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Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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Never mind that in many professions, including — and somewhat ironically — the business of law, experienced practitioners (including judges) routinely rely on highly educated and well-trained assistants to help them manage their workloads. Never mind that informed consent has traditionally been obtained by assistants who not only understand the procedures they're explain- ing, but who also know the surgeon very well, and know exactly what that surgeon likes to communicate to patients. Never mind that many hospitals, surgery centers and surgeons use pre-printed materials and pre-produced videos to provide patients with a general understanding of procedures, risks and alternatives. And never mind that great care goes into the production of those materials, with a goal of making sure laypeople can understand and comprehend those risks and alter- natives. The case in question involved a woman who'd had surgery to remove a benign, but growing and potentially life-threatening, brain tumor. Her carotid artery was perforated during the surgery, leading to hemorrhage, stroke, brain injury and partial blindness. There was no question that she'd discussed some of the risks with the surgeon beforehand (she recalled "coma and death"), but the par- ties disagreed as to whether they'd discussed alternatives. The sur- geon testified that he'd reviewed the alternatives, risks and benefits of total versus subtotal resection, and that he informed the patient that while a less aggressive approach was safer short-term, he felt that the tumor was more likely to grow back if she opted for subtotal resec- tion. Key to the case, the patient eventually agreed to have total resec- tion, but that decision came after 2 additional conversations with the surgeon's physician assistant, for whom she signed the informed con- sent form. That opened the door for a malpractice action premised Medical Malpractice MM 3 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7

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