Thread: What happens to a surgeon when a patient dies on his or her operating table?

Yes this happens.

NO this does not mean that the surgeon did anything wrong.
Probably 99.9% of the time, an intra-operative death is the result of the underlying disease process, a very sick patient, a very risky procedure, or all of the above.

For example, trying to remove cancer and clot that are clogging up the blood vessels all the way from the kidneys into the heart. You know that this person will die soon (and painfully) if you do nothing. You also know that you will get a "surgical death" on your record if the patient dies on the table. Most surgeons say "too risky" to operate, but the brave surgeon decides to risk it. The reason you risk it is that it is the only chance for the patient to live. Unfortunately, the patient bleeds and bleeds as you try to remove all the cancer from the blood vessels. The heart stops. The patient dies. What happens to the surgeon?

The surgeon gets a "statistic" that looks bad on his record.

The surgeon gets PTSD and has an extremely difficult time emotionally, even though he knows that there was only a VERY small chance that the surgery would work. The surgeon gets palpitations, depression, cannot sleep. The surgeon even had to leave the operating room and operate on the next patient immediately after this awful experience. The surgeon cannot speak about any of this or appear to be distraught.

Also, any outcome that does not save a life can be the grounds for a career ending malpractice suit, whether or not the surgeon ACTUALLY did anything wrong.
Now you know why I am not a surgeon.

Source: https://www.quora.com/What-happens-t...perating-table

Neteller here: www.ituglobalfx.com.ng

Strong and unpleasant emotions going through the surgeon, he feels guilty.