A back surgery performed on the wrong bone will cost Mission Hospital $100,000, the California Department of Public Health announced Thursday. It was the hospital's sixth administrative penalty since 2009.
The mishap occurred in 2010 after the hospital failed to mark the skin of a patient and the surgeon ignored a radiologist's X-ray reports, the state investigation concluded.
(Last year the hospital was fined .)
When an 85-year-old woman with a curved and narrow spine was admitted for surgery, a surgeon failed to operate on all her affected back bones. That omission led to a second, potentially lethal surgery, the state concluded in its report.
In the time between surgeries, a bone in the woman's back slid forward over the bone below it. That required surgeons to cut into her back to remove the bone during the second surgery.
Hospital staff told investigators the X-ray image of the unnamed patient's back was "very small," so they could not make out any "anatomical landmarks" to show where on the spine the surgery should be performed.
The state concluded the unnamed surgeon did not mark the skin before surgery as required by law, and had not read the radiologist's report on the post-operative X-ray of the spine.
An administrative penalty carries a fine of $50,000 for the first violation, $75,000 for the second, and $100,000 for a third or subsequent violation. Incidents before 2009 are not counted when determining the fine amounts.
A hospital representative would not answer questions Thursday morning until a statement was provided. The statement was not immediately provided to Patch.
Mission Hospital performs about 10,000 surgeries each year between its Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach locations, a hospital representative said last year.
Also, Mission's PR person truly has a responsibility to address this.
This is why surgeons pay between $40,000 to $200,000 in malpractice insurance premiums every year. Maybe we should let that sink in a second before we piss and moan about their 6 figure salaries and "arrogance". But, of course, with sensationalist news stories like this one, we're all going to decide to dismiss the no doubt hundreds of successful surgeries this doctor may have performed over his career. Those don't count. We only care about the screw up. It's a sad and unfortunate mistake. Good thing no one died or was maimed. But this happens, and anyone who doesn't recognize this probability needs to wake up from their delusion. Surgery is dangerous. Ask any surgeon whether he/she has ever made a horrible mistake. I think you'll be very surprised that the majority of these people are not "god" at all, and don't pretend to be one.
Go read his other stuff and then you'll understand.
Hear, hear. An informed, assertive advocate is essential, imo. Beware the iatrogenic cascade. It can be stunning (and crippling or deadly.)
2. The surgeon should be fined and kicked out of the hospital. It is his ego that caused this to happen. The hospital is at fault only for allowing him to work there. They did not tell him to not mark the surgical site.