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RI hospital once again operates on wrong side of patient's brain

Quality Improvement Monitor, November 30, 2007

For the third time this year, a Rhode Island Hospital doctor performed brain surgery on the wrong side of a patient's head, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The organization has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health. "We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern," health department Director David R. Gifford said in a statement to AP Monday.

The latest case occurred last Friday when the chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient's brain, the health department told the AP. The patient was not harmed, the health department and hospital said.

A different doctor performed neurosurgery on the wrong side of another patient's head in February, Andrea Bagnall-Degos, a health department spokeswoman, told the AP. That patient was also okay, she said.

But in August, a patient died a few weeks after yet another doctor operated on the wrong side of his brain.

The hospital said it is re-evaluating its training and policies, providing more oversight, giving nursing staff the power to ensure procedures are followed, among other steps, the AP reported.

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