Minor Surgery That Ends In Disaster

There is one fundamental rule in surgery, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Why? Because as one of Harvard’s great neurosurgeons once remarked, “There is no such thing as minor surgery, but there are a lot of minor surgeons”. He could have added that minor surgery can also result in needless tragic deaths. And that one major operation can be avoided. The best adult example is Joan Rivers, the comedian, who allegedly had undergone several cosmetic facelifts and joked about it. But she had one too many and died of cardiac arrest during the operation. The youngest tragedy is the newborn baby who recently suffered a circumcision, apparently unwanted by his parents. He died from hemorrhage.