Re: Urban legend

On Sat, 26 May 2007 19:21:25 -0500, Al in Dallas
<alfargnoli@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 26 May 2007 18:55:56 -0400, tony cooper
<tony_cooper213@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 26 May 2007 20:00:49 GMT, "Maria" <marian.c-b@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


It's not needed for autopsies. I've attended them.

Would that have been in connection with your medical supply business?

Yes. I took every chance I could to observe surgery and understand
the use of the instruments and what they did with them. It was easier
to pop into an animal lab or the morgue and watch surgery.

Back in the eighties, there was talk that some salesmen would actual
operate the devices in the operating room on *living* patients to
demonstrate how to use them to the surgeons. Know anything about that?

Yeah. I'm sure there was more than one incident, but the biggie was
about a salesman for one of the orthopedic implant companies. To put
in a total hip implant (see:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ucl-views/images/hipbone) the femur core is
drilled out and that long shaft is driven down into the bone. There
are several types of implants, but with the particular type involved
the implant shaft is cemented in place with a very quick drying
cement.

The implant style(1) was new on the market, and the salesman scrubbed
in to talk the surgeon through some of the technical aspects of the
placement and cementing process. The implant was placed, but wasn't
in the correct position. It wasn't forced in deeply enough.

This was all that uncommon at the time. The cement dries in seconds.
The correct the situation, the implant has to be removed, and the
femur re-drilled out. The re-drilling (air equipment is used) is a
long and tedious process.

The surgeon started the process, but left the room for some reason
leaving the salesman to continue the re-drilling and cleaning process.
The anesthesiologist objected, called the hospital Administrator, and
the surgeon returned to complete the procedure. The incident was
reported, and the press got hold of the story.

Several other stories hit the press soon after that, and we (salesmen)
were banned from touching instruments in surgery after that in many
hospitals. Some hospitals even banned us from the OR.

I've scrubbed in, held retractors, pulled suture, and otherwise
participated many times. Parts of surgery are far more mechanical
that you may think. I've gone into surgery with a new instrument and
talked the surgeon through on the mechanics of the device many times.

You think, when you go into surgery, that the surgeon does everything.
Not so. Nurses and OR techs have been assisting for years. When I
went in for a bypass, the cardiovascular surgeon cracked the chest and
did the cutting and sewing up there. A non-MD removed a section of
the saphenous vein from my leg to use as graft material for the
by-passes. That's what I knew would go on.

As I said, much of surgery is just a mechanical process. The MD knows
why to cut and where to cut, but the cutting and sewing requires more
manual dexterity than anything else (in many procedures, but not all).

You may be shocked that my attitude is so casual about this. Think
about it, though. New instruments, new designs, and new devices come
out all the time. Just about every surgeon is using something today
that wasn't invented when he was in residency. How do you think the
surgeon learns how to use them?

The big hospitals have "dog labs" (actually, animal labs since calfs
<calves?>, monkeys, and pigs are used as well). Most hospitals don't,
though. PETA has seen to that.

(1) The general design had been around for years. The exact design
and cementing process was new.

--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
.

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