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The common practice of double-booking a lead surgeon's time and letting junior physicians supervise and complete some parts of a surgery is safe for most patients, a study of more than 60,000 operations finds. But there may be a small added risk for a subset of patients.

Double-Booked Surgeons: Study Raises Safety Questions For High-Risk Patients

By: Rebecca Ellis | NPR
Posted on: Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Most patients do fine, research suggests, when the lead surgeon steps away to begin another procedure. But patients who are older or have underlying medical conditions sometimes fare worse.