February 15, 2010

Murtha’s gallbladder procedure rarely deadly

By Kelley Luckstein

Taking out a patient's gallbladder is routine. At least 500,000 such surgeries are done each year in the United States. It takes an hour or two, and the patient can go home that day or the next. But in rare cases, the surgery can be deadly. Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania recently died after complications from the procedure after doctors "hit his intestines" during surgery, a source close to the late congressman told CNN…

 

A 2009 study led by the Mayo Clinic found that almost 9 percent of U.S. surgeons who responded to the survey said they had made a major error in the previous three months.

 

CNN, by Elizabeth Landau, 2/9/2010

Tags: gallbladder, GI, John Murtha

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