The omni-relevance of surgery: how medical specialization shapes orthopedic surgeons' treatment recommendations.

This article examines treatment recommendations in orthopedic surgery consultations and shows how surgery is treated as "omni-relevant" within this activity, providing a context within which the broad range of treatment recommendations proposed by surgeons is offered. Using conversation analysis to analyse audiotaped encounters between orthopedic surgeons and patients, we highlight how surgeons treat surgery as having a special, privileged status relative to other treatment options by (1) invoking surgery (whether or not it is actually being recommended) and (2) presenting surgery as the "last best resort" (in relation to which other treatment options are calibrated, described and considered). This privileged status surfaces in the design and delivery of recommendations as a clear asymmetry: Recommendations for surgery are proposed early, in relatively simple and unmitigated form. In contrast, recommendations not for surgery tend to be delayed and involve significantly more interactional work in their delivery. Possible implications of these findings, including how surgeons' structuring of recommendations may shape patient expectations (whether for surgery or some alternative), and potentially influence the distribution of orthopedic surgery procedures arising from these consultations, are considered.

How surgeons design treatment recommendations in orthopaedic surgery.

This paper examines how orthopaedic surgeons skilfully design treatment recommendations to display awareness of what individual patients are anticipating or seeking, and suggests limits to those efforts. It adds leverage to our parallel work by demonstrating that even when surgeons incorporate considerations of recipient design to 'fit' recommendations to patients' displayed orientations, an asymmetry between recommendations for vs. not for surgery remains: recommendations for surgery are generally proposed early, in relatively simple and unmitigated form, and as stand-alone options. In contrast, recommendations not for surgery tend to be significantly more complex: they are likely to be delayed, conveyed indirectly, mitigated and justified, and include other possible treatment options. These findings suggest a tension between surgeons' efforts to design recommendations for specific recipients and an overarching institutional bias favoring surgery. Surgeons' efforts to anticipate and respond to resistance to recommendations demonstrate a similar pattern: the methods used to counter patient resistance, and the sequential placement of those efforts, depends on whether the recommendation is for surgery or another treatment option. This work contributes to an understanding of treatment recommendations generally by showing how patients are co-implicated in their accomplishment: because surgeons incorporate considerations of recipient design in response to information provided explicitly or tacitly by patients, patients influence the rendering of recommendations from the beginning.

Group A streptococcal peritonitis and ruptured tubo-ovarian abscess three years after Essure® insertion: a case report.

We describe a complicated ruptured Streptococcus pyogenes tubo-ovarian abscess (TOA) and peritonitis in a 24-year-old woman, necessitating eventual hysterectomy and a prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) admission 3 years after successful tubal occlusion with Essure® (Conceptus, Inc., Mountain View, CA) microinsert devices. The patient is a 24-year-old gravida 3, para 2, aborta 1 (G3P2Ab1) who had a 1-day history of worsening right lower quadrant pain without associated fever or cervical motion tenderness. Patient's medical history was complicated by mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy (MNGIE). Upon her admission to the hospital, an exploratory laparoscopy was performed. Intraoperative findings revealed a ruptured right-sided TOA. S. pyogenes was isolated from the peritoneal fluid and cervicovaginal cultures. After the laparoscopy, the patient experienced initial improvement but abruptly worsened and on postoperative day 7 was returned to the operating room for a planned repeat exploration and total abdominal hysterectomy. Gross pathological examination of the uterus showed appropriate Essure insert placement. Based on this case, tubal occlusion by induced fibrosis may not be a sufficient obstacle in preventing ascending pelvic infections.