Heart valve - the final decision

Aye, one really has to look at these figures *very* carefully. It's easy for the suits to look at the count of operations v count of deaths and come up with a number but that number is worthless unless some account of the overall condition of the patient is taken into account. That is not easy to do.

And the trouble with that is that it tends to lead to difficult patients not being considered for surgery, purely on the grounds of risk of skewing the surgeon's data...

Actually, that's been acknowledged - if you look at the following, they do now take this into account in the UK, using a system called 'Euroscore':

The NHS can't afford power tools. It will be an old fashioned hammer and chisel (although they will be stainless steel) to open the breast bone.

Having had a long history of making medical devices, which sometimes involved detailed discussions with the people who used them, I tend to forget how squeamish some people can be. I once had a rep call, who nearly fainted, just at the sight of a few needles on a workbench.

Thank you.

Colin

Too true, that is why I am not wishing him well. I want a full report as well :-)

Dave

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "nightjar" saying something like:

Hmm.. "Plucky chap, that Bignell."

Best of luck with it anyway.