OMFG.

[cboy4]

Hospital fined for wrong-side surgery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island Hospital was fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health Monday after its third instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of a patient's head. :wtf:

"We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern," Director of Health David R. Gifford said in a written statement. "While the hospital has made improvements in the operating room, they have not extended these changes to the rest of the hospital."

The most recent case happened Friday when, according to the health department, the chief resident started brain surgery on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient's head. The patient was OK, the health department and hospital said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_on_he_me/mistaken_surgeries_4

[karlrschneider]

1. Apparently there's not much Providence in Rhode Island.

That actually is a STATE, isn't it? How fucking weird is that?............it's smaller than the county I live in.

[Richard Steele]

2. Hollee crap! Recommended in sheer astonishment. nm

[Hoof Hearted]

3. $50,000? So that's the going price for violating the brains of the poor?

Because my guess is, these mistakes are not being made upon the rich.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. The patient probably won't get a penny.

He's 82 and in a capitalist world, he's been depreciated 100%

[magellan]

4. And people are afraid of "socialized" healthcare

But then I don't suppose a lot of those people need their brains anyway.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. That's What Happens When You Have Crappy Procedures

I work in a medical field and have had lots of exposure to surgeries. The laxness of procedures is often startling - I could tell stories that would disturb you. On the other hand, problems rarely occur.

I saw one hospital that really was excellent on procedures - The Hospital For Special Surgery in NY. I watched them get a patient prepared for a hip replacement: three separate people in turn asked the patient which hip was to be replaced, and each signed the hip. Surgery could only proceed at a site that had all three signatures. If you need a new hip or knee, this is a fantastic place to go.

[ingac70]

6. My Dad....

Had knee surgery at St. Thomas in Nashville, TN. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse came in, read his chart, asked him which knee was being cut on to make sure everything was right in the paperwork, then wrote "CUT HERE" on his knee that needed surgery and a big fat "NO" on his good knee.

[Bolo Boffin]

9. So you're saying...

...a great hospital gift for someone would be a big Sharpie marker?

[emilyg]

10. When I had my breast removed - I used a marker to indicate which one.

[tridim]

7. My doctor friend was caught stealing Oxycontin a few years back.

Doctors can be drug addicts too.

The hospital should probably check the pharmacy records for missing product.

[rocktivity]

8. I've been wondering how the Daily Show writers

have been supporting themselves during the strike...

:crazy:
rocknation

[gatorboy]

11. "Your OTHER right!"

[frogmarch]

12. I have two

appendectomy scars, one on my right side, and one on my left. The surgeon had made the first incision on my left side before the surgical nurse could stop him.

[donheld]

13. So that explains what happened to *

I've always wondered why he was so stupid.

[cboy4]

14. If they cracked open *'s skull, they'd find nothing but

sawdust. Or maybe straw.

But certainly no left or right side of any such thing known as a brain.

[KansDem]

22. "If they cracked open *'s skull, they'd find nothing..."

You're right: It's impossible to operate on the wrong side of nothing...

:rofl:

[liberalla]

15. Dr. Dyslexic?

OMFG is right. :wow:

________________


On the other end, as a doctor you're permitted two major screw ups per year.
Then the third screw up is $50,000.00. Extremely lenient in RI.
Good place to practice medicine, but bad place to be a patient!

[goodgd_yall]

16. Y a really hafta be proactive in the hospital

I reminded the nurses and doctors multiple times that my mother was being operated on her LEFT hip, her LEFT hip, yes, remember, her LEFT hip. Even though they marked the correct hip with a pen, I didn't trust them. They asked a few times too, "which hip" so it's not as though everybody working in the hospital is efficient at all times.

[WinkyDink]

17. Now, admittedly it was decades ago (Shut UP!), but as my mother awaited me via Caesarean, the doctor

came to her and asked the attending nurse if my mother was there for the leg amputation!

[Nay]

19. I had a teacher in HS who went in for a foot operation and came out

with her two breasts removed. They mixed her up with a breast cancer patient.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

20. Apparently, the nose is supposed to be pointing up.

The old brain surgeon mnemonic: "If the nose points down, turn the guy around."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. The surgeon needs to keep his copy of "Brain Surgery for Dummies" next to his scalpel.

[slackmaster]

23. I was so worried about that when I had surgery in March

That I wrote "good side" in black magic marker on my good side.

[Done]

24. But it is confusing.

There is right and left to the doctor, and right and left to the patient. Sometimes the operation may be in the back of the head, so which is right and which is left? :shrug:

[Liberty Belle]

25. Were Bush & Cheney the first two patients?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

26. Perhaps they should consider working with mirrors?

:spank: