{"id":84,"date":"2006-03-15T14:02:29","date_gmt":"2006-03-15T21:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.onegoodcookie.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2009-11-27T22:38:41","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T03:38:41","slug":"march-15-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidesurgery.com\/2006\/03\/march-15-2006\/","title":{"rendered":"March 15, 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"
Surgeon Successfully Sued for Improvising in the Operating Room<\/p>\n
In a frankly baffling case, a Hawaii jury has awarded $5.5 million to the family of a man who had a screwdriver inserted into his spine, apparently without problem. The patient was operated on by Dr. Robert Ricketson at Hilo Medical Center for a spine problem. With the patient under anesthesia and the operation underway, the surgeon apparently realized the titanium rod needed was not available. Ricketson then fashioned a rod out of a piece of screwdriver and completed the operation. The patient reportedly did well and died two years later.<\/p>\n
After the patient’s death, the family sued the hospital not for a bad medical outcome but for wrongful credentialing of the surgeon to practice medicine, because of license restrictions in other states.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cardiothoracic surgeon Grayson Wheatley of the Arizona Heart Institutue thinks he has found a way to deal with patients’ complaints that he does not spend enough time with him. He hands out iPODs with information and answers to common questions that patient have about angioplasty, coronary stents, and coronary artery bypass grafts.<\/p>\n
\nArizona Heart Surgeon Replaces Himself with iPOD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n