The wrong right leg

The widow of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, made the decision to have a double mastectomy last week. This was called a "preventive" surgery; she did not have breast cancer, but her mother died from that disease and her sister was recently diagnosed with it, so her decision to have her breasts removed to prevent the disease is one that many women around the world are making.  I wish her the best and acknowledge what a tough personal medical decision this must have been.

HowEVER...the grammar guy in me barked when a local television anchor referred to this as "preventable" surgery. She meant to say "preventive" surgery.

And that leads us down another wormhole, because there exists a debate among people much smarter than I as to whether it's acceptable to say "preventative" instead of "preventive." I say, save a syllable, and call it preventive, but don't call it "preventable."

When I researched this, I found out something even more interesting. 

Did you know there is a topic, one which most medical people would prefer not to talk about with you, known as Wrong Site Surgery?  These mistakes involve:

• surgery performed on the wrong part of the body (e.g. left knee instead of right knee)
• wrong surgery performed on the right part of the body
• right surgery performed on the wrong patient

I've gone under the knife a total of three times, and the last two, the surgeons about to slice into me (back and knee) took marking pens to draw arrows on me pointing exactly to where the surgery was to take place.  Since I was not going to be conscious when the cuttin' was happening, this left me in a peaceful state as I dropped off with the anesthesia.

I had to trust them to do the proper surgery, and they did, and as to whether I was the proper person on whom to operate, I guess they read the stylish ID bracelet that the hospital stuck on me.

We like to think that the people we entrust with our medical care are wise and well-trained and careful, but things happen.  That's why a lot of people give up practicing medicine and become lawyers.