Wrong Site Surgeries Draw Fine for Rhode Island (RI) Teaching Hospital

by James Lewis

JIm is a Virginia injury attorney who handles car accidents, medical malpractice, FELA, wrongful death, etc.

11/5/2009
James Lewis
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Wrong Site Surgeries Draw Fine for Rhode Island (RI) Teaching Hospital

Five wrong-site surgeries in two years have provoked a $150,000 fine from the Rhode Island (RI) Department of Health against Rhode Island Hospital. The hospital serves as the training facility for students, interns and residents at Brown University's Alpert Medical School, which makes repeated documented failures to follow safety procedures such as completing a presurgery checklist particularly deserving of regulatory sanction.

In the most-recent surgical mistake at RIH, the Providence Journal reported Nov. 2, "The surgeon performed two procedures on two parts of a patient's middle finger. But he was supposed to perform one procedure on the middle finger and a different procedure on the pinky." RIH also had to pay a $50,000 fine to the state in 2007 after surgeons at the facility botched three separate procedures that year. The worst incident, during which a surgeon operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain, resulted in the patient's death.

Surgical mistakes injure or kill thousands of Americans each year. Operations on the wrong limb, organ or location represent the most inexcusable kinds of surgical mistakes because surgeons, nurses and other hospital personnel can prevent them so easily. Simply writing "Yes" on a hand requiring surgery and "No" on the other hand, for instance, can ensure the correct hand gets operated on.

Because I specialize in representing victims of medical malpractice and those victims' families, I see almost every day how botched surgeries can result in tragedies. I appreciate Rhode Island officials for fining RIH for not ensuring patient safety, but I also think the fine was too small.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law, and our attorneys have experience handling medical malpractice cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. In addition, check out our FREE special reports Top 10 Tips from a Medical Malpractice Insider and the top 5 surgical errors you must know about. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), and we also have a North Carolina (NC) law office. Our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC, and we are ready to talk to you by phone right now. We provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as pro bono public information services.

EJL

Category: Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes

Labels: amputation medical malpractice brain damage complications Death disability error health care hopsital error injury lawyer Jim Lewis medical errors medical malpractice mistakes operation Rhode Island surgeons surgery surgical errors wrong site surgery

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Wrong Site Surgeries Draw Fine for Rhode Island (RI) Teaching Hospital

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