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Providence doctor operates on wrong knee

Quality Improvement Monitor, September 26, 2008

A doctor at a Providence Hospital last week operated on the wrong knee of a patient, a mistake first noticed when the patient regained consciousness, according to the Providence Journal.

The facility, Miriam Hospital is part of the Lifespan hospital group, which includes Rhode Island Hospital, where three wrong-site surgeries happened in 2007, the paper said.

The doctor marked the correct knee with the word “yes,” and surgical team took a time-out to verify they were operating on the right body part, Miriam CEO Kathleen Hittner told the Journal. Nonetheless, the wrong knee was mistakenly draped for surgery.

“They all agreed that they had the proper side ready,” Hittner told the paper. “They knew the surgery was supposed to be on the left side. Somehow the system didn’t work the way it should. Somehow they did not recognize it.”

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