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BUNGLING SURGEON BEN CARSON LEFT SPONGE IN PATIENT’S BRAIN!
National Enquirer ^ | 10/7/15 | Sharon Churcher

Posted on 10/07/2015 10:44:28 AM PDT by jimbo123

Judging by White House wannabe Ben Carson’s track record as a neurosurgeon, his presidential campaign should be declared dead on arrival!

In a bombshell investigation into his medical career, The National ENQUIRER has exclusively learned the now retired doc allegedly butchered one patient’s brain — and EVEN left a sponge in another’s skull!

According to at least six malpractice lawsuits against Carson obtained by The ENQUIRER, the Republican candidate allegedly rushed patients into surgery, and brandished a scalpel like a meat cleaver!

“He’s totally untrustworthy!” one former patient, Karly Bailey, told The ENQUIRER. The Florida woman claimed Carson spent “maybe 14 minutes” with her and her parents before performing a delicate brain tumor operation that ruined her life at age 9.

“My parents told him they weren’t authorizing him to remove the whole tumor because of the risk,” said Karly, now 27.

“But he did what he goddamned pleased! He tried to remove all of the tumor, and injured my nerves and brain stem.

“I was paralyzed on my right side. I’ve never fully recovered. I have chronic fatigue, and my eyes dance around. It’s like having permanent vertigo. My face droops and people are really cruel.”

Karly’s family slapped Carson — then director of pediatric neurosurgery at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital — with a lawsuit.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalenquirer.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2016election; amnesty; bencarson; carson2016; carsonhitpiece; election2016; prochoiceben
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To: jimbo123

What’s next?

Are they going to blame him for castrating Obama when he removed a pimple from his “thing?”


101 posted on 10/07/2015 12:19:04 PM PDT by DH (Once the tainted finger of government touches anything the rot begins)
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To: MNJohnnie

Monday 4 May 2015

Carson says that he performed a complex, detailed surgery and that Bailey’s parents were made aware of the risks associated with it.

“[L]ike always, I consulted them on the fact that I would remove as much tumor as was reasonably safe,” Carson said in a sworn affidavit. In an operative report, Carson said, he wrote he attempted to “remove all visible tumor”, which he described as removing what was “reasonably safe”.

But as a result of the surgery, according to Bailey’s court filing, “Carson severely disturbed, injured, or destroyed multiple neuronal circuits controlling the patient’s facial motor functions, horizontal gaze movements, and other psychological functions.”

When she woke up, Bailey said she was partially paralyzed on the right side of her body.

“I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk, you couldn’t understand me at all,” she told the Guardian. Previously, she wrote right-handed; post-surgery, she has learned how to write left-handed.

Bailey left the hospital using a wheelchair and underwent a grueling physical therapy process, five days a week for seven months.

“I missed most of my fourth grade year of school,” said Bailey. “I was homeschooled – tutored, really. I tested mentally retarded. I was really depressed because I was in a wheelchair.”

Her face developed a significant droop as a result of nerve damage, she said: “I don’t have a full smile. People ask me if I’ve had a stroke.”

Years later, lingering problems for Bailey persist. In 2008, Bailey said she had an operation to place a gold weight in her right eyelid to prevent a loss of vision. That only worked “partially”, she said.

At least one physician sides with Bailey.

“The location of [Bailey’s] tumor was such that it was in close proximity to the brain stem and any effort to remove all the tumor posed a significant risk of collateral injury to the brain stem and other cranial nerves,” said Robert Hudgins, a retired neurosurgeon brought on as Bailey’s expert witness, in a sworn affidavit.

Among high-risk specialties in neurosurgery – in Carson’s case, pediatric care – a Harvard researcher said the probability a physician would be sued at least once is nearly 100%. Photograph: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/via Getty Images

Before his political aspirations became clearer in the run-up to his retirement from Johns Hopkins in 2013, Carson performed up to 400 operations per year, though that number eventually dropped.

That is a high caseload for neurosurgeons, experts say, but the seven known malpractice claims against Carson in Maryland – an average of one every five years throughout his 35-year career at Johns Hopkins – are consistent with a 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found roughly 20% of neurosurgeons face a malpractice claim annually.

“It’s not surprising that he’d have lawsuits against him over his career,” Anupam Jena, assistant professor of healthcare policy and medicine at the Harvard Medical School and the study’s lead author, said of the claims against Carson.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/04/ben-carson-malpractice-claims-doctor-for-president

In the shadow of those presidential aspirations is Florida resident Austin Reynolds, who said in another pending lawsuit that Carson mistreated him, although the surgeon is not named as a party in the case.

For Karly Bailey, whether she prevails against Carson is a point of principle. She is currently receiving Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) income, she said.

“I can’t get the care I need on my Medicaid plan from a neuropathologist because they have very special skills,” she said. “And they ain’t gonna take Medicaid.”

Bailey took college classes to teach special education, but says she was unable to complete her program due to involuntary eye movements that can cause a loss of vision, which date back to her operations at Hopkins.

“That was a disaster,” Bailey said of her college experience.

Whereas Perna seemingly reconciled with Carson, Bailey takes issue with the doctor’s entry into the presidential race. Bailey, who currently does not have an attorney, says she’s raising money to finish her legal battle. A trial is scheduled for July.


102 posted on 10/07/2015 12:19:59 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: LaineyDee
My gut tells me he could be a bait/switch guy.

He's already proven that by following behind the other candidate's platforms. Someone comes out on something and he's right there snatching it up for himself. We wrote him off our list weeks ago.

103 posted on 10/07/2015 12:29:43 PM PDT by bgill ( CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: skyman
He is recognized as one of the top brain surgeons in the world, accepted cases that no one else would operate on and pioneered new techniques that saved countless live.

I've heard this repeated countless times. How do we know it's true? [Not dissing Dr. Carson in any way, just asking. It's always bothered me.]

104 posted on 10/07/2015 12:31:29 PM PDT by Auntie Mame (Fear not tomorrow. God is already there.)
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To: Robe

Exactly


105 posted on 10/07/2015 12:34:32 PM PDT by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: Auntie Mame

I am sure there are great neurosurgeons at every major hospital. To be the chief of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins means you are a good surgeon, because they don’t let poor surgeons become chief of anything.
What is funny is that some physicians have personalities that patients do not like, and then patients go to the physician with lessor skill because they like their personality.


106 posted on 10/07/2015 12:36:53 PM PDT by kaila
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To: jimbo123

Did any of those suing him actually win a judgement or settlement?


107 posted on 10/07/2015 12:49:16 PM PDT by Above My Pay Grade (Donald Trump: New York City Liberal)
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To: Above My Pay Grade

Actually, leaving sponges in is on the whole crew. Not just the surgeon.

Someone is supposed to be counting that stuff.

There is much more teamwork in the operating room than you see on TV. Those assisting are trained to speak up when they have a miscounted, or if something is not right.

Yes, ultimately he is responsible. Like any leader.

But stuff happens all the time.


108 posted on 10/07/2015 12:57:11 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: lee martell
Here is the way it works. Sponges come in wrappings of 5 count. They are counted by the nurse to be sure the manufacturer did a correct count. They are used as the surgeon needs. This also holds true for laparatomy packs, peanuts, and any other type of sponges. Once they are used they are removed from the field and lined up and counted as used sponges. Most operation rooms require at least 3 'countings' of the sponges. If the counts do not jibe everything is recounted. If something is not accounted for the OR team turns the OR upside-down to get to a correct count. In the case at hand Carson does not do the counting himself. He is, however, the captain of the ship and therefore responsible for the miscount. If you have never operated on someone, it is hard to imagine such a thing could happen, but it can and it does. Once the sponge is soaked with blood it can be very deceptive. All sponges have a radiopaque strand in it. If some count is incorrect, generally a portable X-ray unit is brought into the OR and a film is shot, directing the operator to the area of the hidden sponge, or prove no sponge is present. The count problem is generally where the problem arises, not as the job of the surgeon, though, as I said, he is the captain of the ship.

Generally a sponge, left in the patient constitutes 'res ipso lociture'......the act speaks for itself, and the hospital, nurse, surgeon all settle for limits of the policy.

109 posted on 10/07/2015 1:15:42 PM PDT by Texas Songwriter (awaki)
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To: jimbo123

In another horrifying case, a 69-year-old Florida woman claimed her eardrums were perforated during a 2008 operation for facial pain performed by Carson’s team.

When the pain recurred, Carson told the patient, Darlene King, that she might have a tumor. But surgery revealed the lump was actually “a sponge he had left in (her) brain”!

So was it “Carson’s team” or “he”???


110 posted on 10/07/2015 1:31:44 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: Wilderness Conservative

Why does this BS tabloid story make you think “Fiornia did it”?


111 posted on 10/07/2015 1:52:02 PM PDT by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
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To: lee martell
So that means, even if a sponge WAS left, it was due to the Physician’s Assistant or Nursing Assisting overlooking that detail NOT the surgeon himself.

You have the general idea but it wouldn't be a PA or Nursing Assistant. In the surgery room everyone is a highly trained professional, even the nurse who would have years of experience as a Surgery Room Nurse.

The "team" would consist of the chief surgeon and other equally trained doctors as well as maybe one or two Residents who are training in the field.

As far as the person responsible for the alleged sponge, it may have been a Resident or the surgical nurse.

As far as the story itself, if true, then there is more to it than what Karly Bailey is saying. No surgeon is going to perform surgery on a brain to address a tumor and only remove half of it at the patient's request; tumors continue to grow if not totally removed! Sheesh!

As a side note, my brother-in-law is an Oncologist in the metro Detroit area and he once told us about a lawsuit he was involved in simply because he referred a patient he was unable to treat to another specialist.

After months of continuous court testimony where he refused to admit fault even at the advice of his attorney, on the final day, the judge called my BIL and his attorney into his chambers and asked them to give in, admit fault and let the insurance company pay the settlement.

My BIL stood fast and said absolutely NOT. As a result, the attorneys for the Plaintiff dropped their suit against him knowing full well that without a settlement against him, they would not win.

The lesson here is that it's not the doctors who may or may not be at fault but rather the insurance companies who represent them against highly aggressive attorneys representing people with dubious claims.

In most cases it's better for them to just settle than to go up against a plaintiff sympathetic jury that has been subjected to a lifetime of propaganda where the medical profession is corrupt and filled with incompetents and likely to award astronomical payoffs to the plaintiff.......

112 posted on 10/07/2015 1:56:04 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (<i>)
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To: Impy

Who stands to gain the most by knocking Ben down a notch. Her slimy past deeds would also suggest her as a culprit.


113 posted on 10/07/2015 2:07:18 PM PDT by Wilderness Conservative
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To: jimbo123

A pediatric neurosurgeon is an enormous lawsuit target.

Whenever you work in pediatrics or obstetrics you are a yuuuge target for lawsuits.

No telling how big the bill is for malpractice insurance in such a specialty.... it’s the main reason patient costs are so high.


114 posted on 10/07/2015 2:12:02 PM PDT by Bobalu (Russians.... not ashamed of being white!)
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To: lee martell

In high risk surgery you get bad outcomes more often. 6 lawsuits over a 30 or so year career as a neurosurgeon is probably not a bad track record.


115 posted on 10/07/2015 2:15:04 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Wilderness Conservative

What deeds?

Trump is as or more likely to pick up Carson supporters as she.

These tabloids run stories like this all the time on their own, doesn’t have to a conspiracy by political rivals, they want to sell copies so they dig up (and make up) stuff. If it is a conspiracy my money is on the democrats, they got Herman Cain out with the affair allegation. They love to lynch any brother who wonders off the plantation.

I doubt this nonsense will have any impact on the race though.


116 posted on 10/07/2015 2:17:52 PM PDT by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
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To: tet68

117 posted on 10/07/2015 2:30:52 PM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant)
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To: Cowboy Bob

[ But, I wonder why The Enquirer has never been able to discover any of Obama’s former girlfriends, or get and of his transcripts from Occidental or Columbia...or even find someone at Columbia that remembers seeing Obama in class. ]

Hell, they haven;t be able to find any of Hillary’s Girlfriends either!


118 posted on 10/07/2015 2:49:09 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: taterjay
Did John Kerry have brain surgery??

Does John Kerry have a brain?

119 posted on 10/07/2015 2:51:48 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: MeganC

“...brandished a scalpel like a meat cleaver!”

I hope they sued the anesthesiologist too for not putting them under completely!


120 posted on 10/07/2015 2:53:30 PM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
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