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0 pointsSharlin3y ago0 comments

The reason surgery is so far behind aeronautics is likely entirely due to the fact that when a surgery goes wrong, it usually doesn't kill hundreds of people at once in a massive fireball. Everything else being equal, rare but spectacular failures tend to garner more attention than more frequent but less dramatic ones.

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fn-mote3y ago

> The reason surgery is so far behind aeronautics is likely entirely due to the fact that when a surgery goes wrong

Surgery is not a public performance. How do you even find out about the mistakes that occur? Fatal mistakes, sure, maybe...

You have a better bet of your dash cam showing what happened when your car is hit by another car, if something happens to you.

I think nobody's really going to know what mistakes were made while you were on the table. Certainly not in a near miss like this case.

Very interesting reference on improving healthcare and getting honest measurements: a 2004 article by Gawande on the treatment of cystic fibrosis. [1]

[1] Atul Gawande, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/06/the-bell-curve

scyzoryk_xyz3y ago

Atul Gawande’s „Checklist Manifesto” is also fantastic. He goes specifically into how airline and construction safety checklists make those industries safer and then lays out a checklist method for reducing complications in the OR.

There is some discussion on implementing black box style recording into the OR. I’ve met surgeons enthusiastic for this idea as an opportunity to geek out even more. But this enthusiasm depends on how authoritarian culture is in a given country. The OR is also often a place where people are in a corrupted power structure. I have been to countries where dangerous surgeons are covered by younger surgeons - that’s where recording in the OR is less popular.

On the other hand I have heard arguments against such recording as well. Anatomies differ, shit gets ugly to unqualified bystanders. Insurance keeps an eye on everything. Surgeons can become so careful that they prefer not to help so as not to endanger their career.

JimtheCoder3y ago

"The reason surgery is so far behind aeronautics is likely entirely due to the fact that when a surgery goes wrong, it usually doesn't kill hundreds of people at once in a massive fireball."

You also have to wonder how many deaths from surgery are officially classified as "Doctors messed up" vs something else that partially or fully absolves them from responsibility...

scyzoryk_xyz3y ago

I might have over done it on the surgery bit but yeah, an individual malpractice episode is hush hush, insured and supervised, he said she said sort of thing.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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fn-mote3y ago

> The reason surgery is so far behind aeronautics is likely entirely due to the fact that when a surgery goes wrong

Surgery is not a public performance. How do you even find out about the mistakes that occur? Fatal mistakes, sure, maybe...

You have a better bet of your dash cam showing what happened when your car is hit by another car, if something happens to you.

I think nobody's really going to know what mistakes were made while you were on the table. Certainly not in a near miss like this case.

Very interesting reference on improving healthcare and getting honest measurements: a 2004 article by Gawande on the treatment of cystic fibrosis. [1]

[1] Atul Gawande, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/06/the-bell-curve

scyzoryk_xyz3y ago

JimtheCoder3y ago

"The reason surgery is so far behind aeronautics is likely entirely due to the fact that when a surgery goes wrong, it usually doesn't kill hundreds of people at once in a massive fireball."

You also have to wonder how many deaths from surgery are officially classified as "Doctors messed up" vs something else that partially or fully absolves them from responsibility...

scyzoryk_xyz3y ago

I might have over done it on the surgery bit but yeah, an individual malpractice episode is hush hush, insured and supervised, he said she said sort of thing.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse