You begin having headaches. It goes on for a while and seems far too chronic to be something like dehydration. Eventually, doctors discover that you have a brain tumor.They advise you to get treatment right away, and you agree with them. What you're wondering is what...
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Surgical Errors
A terrifying surgical mistake: Anesthesia awareness
When you think of surgical mistakes, you probably think of the surgeon making a clear error. Wrong-site surgery is often cited. People worry about having the procedure done on the wrong body part and waking up to find out that their life has been forever altered.That...
Misidentification of patients can have serious consequences
They bring you in for surgery. The doctor asks you for your name. You give him your first name and he nods, smiles, and begins getting ready for the surgery.Then it dawns on you: What if he has another patient with the same name? Could there be a mix-up? What if he...
Tips to help you have a successful surgery
If you're going in for surgery, you may worry that the doctors will make a mistake. Perhaps you have been reading news reports about wrong-site surgery, for instance, and cases where doctors carry out the wrong procedures on the wrong patients.You have a lot of...
Surgeons may honestly think they’re not making a mistake
When you think about surgical mistakes, such as operating on the wrong limb, it makes the surgeon sound very careless. You have this idea in mind that the surgeon just doesn't know what is going on, doesn't really care, and acts negligently. It's hard to fathom how...
Communication and retained surgical items
Retained surgical items are those left behind in a patient after a surgery is carried out. While many stories about this involve clearly dangerous items like scalpels and needles, it could also include things like gauze or sponges. No matter what the item is, it can...
C-sections and common medical mistakes
As far as surgery goes, it does not get much more routine than a cesarean-section. These surgeries happen every single day. Thousands and thousands of children enter the world in this relatively safe manner. In many cases, having the surgery is far safer for the baby...
Doctor explains how to avoid mistakes with robot surgery
Robotic surgery sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, and that makes a lot of people nervous. In recent news reports, people have revealed that they generally think that this type of procedure is too dangerous or carries too great of a level of...
Does stress lead to surgical mistakes?
When surgical mistakes happen, both injured parties and medical professionals often find themselves wondering how they could have occurred. How does a doctor with so much training and education make a potentially fatal mistake when it matters most?One study suggests...
3 types of surgical errors: Were you a victim?
It's terrifying to undergo surgery for a serious illness. It's even more terrifying to think of the possibility that your surgical procedure could leave you in worse shape than you were before because of a surgical error. However, surgical errors happen on a regular...