Hip & Knee Replacement for Patients from Maui, Hawai‘i

Boarding a plane for an operation should buy you something. Maui patients who make the trip often bring a question that turns on surgical judgment. One has a knee that might qualify for a partial replacement and wants a surgeon who performs every type of partial. Another wants a hip replaced from the front, without cutting or detaching muscle. A third carries an older replacement, done by another surgeon on the mainland or overseas, that has never felt right.

Problems like that are routine for him: other surgeons refer the revision cases that make up roughly half of Dr. Morton’s practice. A board-certified surgeon raised in Kea‘au on Hawai‘i Island, he completed his adult reconstruction fellowship at the University of Chicago, as the About Dr. Morton page describes.

These are the kinds of choices that bring Maui patients over to O‘ahu:

• Partial or total knee. A partial knee replacement suits arthritis confined to one compartment, with an intact ACL and a knee that still straightens well. Wear in two or three compartments, a torn ACL or rheumatoid arthritis points toward a total. Standing X-rays and an exam decide it, not age alone.
• The knee approach. Nearly every total knee is done through the subvastus, quad-sparing approach, and no primary knee uses a tourniquet.
• The hip approach. Direct anterior is his standard and opens only the joint capsule. If old surgery, hardware or deformity makes another route safer, he says so.
• Robotic planning. On O‘ahu the platform is matched to your case and venue; at Queen’s that is ROSA®, planned from ordinary X-rays. Dr. Morton performs every step.
• Revision. A painful implant gets a full workup before anyone mentions another operation.

His reasoning is on the joint replacement philosophy page.

Yes, and for Maui patients this is where everything begins. The first appointment can be a telehealth visit: the office texts a Doximity link to your iPhone or Android phone, and you join from your living room. Ahead of that call, X-rays or an MRI are ordered at a facility near you, and studies taken anywhere in Hawai‘i can usually be pulled in electronically. Dr. Morton reads the images himself during the visit.

Already have pictures from an earlier doctor? You can upload your images (opens in a new tab) so they are waiting when the visit starts. An upload is not a review and does not book an appointment; the review happens at the visit.

If a joint has already been replaced, find the operative report and any implant details, and send the images themselves rather than only the written reports.

Most groundwork is laid at home: medical clearance usually comes from your own primary care provider on Maui. The anesthesia team and Dr. Morton then go through your heart and lung history, your medicines and any past reactions to anesthesia. If your health calls for blood work or an EKG, the office says so and can book it; ask whether it can be done on Maui.

Use the weeks before the flight for a dental checkup, for quitting tobacco or vaping, and, if you have diabetes, for working toward the A1c goal you and your doctor set. If you are on an HMO, managed-care or Medicaid/Quest plan, the office checks whether a referral is needed. Some Hawai‘i plans help with interisland airfare or lodging for medically necessary care off-island, so ask about yours. The travel guide covers testing in more detail.

Hāna and Upcountry: when tests are being booked, ask for them to share a day so the long drive into town happens once.

Usually one. Consultation happens by video and imaging stays on Maui, so the single trip to O‘ahu combines the in-person exam at the Honolulu clinic at Ala Moana, final pre-operative testing, the operation and the first stretch of recovery. A hands-on exam always comes before surgery, and building it into the surgical trip spares you a separate flight just to be examined.

Some complex cases, certain revisions among them, need one more visit beforehand. If yours is one of them, you will hear about it while planning, before you buy a ticket. Since the return date depends on how recovery goes, choose fares you can change.

West and South Maui: from Lahaina, Kā‘anapali, Kīhei or Wailea, count the drive to Kahului Airport as part of the travel day.

Surgery for Maui patients happens on O‘ahu, at one of two hospitals. The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu is Hawai‘i’s largest hospital and the usual setting for revisions, complex cases and patients with more medical risk; ROSA® robotic assistance is available there, and Queen’s holds The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification for total hip and total knee replacement. Adventist Health Castle in Kailua, on O‘ahu’s Windward side, also offers hospital-based hip and knee replacement.

The choice is made with you, weighing the procedure, your health and your insurance. Qualified patients can leave the hospital on surgery day and rest at their O‘ahu lodging; an overnight stay is there when your health calls for it. Dr. Morton performs the operation himself, with no residents or fellows operating, while physician assistants, nurses, anesthesia providers and therapists handle other parts of your care alongside him.

Plan on about 10–14 days on O‘ahu after a joint replacement before flying back to Kahului. That window covers the first post-operative check, around one week after surgery, and ends when the surgical team clears you to fly. Treat it as a planning range, not a promise; your own recovery picks the day.

Most traveling patients book a hotel or condo near the Ala Moana clinic, which is minutes from Queen’s. Look for elevator access, level walking routes and space for a companion, and confirm the room is ADA compliant. Once your date is set, the care coordinator passes along places that suit recovery, though the practice has no tie to any of them. You can book everything yourself, or have flights, lodging and ground transport arranged through the Elite Recovery level of the Rapid Recovery Concierge; the travel itself is still yours to pay for.

Therapy starts on O‘ahu while you are still close to the clinic, and the Honolulu office has physical therapists in-house. Once you are back on Maui, you carry on with any licensed physical therapist you choose. The office can name therapists near you and shares Dr. Morton’s written rehabilitation protocols with your Maui therapist, who picks up the plan you began in Honolulu.

Pick a location by where you sleep, not by where the airport is. You will not be driving yourself at first, so choose a therapist you can realistically reach from Kula, Kīhei or Lahaina. Most people use a walker for roughly the first couple of weeks before trading it for a cane.

Video check-ins continue from home, so the incision can be checked by camera and therapy adjusted without another flight.

Treat the flight back to Kahului as part of your recovery. Book an aisle seat, get up and move when the seatbelt sign is off, keep a water bottle handy, and flex your ankles up and down in your seat. Your clot-prevention medicine stays exactly as prescribed; flying is no reason to take extra aspirin or another blood thinner. When you book, the airline can arrange wheelchair or cart assistance through the terminal.

Your new joint will probably set off the walk-through metal detector. TSA does not need a card or letter; tell the officer something like “I have a hip replacement on the right,” and expect a wand or a short pat-down. Screening cannot harm the implant, as the airport screening guide explains.

Getting home from OGG: settle your ride before you leave O‘ahu. For Hāna and Upcountry patients the drive from the airport is long, and you will not be the one driving it.