Originally published at: Surgeon fired for having hospital janitor assist with amputation | Boing Boing
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That can happen if you don’t toe the line.
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There’s an old Far Side cartoon that did this as a joke, with the random janitor having to step in and finish an operation after the surgical team becomes incapacitated.
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Yes, but where were the qualified pair of hands that should have been there?
With the patient getting restless, it sounds like there was a time pressure problem.
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What they don’t tell you is the real reason he was fired was because the janitor was out of network.
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Someone probably needed a toe by 3:00 this afternoon.
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Can’t delay cocktail hour.
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I’m curious how urgent it was. I have to assume there’s something out there that could infect a toe and not wait to be amputated.
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As an RN that started as an orderly in the OR 30 years ago, I can see how a situation was going South and the doc needing an extra hand “right fucking now”! The doc told the guy, “Hand me that. Now that. put your hand here and press.” If not enlisting housekeeping help would have resulted in a negative outcome for PT, I don’t see a problem. If this happened because the surgeon thought any monkey could assist him and he was late for golf, then he should hang.
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I hope the janitor gets a payrise at least.
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A nearby cleaner? They just happened to be in an operating room? During an operation?
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Pah. Everybody who has had any experience with German janitors will tell you that they can do everything.
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Well, the janitor nailed it, at least. He really extracted his digit, there.
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The hospital claims the doctor wasn’t even supposed to do the operation on his own as the only surgeon and that he could have gotten professional aid instead. Also there were issues with the documentation of the surgery, which is really important in Germany. There is no proof the cleaner went through the required hygiene procedures for example. So all in all, there is a lot more to this story. Also, the hospital has been in financial and other trouble for some time already. This seems to be only one symptom of a bigger systemic problem there.
My sources (in German):
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Also, this happened in late 2020. According to the article, 40 chief physicians at the large university medical centre in Mainz have now written to the hospital’s board to complain about the administrative head of the hospital, whom they consider unfit for their job as the financial situation of the institution has become extremely dire over the last few years.
While this whole affair commends the versatility of German hospital cleaning staff (although not the diligence of German surgeons), as a resident of Mainz I will make a note to be very careful when going for any kind of procedure in the university hospital.
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Janitor:
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I’ve had a cleaning business for over 30 years, we had a huge office cleaning job for a big stamping plant for years. One evening as we were cleaning, one of the shift leaders from the factory was working on the computer in one of the front offices. It looked like she had some books learning MS Office. This was the late 90s.
I walked by a few times cleaning around her, she looked frustrated so I asked what she was up to. If she got her certification she could get a promotion and raise. I asked what she was stuck on, a formula in a table in an Access database.
Would you like some help?
You know this stuff? But you’re just the janitor.
I helped her for a couple weeks, she passed and got the certification.
I’ve never assisted in surgery but us janitors aren’t always just janitors.
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