Hospital Medical Malpractice
After its 5th wrong-site surgery since 2007, Rhode Island Hospital has been fined $150,000 and ordered to install video cameras in all operating rooms. In addition, the hospital will be required to have a clinical employee monitor all surgeries for a year and have a surgeon involved in the marketing of the hospital’s surgical site.
The last wrong-site surgery involved surgery on a patient’s two fingers. Rather than mark the fingers prior to surgery, surgical employees marked the patient’s wrist. The state health department also noted that the surgical team failed to take a “time out” in order to verify the patient’s identity as well as the type and site of the surgery. This failure occurred once again prior to the second surgery.
Rhode Island Hospital had previously been fined $50,000 in 2007 after surgeons operated on the wrong areas of three patients’ brains.
1-800-662-6230 or abramson@arbd.com
