A Rhode Island neurosurgeon operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head, and the doctor is still practicing neurosurgery with no restrictions. According to a story in The Providence Journal:

On July 30, an 86-year-old man came to Rhode Island Hospital three days after a fall. He was found to have bleeding on the brain, and as he started to do poorly in the emergency room, he was transferred to the operating room for emergency surgery. Neither the patient’s medical history nor the consent form specified which side needed the surgery. When a nurse pointed out that the information was missing, Harrington filled in the blanks, relying on his memory rather than consulting the CT scan.

He cut open the wrong side. As soon as he realized the error, he operated on the correct side. The patient died a few days later, but the medical examiner has yet to determine whether the surgical error contributed to his death.

. . . In Harrington’s case, it happened more than once. In September 2006, he also operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head at Roger Williams Medical Center, but the Health Department did not sanction him because of mitigating circumstances.

If you or a family member has had surgery done on the wrong side of the body, you need legal representation to get just compensation for the injuries. Contact the law firm of Pritzker | Ruohonen toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form. The firm also represents families of patients who have died due to a medical error.

Source: Felice J. Freyer, "Doctor to blame in wrong-side surgery, panel says," The Providence Journal, October 14, 2007.