Surgical patients who take part in a longer discussion of informed consent—15 to 30 minutes—understand their proposed operation better than those who have shorter discussions, according to a report in the June 2010 Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Asking patients to repeat back their understanding of the procedure…

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It took a Texas jury less than an hour on February 11 to return a not guilty verdict for Anne Mitchell, RN. An administrator at 15-bed Winkler County Memorial Hospital in the small town of Kermit, Texas, Mitchell was charged by the local sheriff with a felony after she reported…

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A former surgical technician who apparently infected more than a dozen patients with hepatitis C by stealing fentanyl and placing used syringes back on anesthesia carts pleaded guilty September 25, 2009, to federal charges of tampering and theft, the Denver Post reported. Kristen Diane Parker, 26, faces sentencing in December…

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The principles of informed consent are well known—patients have the right to make informed decisions about their care, including surgery. The primary purpose of informed consent is to ensure that the patient has the information necessary to make a decision before agreeing to any treatment. The responsibility for informed consent…

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Congress has turned a spotlight on consulting relationships between surgeons and medical device companies. At a hearing Feb 27, the Senate Special Committee on Aging probed what the chairman, Senator Herb Kohl, called the "tangled, murky, and sometimes conflicting financial relationships" between industry and physicians. Sen Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat,…

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ECRI Institute and Boston Scientific in November settled their lawsuits over price transparency for cardiac devices. The terms were not disclosed. ECRI Institute sued Guidant Corporation in 2006 over the right to publish pricing for cardiac devices as part of its benchmarking service. Guidant countersued, saying ECRI had interfered with…

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Writing to Congress To comment on S 2221, the Transparency in Medical Device Pricing Act of 2007, you can send an e-mail through your Congress member's website. Senators are listed at www.senate.gov. House members are at www.house.gov. To download the bill and check its status, enter the bill number at…

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In too many hospitals, do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders are automatically suspended when the patient passes through the OR doors, violating the individual's right to make decisions and going against what every major association related to perioperative care recommends. "This practice is short sighted and ill advised," says Richard Cook, MD, associate…

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has eliminated the requirement that surgical consent forms list the names of practitioners who will assist the surgeon and tasks they will perform. Surgeons and perioperative nurses had pressed for the change, saying they often could not know in advance who would…

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Should physicians who request products be required to disclose any financial interests they have with the company that makes the product? Experts say yes. But it's a hot issue, and many hospitals haven't yet taken that step. Scrutiny by the government and press is fueling the call for disclosure. In…

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