RI Dept of Health fines hospital $50,000 after third mistake
In a statement made Monday Nov. 26th the Rhode Island health department director David R. Gifford said this in response to the 3rd brain surgery mistake made at the Rhode Island Hospital, “We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern.” The hospital has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health. This is the third instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery on the wrong side of a patient’s head. In this most recent case a chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82 year old patient’s brain. In February, another doctor performed neurosurgery on the wrong side of a patient’s head. In both cases the patient’s were okay. A patient in August wasn’t so fortunate. He died a few weeks after a third doctor operated on the wrong side his brain. After the death of that patient the state ordered the hospital to take a number of steps to ensure the same mistake would not be repeated. Apparently, those steps were not sufficient enough to keep it from happening again. It appears the Department of Health has good reason to be concerned.
