A Rhode Island hospital is expected to pay $150,000 in fines after a surgeon operated on the wrong part of the body – not for the first time.
Rhode Island Hospital in Providence is the only hospital in the state to receive such fines, The Associated Press reported recently.
Surgeons were to have operated on two fingers belonging to the same patient, The AP reported. Instead, “both operations were performed on the same finger.”
The hospital was directed to install surveillance cameras in all of its operating rooms by David Gifford, Rhode Island’s health director.
The move after a pattern of conduct emerged at Rhode Island Hospital, the teaching hospital for Brown University’s Alpert Medical Center. In 2007, three patients had brain operations – but surgeons operated on the wrong part of the brain.
The hospital’s chief executive officer, Timothy Babineau, said in a statement that “the hospital was committed to reducing medical errors and had been taking steps to improve patient safety.”
According to the AP, standard surgical procedures were not followed – the finger to be operated on was not marked ahead of time, and surgeons did not stop to double-check that they were operating in the right place.
“Under protocols adopted in the medical field, the surgery site should have been marked and the surgical team should have taken a timeout before cutting to ensure they were operating on the right patient, the right part of the patient’s body and doing the correct procedure, the AP said.
About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers.
(MM)
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
Comments for this article are closed.