Posted on 06/07/2010 10:46:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The doctor was the victim of "bad luck," medical board says
The state Board of Medicine has ruled a South Florida surgeon, who took out a healthy kidney instead of a gallbladder during an operation, wasn't inept or careless.
The board said Bernard Zaragoza is a good doctor, but he had bad luck. We'd say it was the patient who had the worst luck.
The unidentified man died of heart failure three weeks after the surgery.
In 2007, Zaragoza operated on an 83-year-old patient who was having some internal issues in Miramar. The patient's kidney was located where his gallbladder should have been, a rare occurrence experts said.
Zaragoza, a University of Miami grad, cut the kidney out before discovering that.
"It's a complication I never heard of, dreamed of, or imagined could happen" he said. "I was completely mortified."
A state hearing officer recommended a penalty of a $5,000 fine and 50 hours of community service. Despite siding with the doctor, the board said it still had to punish him, according to Health News Florida.
"If I could make these costs go away, I would,” a board member said. “But we just can’t.”
Zaragoza has to reimburse the state $25,000 for the state's costs of investigation and prosecution.
I’m not board certified or anything, but isn’t there a subject docotrs are supposed to be acquainted with called anatomy?
And as a result, don’t we generally feel that doctors - especially surgeons - should be able to tell the difference between the shape of a gall bladder, and the shape of a kidney?
Or do surgeons routinely slice people open and cry: “wish me luck”!?
“The patient’s kidney was located where his gallbladder should have been, a rare occurrence experts said. “
So the doctor did the op with his eyes closed and didn’t notice any difference in shape?
I was thinking that too, they’re different shapes and have different textures, at least the ones from my anatomy class did.
(Granted, that was a few years ago)
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=2529921%2C1Did anyone bother to say that the gallbladder does not connect to the bladder or that the gallbladder connects to the liver. While he had him open he could have felt around to verify what it connected to. Just a thought but what do I know, I am no expert, I just stayed at a holiday inn last night.
If you don’t know a kidney from a gall bladder, you shouldn’t be doing surgery
"The patient's kidney was located where his gallbladder should have been,"
But what do I know. It's not like I've peeled hundreds of gall bladders off of rabbit livers, so I could use the livers for pate.... wait, actually, I have.
/johnny
“Surgeon Who Removed Wrong Organ Had “Bad Luck””
I think it’s the patient that had the bad luck.
I say we operate on the “surgeon” and remove his brain... Oh, wait, that’s already been done.
That sounds like one state where you don’t want to be when you need surgery.
Shouldn't even be a butcher really.
Sounds like one of these super-advanced laparascopic Band-Aid surgeries where they go in through a teeny tiny hole with a camera having a Lilliputian perspective, and a little pair of robotic scissors. If a kidney happens to be where a gall bladder normally is, guess what happens. Surgical procedure prolly was okayed by state board, so no culpability could be assigned to the surgeon for following it to its tragic conclusion. If so, they ought to fine and fire the whole damn board until it no longer is one of the things that puts a DUH in FloriDUH.
The scary thing is 0bamaCare hasn’t even begun yet.
I don’t thinking butchering is very similar to surgery. Surgeons usually make their incisions as small as possible, the kidney probably wasn’t fully exposed when it was amputated.
But what a horrible price that precious old man paid for this doc to learn that ‘same ol’, same ol’’ doesn't apply in all situations. Sounds like some of the board members have been there, done that without getting caught.
“If you don’t know a kidney from a gall bladder, you shouldn’t be doing surgery”
Man there goes my alternate career plans. This story made me think it would be easy.
The surgeon who did my gall bladder promised me laproscopic surgery, but when I awakened I had a scar about 8 inches long and a 4 day stay at the hospital.
He described exactly what this story describes. Scar tissue and other issues made him open me up so he could do the job right. We had spoken of it before the operation so I wasnt all that surprised, I guess I had a better doctor than this fellow.
“...an 83-year-old patient...”
Under Obamacare this guy won’t get past the death panels.
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