Plastic and reconstructive surgery
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The legal system depends on the medical expert for evidence. Doctors readily complain about frivolous cases that go to trial, yet a lawyer cannot bring a frivolous claim to trial without a physician expert witness stating that the claim is not frivolous. ⋯ For without the physician expert witness, no medical malpractice lawsuit can take place. It is the expert physician, not the attorneys or insurance companies, who defines "meritless" and "frivolous" and who ultimately controls the courts' medical malpractice caseload.
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · Dec 2007
Comparative StudyDevelopment and validation of a novel scar evaluation scale.
The authors previously developed a six-item ordinal wound evaluation scale to measure the short-term cosmetic outcome of wounds 1 week after injury. Although it was never intended to measure long-term outcomes, it has been used to assess scars 3 to 12 months after injury. The authors developed and validated a scar evaluation scale specifically aimed at measuring the long-term appearance of scars. ⋯ The authors describe a new long-term scar evaluation scale that is highly reliable and correlated with the cosmetic visual analogue scale, suggesting construct validity.
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · Dec 2007
Case ReportsThe role of free-tissue transfer for head and neck burn reconstruction.
The reconstruction of head and neck burns is challenging, traditionally involving skin grafting and local flaps. Free flaps have improved in versatility and variability in recent years, and are now among the techniques used for burn reconstruction. ⋯ Free tissue transfer is a valuable tool in head and neck burn reconstruction. It can be used safely and effectively with minimal morbidity in selected patients.