LINZ, Austria — A surgeon in Austria is facing a fine after she amputated the wrong leg of one of her patients.
A court found the 43-year-old-surgeon, whose name was not released, guilty of gross negligence and fined her €2,700, BBC News reported. The patient’s widow was also awarded €5,000 in damages.
Socialized medicine. Minimum wage doctors and attending staff.
When I had one of my knees scoped, I wrote Yes on the bad knee and NO on the good knee. I also put arrows on the good knee pointing to the other leg. At the pre op discussion, the doctor and anesthesiologist laughed out loud. The doctor later told me the entire staff in the OR got a good chuckle out of that.
When I was 12, I had my eye removed. My mom said she feel silly telling the surgeon to be sure to take the correct eye. As she perused a newspaper while waiting during my surgery, she read an article where a girl in India had the wrong eye removed.
I had total knee replacement 6 weeks ago, Dr had to check mark and initial my bad knee. I laughed and ragged him. Said it was government mandated to mark as such. And he said you still wouldn’t believe the mistakes made.
Had to work on a case where a doctor installed a replacement knee....*sideways*. You'd think med school would teach that knees are not hinged side-to-side, but this guy pulled it off, and no one else in the OR called him on it.
The kicker: this was at least the second time he'd done it.
same here. Had elbow surgery to re-attach a tendon. Surgeon came in during prep, talked to me, confirmed the right elbow, took a sharpie and wrote on the elbow, then signed it. Just to make sure. Turns out he schedules all elbow tendon surgeries on the same day, does like 8 or 10 re-attachments in a row before lunch. Yes, he is one of the best in the area, so there's literally an assembly line of broken elbows waiting in the hallway and he does them one after the other. So yes, the marking and signing precaution is well worth it to prevent an easy mistake.
This is why I am a cardiologist. Only one heart. Of course, the same principle could apply to proctologists, I guess. ("Not feeling so clever now, are you, Monkey Boy?")
They've hidden the identity (SOP for criminal cases too, I believe) of the surgeon, but I'm going to go out on a limb here (heh) and bet diversity was involved. Even first-world Euro countries such as Austria have a plague of immigrant MDs trained in not very good places in their countries of origin. A good friend of mine, Spanish, MD from good Spanish medical school, STEM PhD from highly-ranked US grad school, internship, residency and fellowship all at top-10 US hospitals (and not just book-smart -- she's a really strong clinician -- not to mention 5'9" and 135 lbs of long legs, flashing dark eyes, wicked sense of humor, and one hell of a temper) decided to move back to Spain. She reported to me, "I have to wait THREE years to get my Spanish license! It turns out there is a long line of MDs waiting for licenses and most are from Africa. I don't mean to discriminate, but I am a native Spaniard, therefore of course a fluent speaker, and have US training. And I'm behind all those people?" I tried manfully not to kick her when she was down. Okay, I tried some. "Sorry to hear that, but this is what you get with your pro-immigration, open borders and 'we are all the same under the skin' politics." I think she wanted to hit me, but fortunately we were in a public place.
Same here on the surgeries Both feet. The surgeon came in and wrote on the foot she was working on that day (both feet one day and the left foot on a different day)
"She".....that fact may be part of the problem. The "SJW" "hire women and minorities" whenever possible mentality may mean she was less than competent but employed to "check a box".
Hang on. The surgeon amputated the wrong leg, and his WIDOW got compensation.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't that kind of imply that if the CORRECT leg had been amputated, the guy would have lived?
If that's the case, I would think that that €5,000 in damages is kind of on the low side.
This case would get thrown outa court. The plaintiff doesn't have a leg to stand on.
ReplyDeleteBirdman, you DIDN’T!!!!😄
DeleteSocialized medicine. Minimum wage doctors and attending staff.
ReplyDeleteWhen I had one of my knees scoped, I wrote Yes on the bad knee and NO on the good knee. I also put arrows on the good knee pointing to the other leg. At the pre op discussion, the doctor and anesthesiologist laughed out loud. The doctor later told me the entire staff in the OR got a good chuckle out of that.
Proper preparation is to do just that...you saved them some effort.
DeleteSuch mistakes still happen, unfortunately. In the US, the costs to the surgeon are quite a bit higher.
They didn't laugh when I drew arrows pointing at the bullseye for my colonoscopy. In fact they were pretty pissed.
DeleteWhen I was 12, I had my eye removed. My mom said she feel silly telling the surgeon to be sure to take the correct eye. As she perused a newspaper while waiting during my surgery, she read an article where a girl in India had the wrong eye removed.
ReplyDeleteI had total knee replacement 6 weeks ago, Dr had to check mark and initial my bad knee. I laughed and ragged him. Said it was government mandated to mark as such. And he said you still wouldn’t believe the mistakes made.
ReplyDeleteHad to work on a case where a doctor installed a replacement knee....*sideways*. You'd think med school would teach that knees are not hinged side-to-side, but this guy pulled it off, and no one else in the OR called him on it.
DeleteThe kicker: this was at least the second time he'd done it.
same here. Had elbow surgery to re-attach a tendon. Surgeon came in during prep, talked to me, confirmed the right elbow, took a sharpie and wrote on the elbow, then signed it. Just to make sure. Turns out he schedules all elbow tendon surgeries on the same day, does like 8 or 10 re-attachments in a row before lunch. Yes, he is one of the best in the area, so there's literally an assembly line of broken elbows waiting in the hallway and he does them one after the other. So yes, the marking and signing precaution is well worth it to prevent an easy mistake.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I am a cardiologist. Only one heart. Of course, the same principle could apply to proctologists, I guess. ("Not feeling so clever now, are you, Monkey Boy?")
ReplyDeleteThey've hidden the identity (SOP for criminal cases too, I believe) of the surgeon, but I'm going to go out on a limb here (heh) and bet diversity was involved. Even first-world Euro countries such as Austria have a plague of immigrant MDs trained in not very good places in their countries of origin. A good friend of mine, Spanish, MD from good Spanish medical school, STEM PhD from highly-ranked US grad school, internship, residency and fellowship all at top-10 US hospitals (and not just book-smart -- she's a really strong clinician -- not to mention 5'9" and 135 lbs of long legs, flashing dark eyes, wicked sense of humor, and one hell of a temper) decided to move back to Spain. She reported to me, "I have to wait THREE years to get my Spanish license! It turns out there is a long line of MDs waiting for licenses and most are from Africa. I don't mean to discriminate, but I am a native Spaniard, therefore of course a fluent speaker, and have US training. And I'm behind all those people?" I tried manfully not to kick her when she was down. Okay, I tried some. "Sorry to hear that, but this is what you get with your pro-immigration, open borders and 'we are all the same under the skin' politics." I think she wanted to hit me, but fortunately we were in a public place.
And the AMA wants to relax requirements and training because evidently medicine is now racist.
DeleteSame here on the surgeries Both feet. The surgeon came in and wrote on the foot she was working on that day (both feet one day and the left foot on a different day)
ReplyDelete"She".....that fact may be part of the problem. The "SJW" "hire women and minorities" whenever possible mentality may mean she was less than competent but employed to "check a box".
ReplyDelete