Just another day of surgery

I shared a podium today at a Boston University continuing medical education symposium with Linda K. Kenney, founder of Medically Induced Trauma Support Services, or MITSS. Her story and message were riveting.

On November 18, 1999, Linda went in for orthopaedic surgery on her ankle. By mistake, some of the nerve blocking medication went into her bloodstream during her pre-op preparation, causing a major seizure and full cardiac arrest. She woke up to find that her chest had been cracked open, where the doctors had performed open heart surgery to save her life. Later, someone lied to her and told her that the problem had been an allergic reaction to anaesthesia. Nobody talked to her the whole time about the real cause of the problem at the hospital, nor was there any follow-up concern showed after she arrived at home.

Out of this experience, Linda was motivated to create MITSS in May 2002, to create awareness and to provide open support services to all -- patients, families, and clinicians -- affected by medical events. She invented the term "medically induced trauma" to mean an unexpected outcome that occurs during medical and/or surgical care that affects the emotional well being of the patient, family and/or clinician.

Please check the website for more information about the services offered.

A footnote: Linda still goes to the hospital at which this occurred. See describes this as a peculiar kind of loyalty akin to co-dependant spouses with marital problems, and she notes, "I'll keep going back and watch how they are improving against themselves." Proving again that public disclosure of clinical outcomes is not a matter of creating competitive advantage or assigning blame: It is a tool for holding ourselves accountable to our own high standards for safety and quality of care.