How Sweet

We’ve all heard horror stories of botched operations, whether it’s a doctor leaving a surgical tool inside the patient or the wrong limb being operated on – or even amputated. If you’ve ever wondered how this type of thing could happen, the concept of overlapping surgery could provide some clues.

Yes, that’s right; while your surgeon is operating on you, it is possible that he or she is also operating on someone else in the next room… at the same time! What could possibly go wrong?

Also called double booking or “running two rooms,” this usually entails a senior attending surgeon delegating trainees like fellows or residents to carry out parts of a surgery on one patient while the attending surgeon works on another patient in a different operating room, moving back and forth between the two. Many teaching hospitals have used this controversial practice for decades, but it has been coming under scrutiny in recent years by the Senate Finance Committee.

Medicare allows this practice if the attending surgeon will be present in the operating room for the “critical” part – as defined by the surgeon – of each operation. It’s particularly common in specialties like neurosurgery, cardiac surgery and orthopedics.