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Related sites American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical Nurses |
Charity group investigating charges of sloppy medicine
Posted
12-6-99 Norfolk, Va. Operation Smile, the volunteer organization that sends healthcare teams to poor countries to operate on cleft palates and lips, is investigating charges made via anonymous e-mails that claim the group has practiced sloppy medicine. The allegations will not interrupt Operation Smile's next mission, to Jordan, but the group is taking the charges "very seriously," said Lisa Jardanhazy, director of communications for Operation Smile. The group has hired Norfolk attorney F. Bradford Stillman to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations. Stillman is examining the organization's financial records and its medical practices, and expects to have the report completed sometime in January. "I am in the midst of the investigation and have formed no conclusions," he said. Founded in 1981 by plastic surgeon Andrew Magee, MD, and his wife, Kathy Magee, RN, Operation Smile has received celebrity endorsements in the past for its work in the world's most impoverished countries. The group estimates it has operated on about 53,000 patients in 19 countries, including 8,800 surgeries last year. Jardanhazy said 16 patients have died during or after surgery, a rate she said is normal. Frequent power outages and other substandard conditions are common in poor hospitals, but the more serious problem is that complications are often compounded by patient histories that are never disclosed, she said. Jeanne Prin, RN, past president of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical Nurses in Pitman, N.J., said surgical complications in poor countries are usually not the result of negligence on the part of the volunteers. "No. 1, they are committed to delivering the same standard of care in the host country as they give here," Prin said. "No matter what shape the facility is in, you try to maintain the same level. We prep those kids the same, we sterilize the instruments the same. What you don't have a lot of control over is what happened to these children before you got there. The places where Op-Smile goes, these children have no access to care. A lot of these children are malnourished or vitamin deficient. If anything, you do more to provide care in that setting."
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