14. That Time a Doctor Discovered That Competitive Speed Surgery is a Bad Idea
Medical mishaps and mediocre doctors are, unfortunately, all too common. Indeed, thanks to negligent and incompetent doctors, there is a thriving field in the legal profession that focuses solely on medical malpractice. Fortunately for Dr. Robert Liston (1794 – 1847) of London, he practiced in an era when, and in a country where, medical malpractice litigation was not the booming business it is today in the US. If not, lawyers would have had a field day suing him for an instance in which he killed three people during a single surgery. The kicker? Two of the people he got killed were not even his patients.
Dr. Liston was a surgeon known for his speed. In the days before anesthetics, an ability to operate speedily was a decided plus. It meant that patients spent less time enduring excruciating pain as a surgeon cut into them. It also increased the odds of survival, lessened the odds of patients going into shock, and reduced the time in which their vitals were exposed to germs and other vectors of infection. The problem arose when Liston took that otherwise good idea and ruined it by going for speed surgery records at the expense of safety and the well-being of his patients.
