"Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
news:3F71CFEC.BEE416A0@yahoo.co.jp...
> I'll take the risk I'll die during treatment or lack of it, because my
> condition is so serious, such as having cancer or being brought in after a
> traffic accident, NOT because the medical staff screwed up by operating on
the
> wrong (healthy) side of the body, operated on the wrong patients with
similar
> names or in the same ward, transplanted the wrong organs, left instruments
in,
> hooked up the heart lung machine backwards, put toxic material into the
IV,
> etc.

The doctor explained to me the safety precautions that they take with the
needles. Periodically during the surgery, they count all the needles to
ensure that they are accounted for. Then after the surgery, before the
patient is closed up, they count the needles one more time.

In this case, they noticed that one of the needles was missing during one of
their periodic counts. As the surgery progressed, they were also looking for
the missing needle, but failed to find it. After 3 hours with Bill's heart
stopped, they could not spend any more time looking for the needle, so they
sewed him back up and prayed for the best.

Now, the question that immediately came to my mind was, why don't they keep
track of every needle, instead of just counting them periodically? Nurses
are cheap in Japan, so if manpower is an issue they could just bring in an
extra nurse whose only job is to keep track of needles.

Perhaps there is a good answer for why each and every needle is not tracked.
An answer that would satisfy Bill. The problem is, if there is such an
answer, the doctors aren't telling. And the system is stacked against anyone
who would want to get such an answer.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom