NJ surgeon removes wrong lung

[Niels Bohr 72]

The bottom is the consequence of polio!

I do have to agree with penalizing the Doctor; however, removing the license permanently is unfair. Not only that, they work nearly 80 hours/week. Mistakes happens all the time. With a Doctor of any speciality, their mistakes are less. Every humans mistakes happens. All of us drive. The speed limit is at 65 mph, yet people drive 80 or 75 mph. All of us have neglected these safety more often than we even think about. Hence, more people suffer more accidents compared to the operational room.

Well, not all doctors do 80 hour weeks...

I think he deserves to have his license taken away. Not only cause he fcuked up and has probably taken away that patient's chance of survival, but because he LIED about it afterwards. That's what p!sses me off more.

It was probably all due to the x-ray being read backward, it's totally avoidable IF he had been paying attention.

And what this has to do with driving a car at 80 mph I have no idea!

Hypocrisy, Mag.

The statement is used to indicate the difficulty of Doctors, and pressure they get during surgery. Good doctors can become bad if one mistake happens. It has nothing to do with driving fast, but, my point, if not obviously seen, is that humans make mistakes. We slow down when we see a cop, isn't that covering up. Or, another example is when a lawyer withhold information that is detrimental to your defence. Cover ups happens. Mag, if you are a Doctor (surgical), you'll understand that most of your patients will recover 100% of the time; however, you will make ethical mistakes to achieve them. And, you'll hide them too.

[Amby 490]

consolemaster I just wanted to let you know that your posts always brighten my day

THANK YOU!

eta: sorry I don't have bright pink bold size 30 letters

Edited June 26, 2008 by Amby

[Aubrey 10]

This is why doctors are supposed to use a marker on the body part they're supposed to operate on before surgery. Mark the chest on the correct side so you don't f' up and do the wrong one. It's done quite often, and it's a simple way to avoid such a horrible problem...

I hope the patient survives.

[CBR 0]

The bottom is the consequence of polio!

I do have to agree with penalizing the Doctor; however, removing the license permanently is unfair. Not only that, they work nearly 80 hours/week. Mistakes happens all the time. With a Doctor of any speciality, their mistakes are less. Every humans mistakes happens. All of us drive. The speed limit is at 65 mph, yet people drive 80 or 75 mph. All of us have neglected these safety more often than we even think about. Hence, more people suffer more accidents compared to the operational room.

Well, not all doctors do 80 hour weeks...

I think he deserves to have his license taken away. Not only cause he fcuked up and has probably taken away that patient's chance of survival, but because he LIED about it afterwards. That's what p!sses me off more.

It was probably all due to the x-ray being read backward, it's totally avoidable IF he had been paying attention.

And what this has to do with driving a car at 80 mph I have no idea!

I agree, take that license away permanently. Yes humans make mistakes, but this guy doomed his patient to death and then lied about it (yes this poor patient will die if they have only one lung left now that has cancer-they need a miracle). The lying is the worst because it shows what his character is made of. What's to stop him from lying about future f-ups and who knows what else he's done in the past that he covered up or swept under the rug. Who would ever trust this guy again? I'd have more respect for him if he had owned up to it and surrendered his license.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I suppose lying is wrong. If the doctor would admit the mistake, I would say take his license away for 6 months is reasonable. But, yeah, he didn't do that. So, taking his license permanently sounds better.

[Sheriff Uling 3]

This is a Southwest Airlines moment... "Wanna get away!"

[kerewin21 2]

I do have to agree with penalizing the Doctor; however, removing the license permanently is unfair. Not only that, they work nearly 80 hours/week. Mistakes happens all the time. With a Doctor of any speciality, their mistakes are less. Every humans mistakes happens. All of us drive. The speed limit is at 65 mph, yet people drive 80 or 75 mph. All of us have neglected these safety more often than we even think about. Hence, more people suffer more accidents compared to the operational room.

I absolutely think his license should be taken away. We have LOTS of procedures and safeguards in medicine to ensure that things like this don't happen and if the surgeon didn't avail himself of these safeguards then he acted very unprofessionally. Then trying to alter the record to cover it up???? Unbelievable.

Of course in the end it's on the surgeon, but that kind of mistake reflects a failure in that hospital's operating procedures. Everyone on the team is supposed to be paying attention to prevent these kinds of left/right errors; from the surgeon to the scrub nurse to the anesthesiologist. This represents a failure on so many levels it's unbelievable.

Prior to starting any surgery, everyone is supposed to take a time out and say, "we are removing mr. x's left lower lung." Everyone in that whole room is responsible to verify that the correct patient and correct location is being operated on.

We can't have any tolerance for this kind of failure. I hope not only the surgeon but the hospital that failed to have safeguards to prevent this get in trouble.

[eric&gen 0]

The surgeon is barking i mean coughing up the wrong tree.

[SaadBell 0]

Damn, that sucks

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

The surgeon is barking i mean coughing up the wrong tree.

that made me hack up a lung.

[GaryC 7]

I would say the hospital owes this guy a free lung transplant paid for by the doctor that messed up.

Edited June 27, 2008 by GaryC