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O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
ingly rare — 1 in 50,000, according to AAAASF data. But when that 1
is Joan Rivers, well, that'll skew the stats in the favor of those who
argue Ms. Rivers would have been better off at a hospital rather than
at a surgery "clinic," a word that makes an ASC sound like some
back-alley operation.
"Criticism has to be made in the face of knowledge through data,"
says Dr. Keyes. "Scrutiny is always good, but jumping to conclusions
without information is not good."
"I see a lot of dark hands at work trying to get people to shy away
from surgery centers," says Gary Lawson, MD, anesthesiologist at the
Adult & Children's Surgery Center of SW Florida in Fort Myers. "They
will do anything, including spreading half-lies and half-truths."
"What is undeniable," says Dr. Shapiro, "is that millions of these pro-
cedures have been performed in outpatient settings just like this one
with excellent results. Still, we have to be constantly vigilant. We have
to be on top of our game every single day, every single patient." OSM
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