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Would You Operate On This Patient? - October 2015 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 9 3 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E Lessons Learned From India A service trip to Mumbai shows we have much to be thankful for. T here's a lot to com- plain about these days: insurers, budget restraints, legal issues and the omnipresent compliance shackles. A recent teaching/service trip to Mumbai, India, gave me a real infusion of gratitude for my life and surgical practice in America. The international arthroscopy conference I was invited to was held at a reasonably comfortable hotel, but security was always on hyper- alert. I went through more metal detectors than the butler at the White House. After delivering a lecture, I was asked to perform a live knee surgery in order to convey contemporary surgical techniques to an audience of surgeons. Not on a cadaver, but a real patient. I wasn't even fully apprised of the diagnosis. Feeling uneasy about operating on someone I'd never met, I rea- soned that I could perhaps help this uninsured soul with a technique not available to her in her native country. I was escorted to a state hospital that was hot, steamy and extremely limited in equipment. I examined the anesthetized patient and discovered that her very unsta- ble knee would need a posterior cruciate reconstruction. The equipment we take for granted in America was not present. No drill guides, thermal ablation or cannulas. Several Hail Mary's and MacGyver Moments later, I was able to successfully complete the sur- gery in a room that was as humid as the steam room at the YMCA. I C U T T I N G R E M A R K S John D. Kelly IV, MD z STANDING ROOM ONLY Dr. Kelly works a crowded OR at a hospital in Mumbai, India. John D. Kelly IV, MD

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