues.
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