Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

The Joint Commission, a US hospital accreditation group, is trying to get healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, to prevent angry outbursts by doctors. There is concern that swearing, throwing objects, and yelling can increase the chances that a medical mistake will occur.

Beginning January 1, 2009, the independent group is requiring health care facilities to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward this behavior. Codes of conduct to encourage staff members to report bad behavior will be included.

According to the Joint Commission’s Chief Patient Safety Officer Dr Peter Angood, many healthcare facilities are worried that if they upset the doctors, they will take their patients to other facilities.

A Boston Globe article published on Sunday discusses behavior referred to as “medical road rage.” In one incident at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, an orthopedic surgeon threw a pair of scissors that wouldn’t cut properly and almost hit a nurse. While many hospitals have tolerated medical road rage from leading surgeons who are significant moneymakers, the hospital disciplined the doctor and introduced a policy making it mandatory for doctors to treat coworkers with “civility and respect.”

At St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, one orthopedic surgeon yelled at colleagues for six years before an incident involving him throwing two 10-pound sandbags, one of which struck a nurse’s foot, lead to his suspension (after 9 complaints). The hospital now requires that a medical executive committee evaluate a case once a medical professional has been reported three times for “outburst” incidents.

Hospitals try to calm doctors’ outbursts, Boston.com, August 10, 2008
Group tries to quell doctors’ bad behavior, UPI.com,

Related Web Resource:

The Joint Commission

In Massachusetts, please contact our Boston medical malpractice law firm if you or someone you love was injured because of a health care provider’s negligent, careless, or reckless actions.
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The Boston Globe is reporting that there have been 38 incidents since 2006 in which Massachusetts surgeons have performed surgeries on the wrong part of the body. Their review found that bungled spine surgeries account for more of these surgeries than any other kind of surgery performed, with four of the 11 botched spinal surgeries performed at New England Baptist over a 10-month period. Another hospital where a number of botched spinal surgeries occurred is the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.

Fortunately, no serious spinal disabilities or wrongful deaths have occurred from the surgeries. However, certain surgeries resulted in the wrong bulging disc being taken out or the wrong vertebrae fused together. During three incidents, the mistakes were identified during surgery, and the surgeons were able to correct the error before the procedure was over.

One reason why it is not difficult to operate on the wrong area of the spine is that all 33 vertebrae look very similar. While doctors will usually count the vertebrae and consult multiple x-rays to make sure they are performing the procedure on the right area, counting errors can occur.

Misinterpreting medical films is another cause of spinal surgery errors. Errors during spinal procedures can also happen when people have abnormal spine or osteoporotic bone, which makes it hard to distinguish between vertebrae.

Surgical Errors
Sometimes, surgical errors can cause a patient to experience greater pain or discomfort or other health complications can arise. An incident of surgical malpractice can lead to further treatments, surgeries, and other procedures that may not have been required otherwise.

Most surgery in wrong spot done on spine, Boston.com, July 30, 2008
Related Web Resources:

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Spinal Surgery Complications
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