Recently a surgeon friend of mine contacted me. He was calling because a colleague of his was worried about something he heard at a seminar focused on surgical liability: that surgeons are easier to sue once they turn 70 years old.

My friend was concerned enough for his friend that he called and asked for my opinion. I tried to think of the issue with common sense, and I concluded that no such hard and fast rule made any sense. There are likely many excellent surgeons who are past 70. It seemed to me that if the surgeon came across to a jury as competent and able, it would only backfire on me and my client to imply or assert that the surgeon was negligent just because he was older than some magical age.

Interestingly, a recent article came across my desk that considers this very issue. It will be printed in the August 2014 edition of Annals of Surgery and is titled “The Aging Surgeon.” It’s available here (for a fee):

[The Aging Surgeon][1]

The article takes what I believe to be a balanced look at the issues surrounding aging surgeons. It is still a potential patient safety problem, as there are now approximately 20,000 surgeons over the age of 70 actively practicing in the United States. The article cites studies that show increased incidence of complications relative to age, including in coronary artery bypass grafts, laparoscopic procedures, and other surgeries. Anecdotally, one surgeon was found to have fallen asleep during a complex procedure.

Addressing the problem is difficult, as these people are esteemed members of their surgical communities, often training those surgeons who are now acting as their chiefs. Mandatory retirement, the article concludes, is not the answer, since that would prevent otherwise very competent surgeons from continuing to practice.

The article advocates for The Aging Surgeon Program as a method by which the surgical community can police itself. It is a two-day comprehensive evaluation of a surgeon’s physical and cognitive abilities. Its goal is to strike a balance, between patient safety and liability risk on one hand, and the dignity of the surgeon and his benefit to his surgical community.

While I’m unsure exactly what solution is best, I am glad to see surgeons balancing their own interests with those of their patients.

[1]: http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/Citation/2014/08000/The_Aging_Surgeon.1.aspx “The Aging Surgeon”