Some patients in Oregon and across the United States may have experienced adverse results following a surgery or other medical procedure. In response, some state legislatures have proposed that patients be able to record their surgeries. They believe that this may...
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Surgical Errors
Database scores surgeons by rates of surgical complication
If you are a fan of any of the dozens of medical dramas on television, you have probably seen that surgeons are often portrayed as a distinct breed of physicians. Television tends to show surgeons as fiercely competitive, arrogant and focused on problem-solving rather...
Was your surgical error due to cellphone usage in the OR?
Should surgeons be permitted to bring their mobile devices into your surgical procedure? A recent article shows that surgeons and other health care professionals are increasingly distracted by their smartphones and other devices during medical procedures. The...
Teen’s dental surgery death leaves family with questions
Despite the amazing strides of the past several hundred years, there are so many things we still do not know about anesthetics. We have written about this topic on several occasions. Back in March we offered a post on new research getting underway into the possible...
Doctor’s cellphone left in patient after C-section?
We make no claim about the accuracy of the coming story. We share it because it's different and because of the broad range of surgical errors that have been known to happen in the operating room. Whether it's true or not, we suspect all in Oregon can agree that...
Suturing tool’s ingenuity doesn’t make it right in every case
People who are handy around the house appreciate that there is typically a tool for every conceivable task that needs to be done. It doesn't make much sense to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail. A wrench just won't do to drive home a screw. Still, there are times...
If a robot surgery system gets hacked, who’s liable?
Last week, we raised the question about who could be held responsible if a victim of robotic surgery winds up suffering complications from the procedure. A recent court case that sought and failed to hold the maker of one such device accountable suggests where the...
What you can do before an operation to avoid surgical errors
There is no argument from those in health care that there are still problems to overcome to make surgery safer for patients. Despite years of effort to raise awareness and reduce instances of so-called "never events," one analysis in 2012 estimated that preventable...
Is there technology that might help reduce medical errors?
In a post late last month, we found ourselves commenting about how new medical technology may hold promise for improving overall standards of care. But as that post noted, just because something is new doesn't mean it's beneficial. Unfortunately, too often, the only...
Research underway on potential harm of pediatric anesthesia
If you have a child for whom surgery that requires general anesthesia is recommended, experts are suggesting you think twice about whether it can't be put off for a while. The concern among those experts is that they don't really know what effect general anesthetic...