There’s a tool your doctor or hospital can use that could make your chances of dying after surgery drop by 40 percent. The same tool could even reduce your risk of post-surgery complications by more than 30 percent.

It’s not a fancy laser or high-tech diagnostic machine. It’s a simple checklist! All it requires is your surgical team’s commitment to making sure every item is checked off before, during and after your surgery.

The checklist was the result of a World Health Organization research project. The findings were that 19 simple steps – many of them real no-brainers such as “Confirm the patient’s identity, surgical site and procedure,” or inventorying the instruments after the procedure – significantly improved patients’ chances of a smooth recovery.

Medical malpractice can be the result of oversight, the skipping over of details that are important but may be mundane. The checklist offers a simple solution to a serious problem.

The Jan. 14 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reported on the research project. Click on the title to read the entire “Elements of a Surgical Safety Checklist.”

Thanks for reading, Jim

_________________________________________

James B. Reed, Esq.

Personal Injury & Malpractice Attorney

Ziff Law Firm, LLP

303 William St., Elmira, NY 14902

Tel. (607) 733-8866 Fax. (607) 732-6062

Toll Free 1-800-943-3529

mailto:jreed@zifflaw.com http://www.zifflaw.com

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