truth in labeling

[topaz]

truth in labeling, originally uploaded by qwrrty.

It's actually kind of reassuring when the doctor marks which foot is being operated on so that nobody forgets.

Comments

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

This is one of those innovations in hospital procedure that has vastly reduced some pretty horribly embarrassing (and in some cases appalling) errors.

When my dad was surged, though, they put a smiley face on the leg they were operating on, and a frowny on the other leg. We thought that was a bad way to go. Does smiley mean, "Yes, operate here!"? Or does it mean, "Yes, this leg is happy!"? This is not the right time for even minorly ambiguous communications.

I'm glad Beth's labeling is clear :)

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes! Also, they ask you which leg about four thousand times, and require you to both say and point.

(Also, the nurses come in and say things like "so what are we doing today?" I stared blankly at the first one for a minute before figuring out that she was just making sure that I was the patient the chart on my bed alleged.)

[beowabbit]

"so what are we doing today?"

Well, we are really really bored, so we are playing a mental game where we match up the various nurses we see over the course of the day with different Disney cartoon villains. We might start doing something nicer if we got that cup of shaved ice we asked for 45 minutes ago, though.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

<rotfl>

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

BAM!

Just don't forget not to use your out-loud voice for that one.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

When I had my hand surgery, I was baffled that they marked my hand. IT'S THE ONE IN THE CAST FROM MID-FOREARM TO FIRST KNUCKLE. hard to miss, really :) But I do understand why they do it.....

[coraline]

awesome.

[beowabbit]

Is AKT an abbreviation for the procedure? (Or do you know?)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I was wondering that myself, but I think I just figured it out -- it's the surgeon's initials. (http://www.lahey.org/physdir/detail.asp?ID=1607)

[pumpkin-pi.livejournal.com]

That is one of most unfortunate names I've seen in a while. lol! And yes, I do actually have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old :)

Funny? I don't know what you mean...

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

Takes serious balls to keep a name like that.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? Turns out it's pronounced "tuh-BAH-zhee". I was very very grateful to hear Beth say it out loud before I embarrassed myself.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I was remarking over the weekend that if I were going in for surgery I'd mark myself. "Cut here" and "Don't cut here" should do it.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

There was a legend in the NHS hospital where I worked back in the UK that someone had come in for a leg amputation. The staff were about to prep the leg and when they removed the surgical gown, they saw that the man had written on the leg, in black marker, 'THE *OTHER* LEG, YOU IDIOTS'. Had he not written it, they would have taken the wrong leg.

Not sure if it was a true story or something someone just made up to poke fun at the NHS. Though really, it's too easy to do that without making anything up.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I think it has actually become SOP to physically mark which limb needs to be operated on, as a result of the horror stories about the staff amputating the wrong leg. So I suspect that particular story was made up, but had a grain of truth in it.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

yep. this.

first page of Google results for "amputate wrong leg" brings up a few stories about a case in the US in 1995:

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/17/us/doctor-who-cut-off-wrong-leg-is-defended-by-colleagues.html?pagewanted=1

and one recently (2 months ago) in Peru:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60P50O20100126

foot

[actjack.livejournal.com]

is that a photo of a human or simiam foot? the toes appear long enough to be prehensile.

Re: foot

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

It's a real person! But she can fool you sometimes.

[renniekins.livejournal.com]

When I had knee surgery, they had me initial the knee to be operated on myself!