The Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn is in news for the wrong reasons. The New York State Health Department and the Long
The Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn is in news for the wrong reasons. The New York State Health Department and the Long Island College Hospital are investigating the circumstances that led doctors René Kotzen and Mike W. Chow to operate on the wrong side of a patient’s brain to remove a life-threatening clot.
The unfortunate patient, Kevin Walsh, was listed as stable after a corrective surgery was conducted on the right side of the brain to remove the clot. The faux pas occurred as a result of Walsh’s CT scan being placed backward on the viewing screen before the surgery.
Both the suspended doctors had no recent record of professional mistakes. However an official communiqué from the hospital said that both the doctors were suspended on Feb. 21st a day after the surgery.
While Dr. Kotzen performed the surgery, Dr. Chow prepared the patient but was not present during the surgery.
A few years ago, the mother of Indian film star Shridevi was operated upon the wrong side of the brain in the United States of America and the incident created a furore in medical circles both in India and the United States. Though a hefty compensation was paid and the matter hushed up, the unfortunate mother of the superstar didn’t recover from the blotched surgeryand the subsequent corrective surgeries that followed.
While it isn’t proper to become cynical and pass censures against the whole medical fraternity based on these isolated cases, it is indeed worrying that such terrible mistakes continue to occur.
