I am not posting this because it is a negative view of UNC.
I am posting this to alert people in the area that there may be a problem with the cardiac surgical program at UNC Hospital.
The bottom line here is that the hospital protected the cardiac surgical program and its surgeons to the detriment of patients. Please chose your hospital and doctors carefully. Ask questions. If possible, get a second opinion.
As a physician this is a very difficult piece to read. There can be a culture to protect other doctors and this can and does potentially harm patients. The doctor in question is also older (65) and brings up questions of when is it time to retire or at least stop doing high risk procedures. I will not go further for fear of entering PPB issues.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...?module=inline
Wondering if uNC will spend the money to save the reputation of their medical system that they spent to save the reputation of their basketball program.
Is it too late to start a PR firm in Chapel Hill? Anyone looking to invest in a growth business?
The Daily (the NYT Podcast) did an episode about this today. It's quite a listen. Someone recorded a meeting among cardiologists discussing problems with the hospital surgery team and it's kind of terrifying to listen to. It's also not an easy listen, as they have a conversation with the parents of a 3-year-old who died following surgery at UNC.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Wow. Just WOW. It is absolutely inexcusable for this to have happened and for them having allowed it to continue. To allow egos and money and whatever else that was going on to take precedence over children's lives is inconceivable. I'm thinking Duke had good reason to steer clear and work with ECU instead.
Lack of transparency is, unfortunately, a habit at UNC. Culture matters.
I can readily/easily separate the medical maladies in this thread/revelation from the complete lack of integrity/honesty in the academic and athletic worlds over there (Hopefully-I think) and the loathing I have for all those involved, both in the past and those who continue to be associated with that malfeasance. I find this development to be very, very sad and am extremely grateful neither my son or younger daughter are currently involved with the current situation at the medical center.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
If you think that's bad, check out the story of Christopher Duntsch from Dallas, TX, nicknamed "Dr. Death" due to his botched surgeries. He turned his best friend into a quadriplegic, killed 3 patients and left over 25 (out of 30) with permanent damage. There is a podcast on this of the same name.
https://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...tsch-dr-death/
One of the key deficiencies is that hospitals are loath to report doctors to the review board because it opens them up for litigation (after all, you are taking away someone's career and livelihood, so your reasons must be solid). It is easier to revoke their surgical privileges and let them be someone else's problem. Which is what happened to Duntsch, again and again.
"There can BE only one."
UNC Children's Hospital shuts down high risk cardiac surgery in response to the NY Times expose.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/u...gtype=Homepage
Wow. "Mortality rates for the most complex cases at UNC were especially high: 58.3 percent, or seven deaths out of 12 surgeries; the risk-adjusted mortality rate was 47.4 percent. The national rate for the most complex surgeries was 14 percent."
The article states that UNC Health Care has "introduced several initiatives to “restore confidence in its pediatric heart surgery program". If you're a patient or family of a patient, do you want to be the guinea pig to see if their initiatives to restore confidence are in fact warranted? I have to imagine that cardiologists would simply refer patients in need of heart surgery (outside the complex procedures that have been halted) elsewhere and that UNC will have experience what they were trying to avoid by covering all this up --- loss of patients and revenue and reduced employee count.
I'm still not clear on exactly what the root cause of all this is/was. I guess the state and federal investigation results will tell us more. The articles so far have danced around several potentially contributing factors but I'll be interested in seeing the government's findings.
Some things transcend the rivalry. This is just sad.
"preliminary denial of accreditation status"
https://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-...problems-found
Preliminary denial is a significant outcome of the Joint Commission’s survey process. It happens to a few dozen hospitals every year, but the frequency of that outcome is fairly low, probably less than 5% of all hospitals surveyed in a given year receive such a decision. They do have a chance to fix things. Hospitals rarely lose their actual accreditation, which would deny them the ability to serve Medicare patients. So it’s taken very seriously. They’ll likely she’ll out some big bucks to a compliance consultant and everything will be just fine.
“Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block