Dancing With The Scars by Pat Conrad MD

We all spent some time in OR’s during medical school and residency, and got good first-hand looks at the cramped quarters, tense, tedious, and occasionally scary atmosphere.  And every single one of us heard surgeons cuss, tell dirty jokes, saw them throw things, pitch fits, and generally act in ways they would never tell their mama about.  Except for the most egregious episodes, we just learned that it was part of the OR and the surgeon’s irreverent kingdom.  And hell no, no one was filming it.

Northwestern University has published work suggesting that filming OR antics might not quite be the awesome idea it seems to some of the performers. 

“One plastic surgeon cradled the skin and fat he removed as part of a patient’s tummy tuck like a baby, and used a Snapchat filter to impose an infant’s face on it.”  Honestly, I think that’s funny.  Of course, I’ll bet the malpractice lawyer would too in the event of any bad outcome whatsoever.  But the hospital’s HIPAA commissar, or some bloodless, androgynous JCHAO pre-inspector probably would see no humor at all.

“In their paper, the Northwestern researchers suggest new guidelines such as letting patients know they can refuse to participate without affecting the quality of their care. The guidelines also suggest warning patients that there may be no way to delete the images once they’re posted and that the images could potentially be copied, manipulated and shared by others.”

No, I wouldn’t want my doc lip-synching – at least not to rap or bro’ country – in front of my intubated carcass, but more important, I wouldn’t want to know about it.  A little mystique can go a long way.  I think these plastic surgeons are stupid to risk that over a little extra marketing.

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