In delicate, risky surgical procedures, like heart or brain surgery, if the patient comes in with all sorts of assorted medical problems, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, old age and/or a history of heart or other serious medical problems, when push comes to shove during the actual surgical procedure, at some point a surgeon may feel like that only so much can be done anyway, especially when things are not going well during surgery. If this patient is lost (dies) on the operating table, well, who is really going to question the surgeon’s efforts?
However, if a relatively healthier patient comes in for surgery, if the surgeon does not go that extra mile or even try to exceed his standard level of ability then questions may arise and a full blown investigation into what happened may ensue causing embarrassment to the surgeon and the facility where the surgeon is performing surgeries which possibly could uncover certain questionable actions and judgment calls that with unhealthy patients would have gone relatively unquestioned.
Consequently, off the record, some surgeons may admit to feeling pressure to perform better on certain patients just to be better able to possibly help reduce possible exposure to liability claims due to possibly perceived negligence while performing certain surgeries in certain cases.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: AN ANONYMOUS SURGICAL NURSE 2/1/01