Brain surgeons with pending medical malpractice cases suspended after abandoning patient in operating room

Wednesday, 06 May 2009

Two brain surgeons at North Shore University Hospital, both with medical malpractice lawsuits filed against them, have been suspended for two weeks after abandoning a patient in the operating room after she had been prepped for surgery and anesthetized, the Daily News reports.

The April 10 surgery had to be postponed after Dr. Paolo Bolognese, the surgeon who was scheduled to perform the surgery, could not be found by hospital staff after the patient had been prepped. Once it was clear Dr. Bolognese was unavailable, hospital staff asked the chief of neurosurgery at the hospital, Dr. Thomas Milhorat, to operate on the patient. Dr. Milhorat refused, saying the patient was not his. Both doctors were suspended for their actions.

Though it is very unlikely any New York medical malpractice attorney will file a lawsuit related to this particular mishap, both doctors have enough to worry about. Three medical malpractice lawsuits filed last week accuse the doctors of using patients with the Chiari defect "as guinea pigs for research and financial gain."

Another medical malpractice suit alleges the doctors told a young patient her surgery would be "a walk in the park," though after the operation her condition only worsened.

Dr. Bolognese and Dr. Milhorat are some of the most highly-paid doctors in New York, making $2.4 million and $7.2 million a year, respectively. It seems overwhelmingly likely that both are usually very good at what they do.

Still, everyone makes mistakes just as everyone has lapses in judgment. It is unfortunate that when doctors err another person's health is often put at risk. They work in a sensitive area where taking responsibility for one's mistakes (always a noble pursuit) can become costly. Even so, it is only right that they pay what it takes to make the patients who put their trust in them whole again.