Advances in surgical technology over the last few decades have led to increasingly intricate procedures and diminishing margins of errors in some cases. Doctors can use gamma knives and other specialized tools to excise tiny tumors or repair individual segments of the...
Even with many years of formal medical education and potentially years of professional experience, surgeons still make mistakes while operating on their patients. Surgical never events (mistakes that should never happen) affect thousands of people in the United States...
Surgery has become commonplace in modern America, and people often fail to give these invasive medical procedures the respect that they deserve. Any surgery can lead to catastrophic and fatal consequences, and surgical mistakes do still happen even in the most...
It's a mistake that seems so egregious that it has made its way into movies and sitcoms as a punchline in the past. The idea that a surgeon would forget something inside an incision and then close the body back up, leaving that object inside, is almost absurd because...
Whether you're having a knee replacement surgery or you need to have tissue removed because of cancer growth, having the surgery performed in the correct location on your body is of the utmost importance. That may seem like a very basic thing to point out, but...
If your surgery goes as planned, they put you out with anesthesia before the procedure begins and you only wake up when they are done. You have an anesthesiologist with you at all times, and it is their job to monitor your levels and make sure this happens. That’s how...
Even though it’s not something you’re excited about, a surgical procedure may be necessary to restore your previous level of health. And for that reason alone, you’re okay with the idea of moving forward. However, even if you understand that the procedure is...
Why can MRSA be considered a serious problem? MRSA [methicillin-resistant staph aureus] is a serious bacterial infection that is resistant to treatment with standard antibiotics. It is typically a nosocomial [hospital-acquired] post-operative surgical site infection...
Last month, a neurosurgeon from Texas was convicted of harming an elderly patient in his operating room. Dr. Christopher Duntsch was indicted on five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of harming an elderly person, however the prosecution...
You work hard and do your best to make ends meet. Like many others in Chicago and throughout the United States, the recent economic crisis and changes in the health care system may have hit you hard. The last you thing you need on top of all that is to suffer injury...