Hello everybody! Right lung, left lung ! It's a toss up!
Posted on 06/25/2008 5:47:28 PM PDT by Panzerlied
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey surgeon's medical license was suspended after state regulators found he removed the wrong lung from a patient, then tried to conceal the error.
The State Board of Medical Examiners found Dr. Santusht Perera moved a portion of the patient's right lung when he should have been removing a tumor in the left lung, the state Attorney General's Office said Wednesday.
Perera, according to the board, then told the patient that the right lung contained a life-threatening tumor, though there was no such growth. He also altered the patient's records to show he intended to operate on the right lung.
The board determined that Perera's actions constituted gross negligence.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I guess the patient shoulda used a majic marker on his good lung.
Actually that isn’t such a bad idea.
I had surgery (in Seattle) recently and the various doctors and other staff asked numerous times what I was having done and on which side and I was happy that they did.
Let’im operate again, he’ll get this time for sure.
We’re being overrun by surgeons who barely speak English.
In NYC there have been so many errors that they mark the spot with an X and then several people come to check and ask you if the X is in the right spot. Then the postoperative report says “All surgical instruments were removed.”
My knee was marked.
Same with me too.
The patient, Vietnam War veteran Richard Flagg of Jersey City, died a “horrific” death three years later when the tumor that was supposed to be removed ruptured “and he drowned in his own blood,” his attorney said.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/northernnj/Doc_who_operated_on_wrong_lung_suspended.html
Its just so he can take a breather.
No problem - this guy will be back under ObamaCare.
They do mark the body before surgery then there are several checkpoints to make sure the surgery is done on the correct part, side, etc. This is done by both the surgeon and the hospital staff so everybody covers their rears. It’s outrageous something like this should happen to a person, IMO. Rant off.
Hopefully he will rot inhale!
Sounds like a murder charge should be considered.
Sure, works for me. I can’t imagine finding out your good lung is gone. I notice the article didn’t say when this happened — wonder if the poor man is still alive.
I wonder if ‘Dr. Santusht Perera’ went to medical school in the U.S. My sister’s nephew had all A’s through high school and college and didn’t get into medical school. So he’s going to dental school instead...
Flagg was an Air Force “Vietnam hero” who was dropped behind enemy lines to repair shot-down American aircraft for pilots to fly back, or to recover valuable electronics and then blow them up, Rock [Flagg's lawyer] said. “He was a real salt-of-the-earth type guy” who died penniless after his health benefits ran out, Rock said.He deserved better than this.
See post 11.
Yes he did...
Hello everybody! Right lung, left lung ! It's a toss up!
It may make you feel uneasy, but when you have the same pre-op team getting 3-6 patients ready it helps to cover all possibilities.
Still the person doing the surgery is usually the same person whom you have seen in the clinic many times and he should know what side of your body he is working on. Not to mention there is usually preop films taken and posted in the OR for the docotor to work from.
LOL— Usually seems some foreign dude/MD who does this stuff
Due in part to the largely unreported problem of doctor shortages. Doctors by the bushelful are simply leaving the practice. There's just no money in it for them anymore. Medicare is crippling them.
I am currently without a doctor. My doc just up and quit a while back, and finding a new one willing to take new patients and who speaks english has proven to be difficult.
the few times I’ve had a family member go thru surgery the nurses and doctors asked about a 100 times what were there for.
The even apologized. I told them to ask a couple more times as I’d rather answer than have the wrong procedure done.
Just had surgery yesterday. I was asked about 5 times which side they were going to operate on. The nurses then wrote “Yes” on that side and “No” on the other side. The surgeon then initialed the “Yes” side, which was then checked by the nurse before I was wheeled in.
We probably ain’t seen nothing yet. Medicare payments to Docs are to be decreased by 10.6% as of July 1...
Sorry...rant off...it just is a sore point w/me.
Ditto, even my shattered elbow was marked, it was in a half cast...... LOL I was happy for it!
“Murder charge” Really! Am I correct to understand that the fatal tumor was never removed because the good Doc covered up his error? Which is standard OPERATING procedure in my limited experience.
Despite what they think Doctors are human and are fallible. We have the best medical system in the world but hospitals are still dangerous places.
Of course docs make mistakes, as my father said “why do you think its called a practice”, But the lying and deception is immoral.
I looked for a doctor who had finished practicing and was ready to be a professional. Unfortunately he had died.
Swell.
I just don’t understand why no media is picking up on what’s really a huge story. Nomatter who funds medicine, if there aren’t any doctors we gots way bigger problems.
A candidate on Obama’s short list for Surgeon General. Can he spell condoms and abortion?
It'll only get better when we nationalize health care....don't worry.
Please.
He's much better off.
Normally I would agree with your reaction, but if the doctor altered the records and knowingly left the tumor untreated, it approaches certainly a reckless crime and maybe intentional injury. Now maybe the doctor made the error, only realized it three years later when the man was dying, and covered up his mistake after the fact. Don’t know.
If he wanted to murder the man, ‘nicking’ his pulmonary artery would have sufficed....or clamping his pulmonary vasculature.
Falsifying records? Inexcusable.
Removing the wrong lobe of the lung? Mistake..and a bad one.
But murder? No documentable intent, nor any motive...at least by anything I have read.
You know, if I were a surgeon, I would have a meeting just before the operation with the nurses and assistant surgeons,
“OK everyone, it’s the RIGHT lung correct? Let’s see the X-Rays, yep, it’s definitely the RIGHT, not the LEFT lung. Does anyone disagree with me? A show of hands please. Are we all together on this? No one disagrees? OK, let’s get to work”.
When I had to have a bone in one of my legs replaced after an accident, I kept having to refer nurses to the swollen mangled leg.
“OK everyone, it’s the RIGHT lung correct? Let’s see the X-Rays, yep, it’s definitely the RIGHT, not the LEFT lung. Does anyone disagree with me? A show of hands please. Are we all together on this? No one disagrees? OK, let’s get to work”.
That is required procedure in each and every surgical case conducted throughout the USA, if they are compliant with JCAHO regulations and MOST state regulations.
Simple fact of the matter is, it still does not preclude errors from happening....as a matter of fact, the 'time out' procedure that you describe, which is widely practiced, has never been shown to be effective in decreasing wrong site surgery.
Humans are in play here, not machines...and as infallible as we'd like to think our health care professionals are, they are not. Sites are marked, 'time outs' are conducted, and instrument counts are done on each and every case in most hospitals right now.
But we still widely read about the 1 in million case that has a mistake.
Not trying to make an excuse for this clown, who apparently falsified records etc...just stating that no operation conducted by humans, is going to be 100% error free. 99.9999%? maybe.
I think the issue would be did the doctor deliberately hide from the patient the fact his tumor was untreated, in order to cover up the medical mistake. With the patient dependent on the doctor for care, and the doctor knowing that, the doctor would be withholding care while lying to the patient. It comes close to giving the patient poison, realizing the mistake and letting him go home to die rather than telling him and taking corrective action. At a certain point you are knowingly injuring the patient. Not a clear case and difficult legally, but I can tell you if a doctor left a tumor in my lung for three years in order to cover up a mistake, as I was dying I would feel the doctor committed a criminal act against me.
Amen. It’s a good practice for sure. Hope your shattered elbow is better now. :)
It seems like such an idiotic mistake, but he was no idiot.
Sorry to hear about your son. My mother's family doctor is an American young man and had to go to medical school in ITALY.
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