Medical Errors, Past and Present

Surgery on Wrong Side of Head -- Three Times?

The third time is far from a charm for Rhode Island Hospital. On Friday, a neurosurgeon at the hospital began a surgery by drilling the right side of the patient's head, even though a CT scan showed bleeding on the left side, according to local reports.

The resident reportedly caught his mistake early, after which he closed the initial hole and proceeded on the left side of the patient's head. The patient was listed in fair condition on Sunday.

"We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern," noted David R. Gifford director of Health for Lifespan Corp., which runs the hospital in a written statement, according to the Associated Press. The AP reported Tuesday that the hospital has been fined $50,000 for this third transgression.

The case echoes of a similar mistake last February, in which a different doctor operated on the wrong side of a patient's head. And last August, an 86-year-old man died three weeks after a surgeon at Rhode Island Hospital accidentally operated on the wrong side of his head.

In the July incident, the man, whose name was not released, was admitted to Rhode Island Hospital on July 30 when doctors found he had blood between his brain and his skull from a fall sustained days earlier. The neurosurgeon who performed the emergency procedure mistakenly opened the right side of the man's head rather than the left side.

Once the mistake was discovered, the surgeon operated on the correct side. Three weeks after the operation, however, the patient died. Medical examiners have yet to determine whether the error contributed in any way to the patient's death.

Following a two-month suspension of his license, the surgeon was once again allowed to practice Oct. 10, according to a spokesperson from the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Dr. Mary Reich Cooper, vice president and chief quality officer for Lifespan Corp., said a number of safety measures had been put into place since that incident, not only for the neurosurgery department but for other specialties as well. These measures include procedures to ensure surgeons have access to a patient's records and charts at all times. However, only the ongoing investigation into the most recent incident at the hospital may determine what went wrong in the most recent incident.