ABSTRACT
Because medico-legal claims may arise from various surgical procedures performed on patients being investigated or treated for lung diseases, these are now briefly described.
Bronchoscopy is the internal inspection of the tubes leading into the lung from the larynx – the trachea, the main and the subsegmental bronchi. This procedure can either be done with a fibreoptic instrument, most commonly using a local anaesthetic and sedatives such as midazolam as a day case procedure, or less commonly with a rigid instrument under general anaesthetic.
