The Codman Classification of Adverse Outcomes

• All results of surgical treatment that lack perfection may be explained by one or more of the following causes:
  • Errors due to lack of technical knowledge or skill
  • Errors due to lack of surgical judgment
  • Errors due to lack of care or equipment
  • Errors due to lack of diagnostic skill
• These are partially controlled by organization:
  
  • The patient’s unconquerable disease
  • The patient’s refusal of treatment
• “These should be acknowledged to ourselves and to the public, and study directed to their prevention.”