I have worked in QI (quality improvement) in the past and have spent time in the OR observing the team to see if they were in compliance. The public does not realize that patients under anesthesia are sometimes left by the anesthesiologist for periods of time, and I am not talking about instances where a CNA is monitoring the patient. I have seen post-op notes completed before the surgery was done. Ditto for anesthesia notes. This is called fraud. I have observed, or better yet, not observed, compliance with “time outs” to make sure procedures were being followed as put forth by JAHCO. I have had expletives thrown my way by MD’s who did not appreciate the fact that I was there to observe and later comment to the administration deficiencies that existed. Nurses aren’t always doing things by the book either. We are talking about people’s lives here. If doctors are doing their best and there is an adverse outcome but the videotaping is impeccable they have little to worry about.

Patients have a lot more to be polarized about than they can imagine.

The technology is here. The medical profession has to find an ethical and fair happy medium acceptable to our patients.

Torte reform is a very nice phrase that. politicians like to (sometimes) throw around; physicians would love it if they could never be sued. It is next to impossible to bring a malpractice suit because the lawyers are not dopes and they know which cases have a chance of making them money and which ones do not. If you don’t believe me just try calling a dozen and tell them you had a bad outcome from a surgery. As one of them said to me sh** happens, but you signed a consent that said you could have nerve damage and indeeed that you could die.

Unless the action is so egregious, like the doctor in Boston who left his patient on the operating table while he went to the auto teller maching, virtually no one has a case.

There should be both videotaping and audiotaping of all sugeries. It should be illegal to tamper with them, i.e., edit parts out. If an error is made the patient has the right to know.

I am a nurse who became disabled after a spinal fusion. I suffered innury to the S1 nerve and have cauda equina syndrome as a RESULT of the surgery. My surgeon steadfastly maintiained that I would be fine, minimized the excruciating pain I was in and that was documented by the pain service in his hospital, and sidestepped my blunt questions about what went wrong.

No attorney would take my case. Patients are already behind the 8 ball when the have to sign a consent form that lists death as a possible outcome.

There is no question in my mind, based upon my experience as both a patient and briefly as an OR nurse, that had my surgery been video and audiotaped some comment or “oops” would have been recorded and I would have had legal redress.

The doctor wants to put a plethora of restrictions on the use of this technology. He can’t have it both ways.

And as for editing the tape to hide the mistakes, please!

My 11 year old son died following a “simple” ankle drainage. The answers were not, and are not, forthcoming as to what complications did occur. Deny and defend took the place of healing a family or learning from an adverse event. I’ve spent the past 9 years becoming nationally involved in quality, transparency and patient centered care as a result of my experience.

I believe in real time recorded surgical procedures for educational and ethical reasons and I think they will fix some of the wrong site surgeries that are continuing to occur. Staff will think…or check… twice and hopefully an open dialogue will result. The patient and family deserves to see the recording-all recordings and become actively involved in the root cause analysis when things go wrong. No, the recordings should not be edited just as medical records are not supposed to be edited. There are still bugs to work out to make this system idea work efficiently. This is not big brother watching you. It is a safety monitor. In the future world of IT, the recording and records would belong to the patient.

I’ve received hundreds of possible explanations from caring physicians across the world who wanted to take a shot at what went wrong in my son’s care but only those in the OR would really know but have refused to talk. Or perhaps, they wouldn’t know either but the recording would verify their competence and ability in completing the procedure to the family, administrators and themselves. Don’t be afraid of technology. Yes, we need to fix the fear of litigation that some of you still possess in order to make this step acceptable and fair to everyone.

So, if your child has minor surgery and your child dies as a result, this recording may help someone else, as well as your family. Someone may learn from an error and another child would be saved. Students could see more real time surgeries before practicing.

Yes, I have met physicians who have traveled my same journey when their child died during surgery. Don’t think that you are treated differently just because you are a physician. You are “just” a Mom or Dad when your child dies in surgery and the walls still go up in most facilities. Believe me, you will feel disappointed by your profession beyond comprehension when this occurs. We need more physicians and caregivers involved in our culture change efforts. Please help us make patient safety the only priority. Take down the fences that divide us.