> 5/ As Dr Ian Harris said, the unsaid attitude could be stated like: “you have to operate on patients quickly before they get better“.
Wow, really puts a new perspective on the usually massive wait times here in Norway.
Wow, really puts a new perspective on the usually massive wait times here in Norway.
There are a number of injuries for which treatment has severely changed during my short lifetime. A torn ligament used to be operated on in the past but now you are often told to wear a cast for some weeks, take painkillers only when necessary to sleep so you avoid movements detrimental to healing during the day (it’s painful) and to just wait it out. Not X-ray, no surgery, just time to heal.
E: added an all important if to the third sentence.
The doctor said had he got that result from an operation operation he would have been thrilled.
Worth noting my hospital is a learning hospital, so it was a hot debate topic amongst the doctors and most of them were surprised they hadn't operated.
To quote the surgeon: statistically she had a 15% chance of issues in the coming weeks. An operation has a 5% risk of complications, so normally we don't perform one. But 5 is lower than 15%, so let's do it.
Not sure of the math, because I assume the 15% is spread (non-linear) over the 2 weeks, and she was operated at the end of the window, but it is still amazing that all of this is possible.