Depends on why he was seeing a cardiac surgeon (who usually sees patients that have had or need surgery), and what his heart disease is. I don't think you have enough medical knowledge to assume the cardiac surgeon was, in fact, wrong. The question could easily have been interpreted as:
"Will diet and exercise reverse my [multiple 95% blocked coronary arteries before I die from a massive heart attack]"
or
"Will diet and exercise reverse my [dead heart tissue from my heart attack]"
Both answers are reasonably close to "absolutely not".
You seem to equate 'heart disease' to high cholesterol levels, and blood pressure readings. It is not. And if he "just" had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, he would not be seeing a cardiac surgeon.
Meanwhile, the answer to "Will diet and exercise reverse my [high cholesterol and high blood pressure]" The answer to that is sure, definitely possible.
You're right. Surgery is the only option in some cases. The question to the surgeon was about heart disease in general, or hardening of the arteries.
The doctor and I had a chat about it after the patient left. He said, "There are some researchers whose studies show that you can reverse heart disease with lifestyle changes, but when you look more closely at their data you can't tell which interventions actually help. The bottom line is that most people need the drugs and surgery to help them."
To me, it seemed like the doctor had a bias against non-drug or non-surgery options, and he didn't want to explore it with an open mind. Makes sense for him. His entire practice was based on surgery and drugs. If I were in his shoes I'd want to believe that drugs and surgery were the best option.
I think it's fair to say that I'm biased against drugs, yes.
To your second set of questions, it totally depends on the situation (patient's willingness to change, type of disease, science of drug-based vs non-drug-based interventions, whether the illness is acute or chronic, etc). It's really impossible to make blanket statements about which interventions are most appropriate.
Depends on why he was seeing a cardiac surgeon (who usually sees patients that have had or need surgery), and what his heart disease is. I don't think you have enough medical knowledge to assume the cardiac surgeon was, in fact, wrong. The question could easily have been interpreted as:
"Will diet and exercise reverse my [multiple 95% blocked coronary arteries before I die from a massive heart attack]"
or
"Will diet and exercise reverse my [dead heart tissue from my heart attack]"
Both answers are reasonably close to "absolutely not".
You seem to equate 'heart disease' to high cholesterol levels, and blood pressure readings. It is not. And if he "just" had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, he would not be seeing a cardiac surgeon.
Meanwhile, the answer to "Will diet and exercise reverse my [high cholesterol and high blood pressure]" The answer to that is sure, definitely possible.