Rhode Island Doctor Operates On Wrong Finger

We at Weston Lawyers can't make this stuff up, even if we wanted to. It’s happened again, and this time at the Rhode Island Hospital. It seems that a surgeon operated on the wrong finger of a patient. When it was discovered, the surgeon consulted with the family and received authorization to operate on the correct finger. We're happy to report that both surgeries were successful, however one of them was totally unnecessary! The hospital was subsequently fined $150,000.00 for the surgical team’s ineptitude. We don't know about you, but these kinds of stories really irk us, especially this one. Why? This was the fifth such violation at this hospital since January 2007. Shocking as it may seem, there had been four prior incidents within a two-year time frame. The initial investigation into this incident was laughable. Hospital officials determined that hospital "protocol" was not followed. Really?

Rhode Island Hospital protocol in this case was twofold. First, there should have been a distinct marking placed on the finger on which the surgeon was to operate. That was not done. Second, there should have been a "timeout" taken by surgical team. A surgical "timeout" is a planned break prior to the surgical procedure that is used to verify that the right operation is being performed on the correct patient.

Similar cases over the past several years seem to be on the rise. And evidence to back to back up this claim is chilling. In 2007, ABC News reported that “wrong-site” surgeries occur between a staggering 1,300-2,700 times a year in the United States alone. This was according to an Archives of Surgery study. These are disturbing statistics and should incite anger both inside and outside the medical community! The fact remains that many of these cases are settled out of court and never are reported in the main stream media. While politicians frequently seem to sound the battle cry for “tort reform” what about medical liability? What about enacting stricter guidelines or harsher penalties for such incompetent behavior by medical professionals?

Vigilance by patients and keeping a closer watch on what happening in the operating room will go a long way to preventing such “wrong site” surgeries. In fact, one hospital is currently looking at the legal ramifications of installing cameras in each surgical suite for monitoring purposes. One thing we are sure of – the operating room is no place for such life altering mistakes.