Man dies after doctor takes lunch break during surgery

[JK98]

This is completely outrageous! It is so sad that a man died due to this negligence. I hope that Sweden has similar malpractice laws to those in the US, and a huge judgement is awarded. It won't bring the deceased back, however it would send the message that such neglegence won't be tolerated.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/0...uring-surgery/

[CrowdAds]

[Jack4L]

Doctors take breaks during surgery all the time, especially an anesthesiologist who has to balance multiple surgeries and can't consider himself a part of the main team who can plan their day around maybe a handful of planned surgeries.

Nurse Anesthesiologists are a bit of a touchy subject in this field. They have a great deal of responsibility because they should be enough to handle most surgeries under supervision of a surgeon however sometimes its more up to the nurse then the surgeon on deciding what to do and then its just a matter of how well is the nurse trained?

In this case, I think it was a failure on both parts, that nurse couldn't have been alone in that operating room and seriously they turned off the respirator? No mater how you look at it, it doesn't look good but these kind of things happen, the fact that the hospital could be going under review should be enough. Money doesn't regularly get awarded in these kind of situations, at least not over here because I don't think anyone seriously believes that money is the answer to this problem in any sense of the matter. I think its kind of sick and twisted to pretend that it would and that you would be entitled to such after your parent dies from a surgery that they had to take. The patient did have a tumor after all, but nothing prepares you for the death of a loved one.

[JK98]

In the US huge sums are awarded as punitive damages. Sometimes it could be as much as $20 million or more if the negligence is egregious. It is awarded as a signal that there is zero tolerance for this sort of thing, and that something similar should never happen again.

It is amazing how often serious malpractice takes place. One hears stories of a person with a diseased kidney that needs to be removed, and the surgeon removes the wrong kidney, leaving the patient without a functioning kidney.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by JK98

In the US huge sums are awarded as punitive damages. Sometimes it could be as much as $20 million or more if the negligence is egregious. It is awarded as a signal that there is zero tolerance for this sort of thing, and that something similar should never happen again.

It is amazing how often serious malpractice takes place. One hears stories of person with a diseased kidney that needs to be removed, and the surgeon removes the wrong kidney, leaving the patient without a functioning kidney.

I think some of this is due to the insanely long shifts many doctors work. Fatigue can be just as debilitating as intoxication, after all.....so why are they allowed to work 36-hour rotations?

[Mikerman]

And while it's no consolation, the fact is, medical staff is human and human beings make mistakes. The trick is, to minimize this to the greatest degree possible (including by letting medical staff sleep?!? this intern mega-hour shift crud is just begging for negligence).

[steinburger1109]

Misleading title... The anesthesiologist left, but the article said nothing about the surgeon... Where was he/she when this happened?

[JK98]

The surgeon is not responsible for the anesthesia. That is why there are anesthesiogists.

[Frandroid]

Man dies after doctor goes on lunch break during surgery

man undergoing surgery died on the operating table after the anesthesiologist and a nurse went to lunch during the procedure

meh

[Jack4L]

The doctor and nurse finally returned from lunch, and found that the man’s respirator had been turned off – depriving the patient of oxygen for eight minutes. They tried to resuscitate him but ultimately could not revive him. Due to the lack of oxygen, the man had suffered severe brain damage. He died weeks after the episode.

I would really like to know why this = they were the cause?

Also what the hell?? How do they end with the above, yet start off with:

A Swedish man undergoing surgery died on the operating table after the anesthesiologist and a nurse went to lunch during the procedure, The Local reported.

So did he die on the operating table, or weeks after the episode? To me this just reads like sensationalist journalism. People should stop reading this trash...

[JK98]

In this modern age, there are several different definitions of the time of death. Some might define death as brain damage severe enough to prevent life without mechanical intervention. Others might define it differently. There is great debate today as to what exactly determines the moment of death. These debates greatly impact the moral decisions about when major organs can be removed from a person for transplantation. For this reason, some might say some heart and lung transplants might be controversial, as these might take place after brain death, but before the circulatory system stops.

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by JK98

The surgeon is not responsible for the anesthesia. That is why there are anesthesiogists.

I understand, but it isn't the fault of the anesthesiologist that this man died. What caused the hemorrhaging? Because that was the actual cause of issue. Also, I'm curious about the surgeon because it says the anesthesiologist left, but where was the surgeon because he/she should have been able to correctly operate the respirator which would have prevented this.

Originally Posted by Jack4L

So did he die on the operating table, or weeks after the episode? To me this just reads like sensationalist journalism. People should stop reading this trash...

He died weeks after.

I agree.