Bypass Surgery On The Internet

Quadruple bypass surgery is under way in Houston -- and it can be viewed live on the Internet by armchair surgeons with strong stomachs.

Anyone with web access can tune into the America's Health Network Internet site and watch Dr. Denton Cooley perform the operation on a 48-year-old woman.

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital was billing it as the first such procedure beamed over the Internet, but a Seattle doctor beat St. Luke's to the punch.

Dr. Robert Lazzara at Providence Seattle Medical Center broadcast images of three separate open-heart operations Monday and yesterday.

Today's surgery can be found at www.ahn.com.

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