Here is a new practice that Twin Tiers residents should remember when they, their family or their friends are facing medical procedures in a local hospital: concurrent surgery.

Last fall the Boston Globe newspaper reported Massachusetts General Hospital has surgeons who are performing surgery in two operating rooms at the same time. It’s called double-booking.

Double booking is a very controversial and risky procedure that is apparently an open secret in hospitals. But patients are rarely told. The surgeon responsible for the patient relies on a general surgeon or surgeon-in-training as he or she goes from room to room, performing multiple operations at the same time.

There is a lot of disagreement in the medical community over both the ethics and safety of double-booking. Let’s face it – it’s clearly done to make money and get as many patients through operating rooms in the shortest amount of time possible.

As the Boston Globe reports: Hospitals that permit double-booking consider it an efficient way to deploy the talents of their most in-demand specialists while reducing wasted operating room time. For patients, however, it can come as an unsettling surprise — especially when things go wrong.

At the very least, patients have the right to informed consent. In other words, patients must be informed their surgery has been double-booked so that they can make an informed decision as to whether they want to allow it.

It should be very interesting to see what transpires.

Thank you for reading!

Christina Sonsire
csonsire@zifflaw.com