title: Two loose screws: near-miss fall of a morbidly obese patient after an operating room table failure.
abstract: Operating room surgical table failure is a rare event but can lead to a dangerous situation when it does occur. The dangers can be compounded in the presence of obesity, especially in the anesthetized or sedated patient. We present a case of a near-miss fall of a morbidly obese patient while turning the patient in preparation to transfer from the operating room table to the hospital bed when 2 fractured bolts in the tilt cylinder mechanism led to an operating room table failure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor Scott & White Health/Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple, TX, USA. Electronic address: rmcallister@sw.org.
authors.forename: Russell K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: McAllister
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor Scott & White Health/Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Booth
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor Scott & White Health/Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Bittenbinder
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000328:Adult; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000601:surgery*; D058638:Operating Tables
keywords: Near miss fall; Obese patient; Operating room table failure; Operating room table tilt