Joan Rivers Underwent Unplanned Vocal Cord Biopsy Without Consent

Image by  David Shankbone  of  Wikipedia When it was first reported 8/28/14 that comedian Joan Rivers suffered some type of respiratory arrest during some type of sedated endoscopic procedure, it was unclear exactly what was done and what happened. According to initial reports, the endoscopy was done to "check her vocal cords." Media reports have emerged citing an anonymous source that state an unplanned, un-consented vocal cord biopsy was done during the planned endoscopy pr…

9/10/2014 1

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JCAHO Mandates Time-Out for Emergency Tracheostomy

Due to confusion from readers, please note that this is a work of satirical fiction . Washington DC August 31, 2014 - Effective September 1, 2014, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has mandated that time-outs must be performed prior to emergency tracheostomy due to any reason, no exceptions. Due to numerous incidences of "never" events and lack of consistent acquisition of consent prior to emergency tracheostomy to treat catastrophic airway…

8/31/2014 0

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Should Risk of Death Always be Part of the Surgical Consent?

Ever since reports of alleged medical negligence came up in the case of 13 years old Jahi McMath who suffered cardiac arrest and subsequent brain death after a "routine" tonsillectomy that occurred Dec 9, 2013, the question has come up whether risk of death should become part of every single surgical procedure's informed consent no matter how rare that risk might be. It also brings up the question whether patients would want to hear every single possible conceivable risk that m…

1/09/2014 0

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Sinus Surgery Lawsuit Ruled Against ENT

A patient who had undergone endoscopic sinus surgery suffered detachment of the extraocular muscle resulting in double vision that required further surgical intervention. A jury found against the ENT and ambulatory surgery center rewarding $2.5 million dollars to not only the patient, but also the wife "for loss of consortium" . Damage to the eye and vision is part of the normal consent process for endoscopic sinus surgery when considering the geographic proximity of the eye a…

9/12/2012 2

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Surgical Time-Out, circa Year 2050

In the year 2050, surgical time-outs have reached a new level of safety to ensure the utmost care and risk reduction for patients. Unlike the primitive time-outs performed in the the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2012) which involved one designated individual to confirm prior to incision ( Basic9 ), the patient name, surgical site, performing surgeon, allergies, antibiotic administration, positioning, x-ray name confirmation, fire hazards, and fall risk, significant additional sa…

2/29/2012 0

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Are Doctors Required to Obtain Patient Permission For Posting Non-Identifiable X-Rays, CT Scans, Etc Online?

The blunt answer is no... as long as there is no way the patient can be identified by looking at the image. (in other words, anonymous). Dr. Ves Dimov at CasesBlog has written a very good article regarding this very question and the guidelines used to determine whether patient permission is required or not. Read his blog article here .

11/13/2010 0

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