Below you will find a history of Medical Malpractice and Medical Errors  which constitute “wrong site” surgeries at Rhode Island Hospital.

(1)  January 2007 | Failure to Mark spot on elderly Man head

“The first was in January, when a third-year resident didn’t mark the place where he was supposed to put a drain in an elderly man’s head, according to Lifespan. Both the doctor and nurse said later they weren’t trained in how to use a checklist, Cooper said.” msnbc reported

(2)  July 30 2007  | Wrong side of 86 year old Man’s skull

Msnbc.com reported  that “In July, a surgeon with more than two decades in medicine never wrote on a consent form which side of an 86-year-old man’s head he would operate on to remove a blood clot, Cooper said. A nurse questioned why that wasn’t filled out, and the surgeon said he remembered which side.”

“She asked him again if he was certain, he said he was sure, and she let him continue, Cooper said. The man’s head was marked, but on the wrong side, Lifespan spokeswoman Gail Carvelli said.”

The Providence Journal reported  “The Most recent previous incident at Rhode Island Hospital, which occurred July 30, involved an emergency procedure in an operating room. An 86-year-old man arrived at the hospital emergency room three days after a fall, and was found to have blood between his brain and skull. Neurosurgeon J. Frederick Harrington didn’t check the CT scans to verify which side to work on, and instead relied on his memory. Harrington drilled into the wrong side of the patient’s head, realized his error, and immediately operated on the correct side. The patient died a few days later, but preliminary information from the state medical examiner did not find a connection between the surgical error and the patient’s death, Gifford said. The medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death.”

(3) November 2007 | Wrong Side Of Woman’s Head
In November, during an operation on an elderly woman, the hospital’s chief neurosurgery resident and a nurse discussed the correct side ahead of time, Cooper said. But for reasons that are unclear, doctor marked and cut into the woman’s scalp on the wrong side, and the nurse did not stop him, according to Cooper.

“I don’t know if she knows why she didn’t speak up,” Cooper said.

(4) May 2009 |  Child’s Mouth

(5) Oct 22, 2009 | Wrong Finger
Eyewitness 12 News Reported ” The RhodeIsland Department of Health (RIDOH) is investigating awrong-site surgery performed at Rhode IslandHospital (RIH) on October 22.”

“In a statement released to Eyewitness News, hospital officials confirm a patient scheduled for hand surgery on two fingers had a procedure performed on the wrong finger in the outpatient surgery center.”

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