Demand Full Patient Disclosure of Double-Booked Surgeries
- by: Susan V
- recipient: US Congress and Massachusetts Department of Health
Double-booking surgeries - with a lead surgeon performing more than one operation at a time - is not an uncommon practice in some hospitals. But often patients have no idea this is going on, says a report by the Boston Globe.
Technically the practice is called concurrent surgery and, says the Globe, Massachusetts General Hospital, for one, considers it an “efficient way to deploy the talents of their most in-demand specialists while reducing wasted operating room time."
Although MGH is not the only hospital that allows CS, some have banned it, and one prominent surgeon, Dr. Dennis Burke, lost his job at MGH over his opposition to the practice. According to the Globe, Burke and a small group of other medical specialists allege numerous problems with the practice they believe compromises patient safety, including causing some deaths.
Although the few investigations done on CS so far have reported no increased negative outcomes, a new lawsuit has raised questions about a doctor’s obligation to unconscious patients. For example, Tony Meng, who “had no idea” on the morning of his operation that he was sharing his surgeon with another patient, would not find out about it “until long after” he awoke in the recovery room paralyzed.
Whether or not CS is causing greater risks to patients, they should at least be informed and given a choice in the matter. Sign this petition to insist on full disclosure to surgical patients before CS procedures take place.
To Members of Congress:
According to Becker’s Hosptial Review of the Globe report on concurrent surgeries at Massachusetts General Hospital, even though MGH “revised its policy in 2012 to limit concurrent surgeries from spanning three rooms simultaneously, or two cases and one patient in a clinic…..Physicians are still not required to inform patients of an overlap…."
Even though Dr. Burke “alerted state agencies” of the incident where Meng suffered paralysis from a concurrent spinal surgery, “The Massachusetts Department of Public Health …said nothing was wrong at the hospital," after investigating last February.
And apparently the state health department has not and may not require that MGH inform patients involved in double-booked surgeries, unless compelled to do so by Congress.
One commentator on this Globe report, a former Massachusetts undersecretary of consumer affairs and business regulation and former regional director of the Federal Trade Commission, sums up quite well the logical resolution to this issue regarding all hospitals in all states -- and sums up this petition request.
On October 27, 2015, Barbara Anthony wrote, in part:
There is one immediate remedy for such conduct, and that is full disclosure to surgical patients before procedures take place.
It is well-settled consumer law that failure to disclose a material fact that would cause the consumer not to proceed with the transaction is a deceptive act. Why should surgical procedures be treated any differently? And the disclosure to patients should be clear and understandable, not buried in some incomprehensible, obtuse fine print.
Let’s give health care consumers the material facts they need to make truly informed decisions. If the practice of concurrent surgeries conforms to acceptable medical standards, why not let consumers in on the secret?
We, the undersigned, request that the state of Massachuetts Department of Health and Congress follow this rational advice and demand full prior disclosure of all double-booked surgical procedures.
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