Scary Cases in Otolaryngology is an extension of the annual Scary Cases Conference held by the Boston University School of Medicine. The conference began in 2011 and aims to improve patient safety by addressing complex and controversial cases that involve increased risk, complications, and unfavorable outcomes. The cases in the text have been selected from previous conference presentations.
This exciting and unique book addresses questions such as
Did you make a wrong diagnosis before arriving at the correct one?Do you believe that you did everything correctly and the outcome was still unsatisfactory?Did a patient have a serious condition that was difficult to diagnose?Were there major complications?Did you have a difficult ethical dilemma?Were you required to treat a condition beyond your expertise?
This innovative text includes clinical information on cases provided by faculty from top medical schools along with their narratives on what they learned. Contributors also include experts in medical malpractice and malpractice liability insurance. Practicing otolaryngologists, otolaryngology residents, malpractice attorneys, law students, otolaryngology nurse practitioners and primary care physicians will benefit from the examples in these "scary cases."
Michael P. Platt, MD, MSc, FAAOA is Associate Professor and Residency Program Director in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine. He grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania and attended the University of Scranton, receiving a BS degree in Biology 1994. After receiving an MD degree from Jefferson Medical College in 2002, he did a residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Albany Medical Center from 2002 to 2007. Subsequently, he went on to pursue a one-year fellowship in endoscopic sinus surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He joined the faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine in 2008. During his tenure at Boston University, Dr. Platt completed a master's degree in Clinical Bioinformatics in 2014, served as Quality and Safety Officer for the department from 2013 to 2015, and became Residency Program Director in 2016. Dr. Platt is the author or coauthor of 42 scientific reports and book chapters. He has been elected to the Board of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy and sits on the Editorial Board of the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology. Dr. Platt has an interest in research relating chronic sinusitis to allergic disease, novel methods for residency education, and risk management education through Scary Cases conferences.
After completing his residency in otolaryngology in 1977 at what was then known as the Boston University-Tufts University Combined Otolaryngology Residency Program, Kenneth M. Grundfast, MD, FACS, FAAP went to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for a one-year fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology, and upon completion of the fellowship, he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with a clinical appointment in the Otolaryngology Department at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. In 1980, he became Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, where he remained until 1996. In the academic year 1989-1990, he took a one-year sabbatical to pursue research on hereditary deafness at the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders. In 1999, Dr. Grundfast returned to Boston be accept the position that he still holds as Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Boston University School of Medicine and Chief of Otolaryngology at the Boston Medical Center (BMC). Dr. Grundfast has held leadership positions, including holding the office of president of the Metropolitan Washington DC ENT Society; the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology; the Society for Ear, Nose, Throat Advancements in Children; and the New England Otolaryngology Society. He has also served as vice president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He has been the recipient of many awards and commendations, including being listed repeatedly for more than 10 years in Boston Magazine as one of Boston's "Best Doctors," and he received from the Society for Ear, Nose, Throat Advancements in Children (SENTAC) first a Lifetime Achievement Award and, more recently, the SENTAC Humanitarian Award. Although Dr. Grundfast spent the first half of his career as a pediatric otolaryngologist, since he became chair of otolaryngology at the Boston Medical Center, his clinical practice has focused on diagnosis and management of ear and hearing disorders in adults and children. Dr. Grundfast has an interest in biomedical ethics, and he served for 10 years as chair of the BMC Ethics Committee.