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June 12, 2008
BehindTheMedspeak: How is it that every operation is a success?
Above, the headline over a June 3, 2008 New York Times story about the senator's brain surgery the previous day.
Long before I even dreamed of entering medicine I was struck by how good surgeons were — every single operation was reported as being a success or having gone successfully.
If you set the bar low enough – i.e., the patient wakes up no worse than they were when they went to sleep — well then, I suppose you can say the operation was a success.
Although I'd say the anesthesia was a success, and the success — or failure — of the surgery remains to be determined.
For example, in the sports section every single operation is termed by the surgeon "a complete success."
That way, when the athlete doesn't come back to where he or she was prior to surgery, the surgeon can blame the athlete for not rehabbing properly — "Hey, the surgery went perfectly, I did everything I could, it's not my fault the player didn't do what he was supposed to do post-op."
Yeah, right.
Lots of times the surgery doesn't go successfully — but the only people who'll ever know are those of us in the OR.
So take these postoperative evaluations for what they're worth — hope, not fact.
June 12, 2008 at 04:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Doesn't stem cell production increase when people are under less stress. You know the little helpers that help heal (or grow more cancer?)?
I know that if given a choice I would want everyone to be told it was a success and "if we stay on this track we may beat this". Otherwise think of all the psychopaths out there that may try to get even; or for that matter think of the success that will be in future medicine because of all the practicing of medicine going on now. I want a surgeon with experience and if they were not successful they would be practicing in the lab. I am sure Kennedy had his choice of the most successful practitioners, with the most amount of successful surgery's notched on the Doc's scalpel. Does that mean he may have missed out on a Doc that may have seen that ice sliver that may have been the root cause of the surgery. Nah
Posted by: jon | Jun 13, 2008 10:27:07 PM
I am a mortician and can tell you not all surgery is successfull. But they are sometimes working with faulty goods to begin with.
People quite often fail to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if they work as hard at being healthy and injury free as they now expect a surgeon to .
Posted by: Lloyd Shaw | Jun 13, 2008 9:08:15 PM
Qualifiers. I don't think we can suitably cover our backs without them.
Posted by: Milena | Jun 13, 2008 11:15:36 AM
Hope is the only word that has ever mattered.
I'm a logical sort...but this is because I've been programmed by society that logic is the only thing that matters. These days, I could care less about logic and want nothing more than hope.
So what if 'every operation is a success'...if there isn't another chance out there, why not...what? Tell the person that they aren't going to make it and their life is over? Your life is never over until it is over. I've seen a friend with terminal cancer hit by a car after complaining that he was told he could be gone in as little as six months...guess what? He didn't get his six months. There isn't a guarantee for anything.
Beyond that, people are sheep. If a doctor isn't 100% perfect, they are worthless. Society builds into this...me? I'm already practicing my blames..."There is only so much a psychologist can do with someone obviously bent on self-destruction" or "he had made mention of seeing an 'alternative' healing and I can't be held accountable for the undoing others may have played a part in". Yeah, it is sad...but I understand both the selfish and not so selfish reasoning behind this.
(BTW I'll need my quotes removed once I'm on the licensure track! I don't want the lawyers connecting anything back to me!)
Posted by: clifyt | Jun 13, 2008 8:55:59 AM
'hope' is not an evil word nor wish, though I've never cared for the word and do not like to use it often. Elpis is not a finite word and can mean the expectation of good or bad. Given that, it is far better to trust than to hope.
Posted by: DefinatelyCreativeEnough | Jun 13, 2008 12:49:35 AM
'hope' is the only evil that remained lodged below the lip of pandora's open box...
Posted by: jo | Jun 12, 2008 8:30:53 PM
