arthroscopy. He meets with the anes-
thetist, who finds that he's a good
candidate for surgery and at a low
risk of complications. An IV is started
and the patient is prepped for surgery,
which proceeds with no further inci-
dent. He's then taken to PACU.
While in recovery, the patient vom-
its before his gag reflex has returned.
The recovery nurse goes to clear his
airway using a bedside suction
machine, which fails to work. The
recovery nurses search for a machine
that does work, which takes 10 min-
utes. Meanwhile, the patient suffers
oxygen deprivation and subsequent
brain damage.
After filing a malpractice suit, the
plaintiff's attorneys find during dis-
covery that the owners of the ASC
purchased the obsolete suction
machine from a local hospital at a
reduced cost. The machine was out-
dated, and the ASC cannot prove that
the machine had ever been certified
as safe for use, or that it had ever
received routine maintenance or
inspections. The lawsuit is eventually
settled before trial for an undisclosed
amount.
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 3
Have you ever purchased
used surgical equipment?
s yes, and we're happy we did
74%
s yes, and we regret that we did
13%
s no 13%
SOURCE: Outpatient Surgery
Magazine InstaPoll, January 2016,
n=182
InstaPoll
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