Research and Results

[round12345@aol.com]

With respect to surgical errors and the conclusions of the researchers:

I was commenting on the findings of the researchers ... of course, patient weight and emergency treatment are aspects of the "surgical care system"; do WE know if these factors, either independently or jointly, form special causes?  No.  Could we engineer out these elements if we found them worthy of study?  Of course.

My point was the contradictory statements of the lead researcher, who held simultaneously:

1. ER treatments were 9x as likely to include the surgical error, and the error appeared more frequently in obese patients than non-obese patients; and

2. "I don't know what the data means".

To say the former is to admit in the research one found statistical differences worthy of mention - something above normal variation.  To say the latter is to admit one found NOTHING worthy of mention!

Michael Round

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