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Correspondence
October 19, 2009

No Anastomotic Leaks After Colorectal Surgery in Rural Community Hospitals

Arch Surg. 2009;144(10):977-980. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2009.174

In March 2009, I started to review my colorectal cases. Comparison of my results with those published in the April issue of Archives could not be timelier.1 I am a 66-year-old general surgeon, practicing in the same rural location (in 2 hospitals) for the past 18 years. The nearest tertiary care center is 70 miles away. Some patients choose to go there, believing the care there is superior. A small community is a proverbial fish bowl in which the surgeon and his or her mistakes are immediately visible to all.

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