A medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed after a surgeon at a Massachusetts hospital removed a kidney from the wrong patient. According to state and federal health investigators, a surgeon at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester failing to confirm the patient's identity and removed a kidney from the wrong patient. The malpractice occurred in July when a surgeon and two patient with the same name were mistaken.
The surgeon was supposed to remove a kidney with a tumor from one patient but instead removed a healthy kidney. Officials say the hospital failed proper patient identification protocols by checking birth dates. Officials say even though the men had the same name they were several years apart in age. The surgeon examined a CT scan before surgery, which showed the tumor on the kidney, but the scan was from the wrong patient. The mistake was only discovered when tests were done on the removed kidney and found it to be healthy.
The malpractice incident has led to a Federal investigation and St. Vincent has been put on notice that its agreements with government agencies like Medicare and Medicaid, will be terminated unless it takes corrective action. St. Vincent Hospital has released a statement saying they are taking all necessary steps to prevent another error.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a patient's mistaken identity is an error that should never occur and indicates a more serious underlying safety problems. These accidents, unfortunately, do occur and innocent victims are left with lifelong injuries. If you are a victim of medical malpractice, you need St. Louis’ experts in personal injury law at Meyerkord & Kurth, LLC.