3 ms·

Yet people still cut off the wrong bits, leave things inside. Read this is you want to get mad: https://www.nj.com/hobokennow/2008/06/humc_suspends_doc_who_remo

Yet people still cut off the wrong bits, leave things inside. Read this is you want to get mad: https://www.nj.com/hobokennow/2008/06/humc_suspends_doc_who_removed.html https://www.nj.com/hobokennow/2008/06/humc_suspends_doc_who_... The doctor who did this is still practicing last I checked, as are the staff involved in covering it up, and the hospital he worked for was not informing patients of his history. Another shockingly similar case: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/412903/HOSPITAL-SETTLES-SUIT-OVER-REMOVAL-OF-WRONG-LUNG.html https://www.deseretnews.com/article/412903/HOSPITAL-SETTLES-... Just two cases I remember reading about. Over a quarter million or more per year according to most sources. Medical mistakes are the THIRD leading cause of death in the USA. Actually, conscientiously using a checklist to reduce that isn't too much to ask.

userbinator 7y ago
Yet people still cut off the wrong bits, leave things inside. The checklist is basically the physical equivalent of asking "are you sure you want to remove this limb?" every single time, and people will just "click OK" before long.
- hestipod 7y ago
  Aviation proves that untrue. Mostly people follow them. That some will not doesn't invalidate their worth. I am always confounded by people who argue everything isn't good enough, and then nothing ever changes as a result.
DanBC 7y ago
Medical mistakes happen and are very common, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were 250,000 per year. But "wrong site surgery" is a tiny subset of medical error, and I'd be amazed if that was more than 1000 per year. Most medical error is in the form of medication error. Medication error is very common, and I'd be surprised if it was as low as 250,000 per year. I'd guess that number was the number of people harmed by a medication error. These errors are serious and we need to work to stop them, but we also need to put them into context. There are over 800 million physician office visits in the US per year. There are over 140 million ED visits per year.

userbinator 7y ago

Yet people still cut off the wrong bits, leave things inside. The checklist is basically the physical equivalent of asking "are you sure you want to remove this limb?" every single time, and people will just "click OK" before long.

hestipod 7y ago
Aviation proves that untrue. Mostly people follow them. That some will not doesn't invalidate their worth. I am always confounded by people who argue everything isn't good enough, and then nothing ever changes as a result.

DanBC 7y ago

Medical mistakes happen and are very common, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were 250,000 per year. But "wrong site surgery" is a tiny subset of medical error, and I'd be amazed if that was more than 1000 per year. Most medical error is in the form of medication error. Medication error is very common, and I'd be surprised if it was as low as 250,000 per year. I'd guess that number was the number of people harmed by a medication error. These errors are serious and we need to work to stop them, but we also need to put them into context. There are over 800 million physician office visits in the US per year. There are over 140 million ED visits per year.