R.I. Hospital Fined for Third Wrong-Side Brain Surgery

November 28, 2007

  • November 29, 2007 at 9:21 am
    james o. spence says:
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    I’m an old med-mal guy – the ususal deal is the Doc comes into the ER after the hospital OR staff have “prep’d” the patient ie: fully draped the entire area and left an open patch in the gown/dessing at the surgery site….they are supposed to even have shaved any hair and so forth.

    The area was marked w/ betadyne (usually) prior to the surgery….hopefully by the Doc (but not always)

    Lazy or complacent Docs rely on the nursing staff to do this and proceed to step uo to the table and start cutting – time is money you know.

    But – geeeze – 3(!) times – come ON – sure glad I live in Arizona (young staff and young Docs)

  • November 29, 2007 at 2:34 am
    Howie Dune says:
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    This is just fascinating.

    Is the doctor suffering with dyslexia? Does he have a right-brain, left-brain thing going on?

    Are the two surviving practice heads known as Abby Normal 1 and 2?

    What does he ask you as you slip under the anesthesia – “Take a little off the top”?

    Is he playing head games, or games with heads?

    Can you imagine providing the doctor or the hospital with Med Pro E&O? What would you carry, a One Lobe deductible? What limit would be enough for a doctor like this – – whatever the hospital could afford, that’s how much they should carry.

    Maybe he hopes the patient dies on the table so that he can blame it on the anesthesiologist?

    Is he operating in a mirror world? Calling Dr. Bizarro! Calling Dr. Bizarro!

    Maybe the good doctor should get in some more practice on heads – of lettuce. A little Brain Salad Surgery never hurt anyone.

    Could you imagine if he was just a frustrated Proctologist? “Nurse, WHAT END am I working on today?? Push a little harder; I can just see a little further through the colonoscopy up the right nasal farcture”.

    If I were the patient, I’d shave my head and put a BIG DARN X Marks The Spot on MY head.

  • November 29, 2007 at 2:53 am
    SFOInsuranceLady says:
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    That doctors are supposed to mark the area they are performing surgery on BEFORE the acutal surgery takes palce???!!! What happened to reading the
    Xray IN the O/R before cutting the patient? Was he looking at the Xray backwards? Was Howie correct in saying that the doctor may be dyslexic? What about the nurses and other attendings? Didn’t they notice? Yes, people are human….but this is something that shouldn’t happen in this day and age.
    Aren’t there procedures in place to make sure the doctor is operating on the right patient and in the right place? For gosh sakes, we in the insurance industry know how to check a policy before mailing it to the client….why can’t a doctor check before he cuts? This is crazy! And doctors want to know WHY their malpractice premiums are so high!! Thanks for letting me vent, everyone!!

  • November 29, 2007 at 2:54 am
    Dune Good says:
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    I’d make sure the BIG DARN X was tattooed on also, so a nurse wouldn’t accidentally wash it off beforehand! Good post, Howie.

  • November 29, 2007 at 3:01 am
    How(ie) appreciative says:
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    Hey, Howie,

    They need writers in Hollywood!!! Maybe it pays better than insurance

  • November 29, 2007 at 3:18 am
    Al says:
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    I blew off half my left big toe hunting Moose in Maine and was two days getting back to civilization (before the days of cell phones). I got gangrene up to my knee. The emergency room doctors somehow managed to cut off my right leg by mistake, then an hour later had to take off the one they were supposed to whack the first time. When I came to the head of the facility was standing there with the doctors and their attorney, who told me not to even think about suing because I didn’t have a leg to stand on.

  • November 29, 2007 at 3:26 am
    SFOInsuranceLady says:
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    Thanks for the chuckle, Al!
    Made my day!

  • November 29, 2007 at 3:27 am
    Al says:
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    I mean, it’s not brain surgery. Well, it is, but still.



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