Dr. Barry Friedberg comments on David vs. Goliath: Who's Really in the Pursuit of Patient Safety & Sat...( Dr. Friedberg vs. The American Societ...),Health

Dr. Friedberg vs. The American Society of Anesthesiologists, Action vs. Rhetoric

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- One doctor against 43,000 doesn't seem like very fair odds.

Yet, that's exactly what the foremost international expert in cosmetic surgery anesthesia, Dr. Barry Friedberg, set the stage for last week when he responded to the American Society of Anesthesiologists' (ASA) March 9 press release in which they claimed to be in the "never ending pursuit of patient safety and satisfaction."

"It is extraordinary that my March 11 press release remains on the first page of a Google search for 'American Society of Anesthesiologists' an entire week after it was released," said Friedberg.

"As a caring physician, I am willing to stand on my actions for patient safety and satisfaction. The ASA should be willing to do the same. Let's start with its 7-year delay deciding that knowing patient's oxygen status on a beat-by-beat basis would be a good thing for all patients," says Friedberg.

"I also noted there was not a single article or letter to be found in a search of the archives of the ASA Newsletter on their web site (www.asahq.org) between 1983 and January 1, 1990, when they finally made the decision to declare pulse oximetry a standard of care. That's quite a bit to defend from the start, don't you think?" he continued.

"If you actually got to ask either of them about my press release, I would wager that neither the ASA president nor their spokesperson would say anything more than 'No comment.'" said Friedberg.

Other issues like brain activity monitoring as well as the chance to dramatically improve postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) were raised in Friedberg's press release.

The first modern brain activity monitor was FDA approved in 1996 and subsequen
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