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Harvey Cushing's open and thorough documentation of surgical mishaps at the dawn of neurologic surgery.
Latimer K, Pendleton C, Olivi A, Cohen-Gadol AA, Brem H, Quiñones-Hinojosa A. Arch Surg. 2011;146:226-232.

Dr. Harvey Cushing, who is considered the father of neurosurgery, was also a pioneer in open disclosure of errors, as revealed in this review of his operative records at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1902 to 1912. Dr. Cushing not only meticulously documented his own surgical errors, but published statistics on his intraoperative complications and encouraged fellow surgeons to do so as well.

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