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Part III - Wrong-Site Surgery - The Surgeon's Hospital System

By Steve Lombardi

This blog is the third installment in a series of blogs directed towards patients or attorneys representing patients who have fallen victim to a wrong-site, wrong-procedure, or wrong-patient surgery. It is also addressed to surgeons who believe this type of mistake will never befall them. It can and it's not just one that occurs because of a breakdown that doesn't involve you, the surgeon. So consider your own protocol for surgery and if there is a weak link that needs shoring up. Remember no surgeon does this on purpose, but when everyone becomes complacent it can and usually does happen.

For patients you need to be aware, not scared, but aware of how this occurs and how to know if the proper protocols are being followed that will likely avoid a wrong-site, wrong-patient or wrong-procedure surgery.

Additionally, this blog builds off of previous blogs, so I would recommend that readers become familiar with the preceding blogs in this series before reading this post.

As I stated in the previous blog, most medical clinics have websites which contain a large amount of information for the public's viewing pleasure. These websites can contain doctors' biographies, their previous work experience, their educational experience, and possibly even their previous clinical experience.

In addition to doctor information, many medical clinic websites often contain additional information concerning the surgery process. Information such as the clinic's time-out procedure and/or rules and requirements concerning specific surgical procedures can often be located within medical clinic websites. Often, medical clinic websites also include information on a particular clinic's accreditation and rules for maintaining that accreditation.

Some discuss medical privileges enjoyed by the surgeons and medical staff. Remember too that parts of the surgical team are not doctors. The doctor isn't alone in the O.R. He or she has a staff that is provided by other independent contractors and the hospital. Some are employed as nurses and O.R. techs or assistants. They are highly skilled or should be and knowledgeable about the surgical process. All need to be aware of the patient's chart and what's in it.

Preserving web pages that contain doctor credentials and clinic accreditation information can be vital to a medical malpractice case. As was discussed in the previous blog, most, if not all, of a medical center's website may be downloadable into a portable format such as Adobe. The Adobe file, once saved to a computer hard drive, CD-Rom, or DVD-Rom, can be printed into a physical archive of the medical center's website. The printed archive may even be bound into a single volume and used as evidence in a medical malpractice trail. When discovery rolls around you'll want to have this evidence preserved.

So get online and see what there is to see and read. Gather and preserve as you go and if you don't know how to do so, learn or associate with someone who does.

Tomorrow we'll discuss the surgery centers. ©

More articles in this series can be viewed at the Austin and Lansing blogs by Brooks Schuelke, Devon Glass and Dave Mittleman.

† Wrong Site, Wrong Side, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Patient

Brooks Schuelke

† Standard of Care For Avoidance of Wrong Site, Wrong Side, Wrong Patient, Wrong Procedure Problems, Part 1

† Surgery Gone Wrong: When A Surgeon Refuses To Stop And Ask For Directions

† The Frightening Reality of Wrong-Site Surgery

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on August 13, 2008 (boomark / email).