ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Do weekends really affect surgical outcomes? “Researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital, UCLA, the University of Toronto, and others have tried to answer a longstanding fear that undergoing surgery on a Friday leads to higher levels of complications or even death. Their analysis of data from 429,691 patients has revealed higher rates of complications, readmissions, and mortality in the days and months following surgery compared to those who had procedures performed after the weekend.”