Around 200 million surgical procedures are performed globally every year. Even with a conservative low estimate of 1% to 2% average complication rate, at least 2 to 4 million patients annually will suffer harm from their surgical care. These stats impose some intuitive questions:
How many of these patients and their families have been involved in a transparent shared decision making process for surgery?
How many times have other treatment alternatives been discussed, including the option of not having surgery?
How many times have these patients been encouraged to seek a formal second opinion?
How many of these patients may have undergone unnecessary surgery, and therefore suffered “unnecessary” complications, including preventable death from unneeded treatment?
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