Moral of the story: Listen, ask questions, stay informed.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 3/18/2010

Parents of children having surgery may not understand, remember risks of procedures.

HealthDay (3/17, Preidt) reported, "Even detailed counseling by doctors doesn't seem to help parents of children having surgery understand or remember all the risks of the procedures," according to research published in the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery. In a study of "34 parents whose children were having a tonsillectomy or having tubes placed in their ears," researchers found that the parents "recalled about 58 percent of the nine surgical risks immediately after counseling and 57 percent on the day of the surgery." But, those "who had also received detailed information aids did better at remembering the risks both before and on the day of surgery."