It is unlikely surgery will ever be entirely error-free, yet if a mistake that harms you is down to a distracted member of staff, you need to look at options to hold someone responsible.
Concentration is crucial for any medical staff working in the operating room. Yet, like everyone else these days, they are easily distracted.
Hospitals should have policies in place to limit distractions and catch errors that result from them. Surgeons and the nurses assisting them also need to make a conscious effort to reduce the chance of distraction.
Phones are a problem
Hospitals could just ban phones from the operating theater, yet many hospitals rely on them to contact their staff in an emergency. If you are in for a minor operation, and a ten-car pile-up happens close by, you may find the surgeon’s phone goes off to call them to save the life of the arriving victims.
There needs to be a system in place so that emergency calls can get through, but your anesthetist is not watching cat videos on Tik-Tok when they are supposed to be keeping an eye on your oxygen levels.
External noise can also distract
Hospitals need to think carefully about where they place operating theaters. Imagine a surgeon focusing on making a precise cut, which they cannot afford to get wrong. Then, just as they are about to make it, the first bars of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” pump out at full volume from the kitchen next door.
Finding out how to bring a medical malpractice claim can help you recover compensation for the harm a distracted operating theater team member caused you or a loved one.