Distracted Surgeon Admits Wrong Surgery: What's the Lesson for Patients?
(CBS) "Case 34-2010" might not be the most exciting title for a magazine article. But the gripping story it tells - about a patient whose surgeon mistakenly performed the wrong operation on her - has created a buzz among doctors across the country.
It also has patients wondering what they can do to avoid being exposed to sloppy medical care.
In the article, published in the Nov. 11 issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine," Dr. David C. Ring, a hand surgeon in Boston, gives a detailed account of the lapses that led him to perform the wrong surgery on a 65-year-old woman.
The woman came in to have surgery to correct a painful "trigger finger." But after a series of distractions in the operating room, Dr. Ring explains, he accidentally performed a procedure designed to correct another condition.
He realized his mistake 15 minutes later, while dictating a report of the operation - and let the staff and patient know right away.
"I apologized and explained that I could perform the correct procedure if she wanted me to do so," he writes in the article. "She agreed, and I reassembled the staff. I then performed a trigger-finger release, without complication. The patient was discharged home that day after a brief recovery."
Dr. Ring waived his fee, and the patient was given a "financial settlement," according to the article.
Sounds scary - and this kind of mistake may be more common than many patients realize, recent studies suggest. One study, published in the Oct. 10 "Archives of Surgery," found that "wrong patient" and "wrong site" operations continue to occur - despite efforts by medical organizations to reduce the likelihood of surgical errors.
What can patients to reduce their exposure to similar problems? Talk things over with the surgeon before the operation, experts say.
"Patients should ask what measures the surgeon and the facility have institutionalized to ensure correct site, correct patient, and correct procedures," the University of Colorado's Dr. Philip Stahel, lead author of the "Archives of Surgery" study, tells CBS News. "They should also ask if the surgical site will be marked with a permanent marker before the operation, and if the required 'time out' surgeons take before surgery will take place with the patient still awake. If the patient actively asks these questions, he will increase the awareness of the surgeon and make him less numb to the process."
Sounds like cutting-edge advice.
