Patient Deaths Higher on Surgeons' Birthdays
MedPage Today covers the study, "Patient mortality after surgery on the surgeon's birthday: observational study." In this retrospective cohort study, Dr. Tsugawa and researchers determined whether patient mortality after surgery differs between surgeries performed on surgeons’ birthdays compared with other days of the year. Patients were more likely to die when surgeons work on their birthdays, researchers found, perhaps because of the attendant distraction.