Falling Alseep in the OR: why this would never happen where a true culture of safety exists
Here’s the account of a surgeon falling asleep in the OR during two successive surgeries. The story appeared in the Boston Globe.
“When Dr. Loren J. Borud began his first case at about 8 a.m., an operating room nurse noticed he looked tired and wobbly. She was so concerned, according to one account of the Friday last June, that she suggested Borud postpone his next patient.
Borud said he had been up all night working on a book, but he kept operating, starting a second case, during which he briefly fell asleep, according to a report from state investigators. The nurse again called him aside and suggested “maybe he should take a break,” according to her interviews with investigators, but he continued the surgery.
The operating room nurse called the plastic surgery department twice to report Borud’s behavior that morning and early afternoon, the report said, and the office nurse told her to “keep an eye on him.” But no senior surgeon or administrator ordered Borud to stop operating - even though there was widespread awareness of his history of drug and alcohol abuse, according to investigators. Read more »
