Annals of plastic surgery
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Office-based surgery has become an important method of healthcare delivery, but there is controversy about its safety. Since 2000, a series of articles were published in the lay media emphasizing the hazards of office surgery, leading to the Florida Board of Medicine restricting office procedures. ⋯ Although the total number of office operations during the study period is unknown, the fact that 7 deaths were reported would suggest that the location in which these procedures were done was not as much of a factor as the regulators have suggested. However, better patient screening, sedation management, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, and clinical judgment may have prevented some, if not most, of these deaths. The most frequent cause of death after discharge was thromboembolism, and some of these might have been prevented with better prophylaxis. More detailed findings and recommendations are presented.