Measure twice, cut once

[Guest guest]

> " WC Douglass " <realheath

 

> Measure twice, cut once

> Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:08:37 -0400

>

> Daily Dose

>

> August 20, 2004

>

>

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>

> Guardrail of paper on the road to medical disaster

>

> Imagine waking up after amputation surgery, groggy

> and disoriented,

> only to discover that the foot you're supposed to

> have is gone, and

> the one that's supposed to be gone is still

> attached…

>

> Or that you've got some extra ventilation in the

> head because your

> genius of a brain surgeon first drilled a hole in

> the right side of

> your skull to relieve a pressure buildup in the

> left-hand side…

>

> Or maybe that they removed the wrong kidney — or

> gave you a heart

> catheterization meant for another patient!

>

> These are just a few true examples of the kind of

> botchery that goes

> on every day in this country. It's the medical

> community's dirty

> little secret. I've written about this kind of thing

> before. Last

> winter I told you how surgical errors (along with

> misdiagnoses,

> mis-prescribed medications and other medical

> blunders) add up to the

> third leading cause of death in this supposedly

> advanced nation of

> ours.

>

> So what can we do, beside pray it doesn't happen to

> us or anyone we

> love? We can legislate! That's right, in a rare and

> bold move to

> protect you and yours from medical incompetence, the

> Fools on the Hill

> in good ol' Washington, D.C. have decreed that

> before operating,

> surgeons must…

>

> COMPLETE A CHECKLIST!

>

> That's right: Before scalpel touches skin, docs,

> nurses, and patients

> alike (if conscious and coherent, that is) are now

> required to

> double-check all the salient facts involved: The

> surgery site, the

> position on the body, the organ or appendage to be

> repaired or

> removed, etc. In other words, as of July 1 of this

> year, surgeons are

> required by law to operate correctly.

>

> Whew, that's a relief, right?

>

> But this new legislation begs the question: What

> safety measures were

> in place before this landmark date in the history of

> malpractice, er

> medicine? I mean, pilots can't take to the air

> without a going through

> a pre-flight checklist a mile long — that's one

> reason air travel is

> the safest form of transportation. So why have

> doctors been able to

> CUT US OPEN without similar safeguards in place?

>

> Undoubtedly, because adding a time-consuming step

> like this adds to

> the expense of medical treatment. And we all know

> what medicine is

> nowadays: A business — and you're the bottom line.

> If only the establishment were in the " business " of

> healing instead of

> raking in the dough, maybe the country's list of top

> killers would be

> made up of actual diseases instead of their supposed

> cures.

>

>