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
