Anesthesia errors are more common than you may think. They can cause serious side effects and even put a patient’s life in danger. The way anesthesia is used is a precise science. If the anesthesiologist makes a mistake, a patient could become aware of a surgery, have...
Why do you have to circle your surgery site with a marker?
The technology utilized after, during and even before modern surgeries is often mind-boggling. There are robotic systems that can do the entire operation on their own and imaging tests that can allow doctors to pinpoint the location of a tumor. One of the more common...
What harm can an anesthesia error do?
Anesthetists play a vital role in making surgery more comfortable for you. Yet, the power to bring pain relief comes with significant responsibility. The drugs that an anesthetist injects into you are powerful, so they need to get the dosage spot on. Too weak, and you...
What are the 4 major types of anesthesia?
When told that they need to have surgery, people often ask if they’re going to be under anesthesia. It gives them some sense of how serious the surgery is or what to expect. The problem is that people often think of all anesthesia as the same thing -- as if it just...
Poll suggests medical professionals support hour caps
Surgeons and nurses have different ideas about whether hours working in operating rooms should be capped, according to a recent poll by Medscape. The first of the poll's questions asked if the hours that surgeons work should be capped to lower the number of harmful...
New software could help eliminate surgical errors
Surgical errors, from operating on the wrong part of the body to giving a patient the wrong organ, are rare. In fact, they happen in only .03 percent of all operations in the U.S. Still, up to 10,000 patients are injured every year from such surgical "never events."...
Self-advocacy can make a difference after surgical errors
When people in Florida enter the hospital for surgery, one of their greatest fears may be the potential for a serious surgical error occurring. Many people have heard news reports about patients that have suffered serious complications during surgery, and no one wants...
Rapping dermatologist sued for medical malpractice
When Florida residents undergo surgery, they expect their doctors to be honest and qualified. However, several patients accuse a Georgia dermatologist of lying about her qualifications, making inappropriate videos during surgeries, performing different procedures than...
Florida hospital under investigation for serious surgical errors
The Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, has been under fire in recent months after two citations for serious medical violations by a state agency. Now, the hospital is under federal investigation. The federal inquiry, undertaken by the...
The rate of ‘never events’ in surgical procedures
Florida patients may be interested to learn that the medical field considers certain medical complications to be "never events." These are errors that should never occur. Never events involve patients who get surgery on the wrong body part, undergo a procedure that...