Surgical interventions certainly have their place and often times help either relieve pain or remove limitations to some restricted functional state. There are times where it's quite unnecessary and puts the patient further from health and restoring their best quality of life. 
I've certainly had patients who did extremely well from surgical intervention literally changing their life for the better from the deficits they were experiencing. I've also had too many experience no improvement and actual further deficits in mobility, pain or permanent numbness or tingling. This episode discusses a case that has many different factors that influenced the outcomes which is why each case is unique and it's up to the patient to have advocacy from multiple perspectives. This case demonstrates the overt trust that surgical interventions are positive and lead to the best outcomes. I hope you can share this with someone you know who overtly empowers the medical system to freelance by way of surgery or drugs so they can become their own best advocate. Researching all sides and outcome percentages is crucial in THEIR decision. 
Enjoy and please share -Dr. Wade