Whenever Hospitalization is Unavoidable...

CNN reported today on their "Daily Dose" segment that 40 surgeries per week in the U.S. are either performed on the wrong patient or the wrong body parts of the patient. Since this CNN news segment is broadcast during the day, we thought that we should repeat it for anyone that missed it. For emphasis, that 40/week figure extrapolates out to 8 surgeries per day -- a low percentage nationwide, but to avoid being one of those erroneously cut into, CNN suggests the following whenever hospitalized.

• do NOT be shy, do NOT feel like you are being a pain in the butt just for simply ensuring your safety from erroneous procedures and surgeries
• frequently state the patient's name and procedure that they are hospitalized for to any attending staff members (especially if in the ER, emergency room)
• ask hospital staff to check ID bracelet before conducting any procedures (not just surgery)
• before surgery, mark the body part to be operated on, but most importantly mark body part NOT to be operated on (sounds like the staff should now be doing that as "standard operating procedure" (pun intended)

Lastly for emphasis, CNN reported that an abdominal CT scan was recently erroneously performed on pregnant woman that was in the ER. CT scans emit a ridiculously high dose of radiation even for an adult, but is seriously damaging to the development of a fetus. The point being, even if you are not in a hospital for an operation, you still must take serious precautions to avoid wrongly "procedured upon". So, even if you are just in the ER to visit a friend, don't let them drag you into surgery just because your name matches that of an ER patient.  Seriously, be sure to alert freinds and family.