Okay, so I had a surgeon in my fortress. As far as I looked, he had always done surgery with patient resting in bed, but these were just fractured limbs. Now see what happens when he gets to repair a fractured spine:
1) Patient is resting in bed.
2) Surgeon proceeds to pick him up and bring to the table.
3) Surgeon drops the patient just near the bed and cancels the task because of "patient not resting".
Okay, I figure I should put the table right next to bed, it's quite fair and realistic. Then I see the following:
1) Patient is resting in bed.
2) Surgeon proceeds to pick him up and bring to the table.
3) Surgeon puts the patient on the table.
4) Surgeon picks him up and brings him back to bed.
5) The medical history now marks "Brought to rest in bed, blah blah blah" for this day.
Oopsie.
Well then, I disable the "Recovering wounded" labor for the surgeon and:
1) Patient is resting in bed.
2) Surgeon proceeds to pick him up and bring to the table.
3) Surgeon puts the patient on the table.
4) Surgeon starts medical operation.
5) Someone else comes and tries to bring the patient back to bed, then surgeon immediately relocates him back to table, etc.
6) So the patient is constantly fluctuating between bed and table, yet the surgeon does not cancel his task.
Then I finally lock the hospital doors and disable recovering wounded on everyone inside.
Voila! Complex fracture on lower spine repaired!
Maybe there's still hope for the poor soul.
Also, maybe this information will help you fellow DF players to save some dwarf lives and keep your sanity.