Abstract
Negative outcomes, accidents and complications are unavoidable. In surgery as in aviation a major role is played by human factors contributing to 30 to 90 per cent of accidents. However in aviation accidents and near-accidents are investigated and all errors are reported.
Surgical errors and near-accidents are never reported nor investigated and no lesson can be learned.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.