Return to Story

Wrong body part operated on in 41 cases, group says

by: AP Wire Services
Saturday, April 25, 2009
4/25/2009 4:33:31 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A patient advocacy group said Friday it has found at least 41 instances in which Oklahoma physicians operated on the wrong body part between 1988 and 2003.

The nonprofit OKWatchdog, a consumer and patient advocacy organization, found the cases by analyzing a federal database of medical malpractice insurance payments, said Jeff Raymond, the group's executive director.

"If this many Oklahomans have been injured by surgeons cutting into the wrong spot, think how many more are injured by less obvious forms of medical malpractice," he said.

Wrong-site surgery is among 28 medical errors experts say should never happen, he said.

Raymond unveiled the group's findings and introduced a Cushing woman whose doctor operated on the wrong foot as state lawmakers consider new restrictions on how Oklahomans file and litigate lawsuits.

A comprehensive lawsuit-reform measure that was passed by the Senate on Wednesday would cap noneconomic damages, also known as pain and suffering, at $300,000; require a certificate from an expert that a lawsuit has merit before it can proceed in state court; and change class-action lawsuit guidelines, among other things.

Supporters say the guidelines are needed to block frivolous lawsuits and lower medical malpractice and other insurance costs.

The measure is pending in a joint House- Senate conference committee while negotiations continue.

Raymond said the bill would remove safeguards against medical errors, and he called on Gov. Brad Henry to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.

"Instead of making it harder for injured Oklahomans to hold negligent doctors accountable, our Legislature needs to work on preventing dangerous medical mistakes and reforming the insurance industry," Raymond said.

Wes Glinsmann, legislative liaison for the Oklahoma State Medical Association, did not immediately return a telephone call to his office seeking comment.

Julie Kennedy, the mother of nine children, said she took her surgeon to court after he operated on the wrong foot in 1999.

Kennedy said she sought surgery to remove a bone chip in her left foot that was causing her pain.

Instead, the surgeon operated on her good right foot. Kennedy said she has experienced pain in that foot ever since.

"Attorneys and lawsuits were the furthest things from my mind," she said. "We had never sued anybody in my life; didn't want to sue anybody."

Kennedy said she took the surgeon to court when mediation failed and won a $2.6 million jury award but eventually reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum.

"I wanted accountability for the doctor," she said.

Although Kennedy's case was clear-cut, other cases that are harder to prove might never reach a courtroom if the proposed lawsuit-reform guidelines are approved, she said.

"I don't feel that any of that is right," Kennedy said.

"It's really going to make it hard for these families."



Copyright © 2010, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved

 Return to Story