Abstract
Academic societies send various messages to their membership through society meetings. It is important what message the membership receives and how it is understood. The message to which the membership consents is documented in the activities of the society because important messages are repeatedly delivered until the membership consents. Accordingly, in regard to venous thromboembolism, we examined the main sessions of past general meetings from 1999 to 2006 of the three societies that comprise the Japanese Board of Cardiovascular Surgery and analyzed the theme (session theme) presented in each session. We applied this method specifically to officially accepted medical judgment. The lawsuit in question was an appeal hearing in which it was asked whether there was a violation of the standard of care in 1999 for prevention of pulmonary embolism by preventing deep vein thrombosis. The method of pulmonary embolism prevention in Japan has for a long time been diagnosis and treatment of deep vein thrombosis at the early stage, and I needed to clarify the situation in 1999 as an expert witness. The result of examination of session themes was that no pertinent session on prevention of pulmonary embolism was presented by the Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery or the Japanese Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. However, since 2001, the Japanese Society for Vascular Surgery had presented five sessions. The method of preventing pulmonary embolism by prevention of deep vein thrombosis was first discussed in 2006 by the Japanese Society for Vascular Surgery. Thus, the medical treatment performed in this case did not violate the standard of care in 1999. And it has become clear that proposed session themes characterize the specialty and identity of the society. The “standard of medical treatment at the time,” which the laws require to pass judgement, can be published from the specialists’ standpoint because by tracing consensus, the “upper limits” of allowable medical treatment can be shown. From now on, if the consensus resulting from each session is recorded, a more detailed analysis could be made of the message to which the membership has consented.
