Am I Safe to Perform Surgery?

Michael R. Marks, MD, MBA

The following case report is true. It is mine. I am sharing it to shed light on an area of patient safety that all physicians and surgeons must consider. If we do indeed learn best from the mistakes others make, I hope this will be a lesson for thousands of surgeons. My surgery As a fellowship-trained spine surgeon, I have great empathy and sympathy for my patients, because I have also sustained disk herniations and radiculopathy.

Doctors Are Fed Up With MOC

William J. Maloney, MD

In recent years, many orthopaedic surgeons have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS), and in particular its onerous high stakes exam process.

Setting AAOS Now Straight

Regarding the recent AAOS Now article "Study: No Advantage to Liposomal Bupivacaine for TKA" (April 2017 issue) about work presented at the AAOS annual meeting by DeClaire et al, there appears to be a significant methodologic problem that likely resulted in a misleading outcome.

Combatting Opioid Misuse

Alan S. Hilibrand, MD

As many of you know, the Academy recently launched a new public service advertisement (PSA) campaign on the dangers of opioid misuse. This campaign includes display and radio ads urging doctors and patients to exercise caution in prescribing and taking opioids. The campaign was distributed to hundreds of outdoor billboard/sign companies and radio stations across the United States.